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Twitter's rebrand: Why 'x' could be the most powerful letter in English From its origins with the Phoenicians to Twitter's rebrand, "x" is one of the English alphabet's most powerful and alluring letters, writes Clare Thorp.

It’s always worth checking you’ve got the email address correct, not just the email content!

Ministry of Defence accidentally emails ally of Russia Defence officials say the emails did not contain information that could compromise operational security.

Is this the end of the comedy typo on Twitter?

Twitter confirms it is working on an edit button It comes after new board member Elon Musk asked his followers if they wanted the feature.

Lovely jubbly!

Royal souvenirs have 'Platinum Jubbly' misprint Souvenirs produced for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee arrived with a Del Boy-style mistake.

There's a new fun word game to kill a few minutes online, just in case you aren't procrastinating enough.

What Is Wordle, and Why Is Everyone Playing It? Have you noticed the trend of people posting grid-like emoji on Twitter with the hashtag ? It’s the latest time-waster to have gone viral. Here’s what it’s all about and how you can play, too.

Question: What's trending? Answer: The exclamation mark!

In our war of words, full stops are dying but the exclamation mark is doing fine | Simon Horobin Punctuation has always been controversial, but right now, amid fierce political debate, matters seem especially polarised, says professor of English Simon Horobin

English – the Germanic language influenced by Latin, French, and now Korean.

Why 26 Korean words have been added to Oxford English Dictionary The new additions include references to food, fashion and entertainment.

Not sure what my Finnish friends would think of this:

Mayor suggests Helsinki declare itself an English-language city Juhana Vartiainen says too many highly skilled foreigners shun Finnish capital because of difficult language

It's ok to admit you make mistakes. And it can also be funny:

Typo negative: the best and worst of Grauniad mistakes over 200 years From ‘The Taming of the Screw’ to ‘irritable bowl syndrome’, the paper is fondly known for its slips

It's hard to pick a word of the year to sum up 2020, and it's still far from over! This year, to encapsulate the mess of 2020, the OED have settled on a list of 16 words instead.

Oxford English Dictionary Needed 16 'Words of the Year' to Describe 2020 Traditionally speaking, the team that publishes the Oxford English Dictionary picks a “word of the year”—a word or expression that has attracted significant interest over the course of the past 12 months. It’s a way to capture the mood or lasting impact that a particular year has had on us a...

As much as I should really be pleased with this attempt to improve English signage, I would miss the comedy value.

'Hello work' or job centre? language experts spell trouble for Japan's mangled English Group of language experts is taking local governments and organisations to task for their over-reliance on machine translation

Best misleading headline of the day:

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin marries 16-year-old partner Markus Raikkonen | FR24 News English Breaking News Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin marries 16-year-old partner Markus Raikkonen August 2, 2020 0 50 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Linkedin ReddIt Email Print Tumblr Telegram Mix VK Digg LINE Viber Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has married longtime partner Markus Raikko...

So, what do you think?

Is ‘irregardless’ a real word? We asked our journalists as battle rages on Merriam-Webster insists irregardless is a word – but not everyone agrees with the dictionary’s take

Especially for my clients and friends whose native language doesn't have the "the"...

Is this the most powerful word in the English language? The most commonly-used word in English might only have three letters – but it packs a punch.

Here's a real gem of a typo reported from one of my old home towns. Maybe it's not quite what the UK government was intending to make us aware of.

To add to that last post:

Dictionary.com Adds Coronavirus Words To The Dictionary We've updated Dictionary.com with some of the new coronavirus words and senses to help you stay informed and safe during these unprecedented times.

Pandemics also affect language. Hope you're all staying safe!

Social change and linguistic change: the language of Covid-19 | Oxford English Dictionary It is a rare experience for lexicographers to observe an exponential rise in usage of a single word in a very short period of time, and for that word to...

It's March 4th, and you know what that means, right? No? Neither did I. However, since 2008, March 4th has been National Grammar Day in the USA. Let's celebrate with some fun facts!

“Go!” Is The Shortest Grammatically Correct Sentence In English (+29 Fun Facts) - South Florida Reporter If you wrote out all the numbers (e.g. one, two, three . . . ), you would not use the letter "b" until the word "billion."[

And to add to that last post...

Apostrophe catastrophes – in pictures

Don't let laziness win!

'Laziness has won': apostrophe society admits its defeat Organisation formed in 2001 to preserve punctuation mark comes to a full stop

Not that I'm demanding to proofread your online dating bio, but...

Dating disasters: why bad grammar could stop you finding love online The users of one dating site rate good grammar and literacy above erratic spelling in their search for a warm, ideal partner

Nearly two months until this year is out, but Collins Dictionary already have their word of the year! Check out their shortlist too.

Collins - The Collins Word of the Year 2019 is... Collins - The Collins Word of the Year 2019 is...

Trendy, inspiring and delightful? Or ugly, pretentious and irrelevant? If you find semicolons confusing, this book by Cecelia Watson might just help you make sense of them:

Semicolon: How a misunderstood punctuation mark can improve your writing, enrich your reading and even change your life Semicolon: How a misunderstood punctuation mark can improve your writing, enrich your reading and even change your life

For anyone who thought that typos don't really matter:

From a wrongful arrest to a life-saving romance: the typos that have changed people's lives In our digital world, a misdirected text or simple keyboard error can trigger huge unintended consequences

Not that he likely cares about his typos, but anyway...

Spouting off: Trump boasts of meeting 'Prince of Whales' Another Twitter typo from US president sparks widespread mockery

Whose “responsibilty” [sic] was this? :)

Australian $50 note typo: spelling mistake printed 46 million times Red faces after discovery $2.3bn worth of currency has a misprint of the word responsibility in banknote’s ‘micro-text’

Some nice general writing tips in amongst the sporty references here:

Read, think and avoid cliches: tips for children aiming to be sportswriters As we launch our Young Sportswriter of the Year competition, here is some advice on how to excel by the authors of the Football School books, Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton

Anybody up for a good old-fashioned spelling and grammar test? More than 10/20 is definitely possible. Hint: for one question, the options are just British v US spellings - go for the US one to get "the right answer" :)

No One Can Score 10/20 In This Grammar Test From 1984 Are you smart enough to get a perfect score?

More fun additions to the OED:

Oxford English Dictionary adds new entries: chuddies, jibbons and fantoosh An Indian English word for underpants joins a host of Scottish insults after the dictionary crowdsourced regional terms

If there's just one time you ever get your spelling checked...

Ariana Grande mocked for Japanese tattoo typo: ‘Leave me and my grill alone’ Singer was hoping for a Japanese translation of the title of her hit 7 Rings. Instead she ended up with a tattoo which means ‘small charcoal grill’