Blog Archives

Keeping up with the various spellings of Jones

Keeping up with the Jones cartoon

You know that idiom that refers to comparing yourself to your neighbours as a benchmark for social class or material wealth? Whereby failure to ‘keep up’ with their practices or possessions is perceived as evidence of socio-economic or cultural inferiority.

Posted in Grammar, Idioms Tagged with: , ,

On your bike… and other cycling phrases to put you in a spin

Cyclists in a cycle race

Inspired by the OVO Energy Tour of Britain 2018 cycle race, which whizzed through leafy Warwickshire this week, I thought I’d check to see how many cycling phrases, idioms or other expressions I could find. Quite a few, as it

Posted in Idioms, Language Tagged with: , , , ,

5 common writing mistakes that might trip you up

Wet floor sign: beware common writing mistakes

Every now and then I undertake a large proofreading job, such as a manual or an annual report. The most recent was a meaty 90,000-word operations manual. What I’ve noticed is that the same writing mistakes crop up time and

Posted in Grammar, Writing Tagged with: , , , , , ,