About the picture This sentence probably rang a bell; you know it from the famous Bob Marley song. What does “no woman, no cry” mean? Many people think that “no woman, no cry” means “if you don’t have a woman, then you won’t have to cry”. However, this grammatically correct Jamaican English sentence actually means… Continue reading Jamaican English
Can you imagine someone from 1990 listening to Crypto Boy?
This song from May 2022 only just crossed my radar. As someone who is interested in how English is spoken by young adults today, this is an absolute treat. Crypto Boy, by American singer-songwriter salem ilese, born 1999 (she writes her name without capital letters) Here are the lyrics: Mention NFT’s one more time And… Continue reading Can you imagine someone from 1990 listening to Crypto Boy?
Is it ethical to predict the future of English?
It was a big Monday for me this week. To understand how big, you have to know that I am fascinated by World Englishes; Why do most Americans pronounce the “r”, while most Brits don’t? How many more fun words will Australians come up with? Is “Euro-English” a thing? How do people respond to Dutch… Continue reading Is it ethical to predict the future of English?
Chat GPT on the future of English
I probably don’t need to tell you about ChatGPT, the AI that is impressing and scaring everyone with its natural language and extensive answers on everything. The tweet that put it best into words for me was this one: ChatGPT does NOT get facts right, but sounds as if it does, which is very dangerous.… Continue reading Chat GPT on the future of English
What’s all this, then?
This website was created to accompany my Substack newsletter English in Progress. I will use it to collect my lists of resources (I love a good list, me) and to write up articles as I research my upcoming book The Future of English. It’s not much to look at yet, please bear with me as… Continue reading What’s all this, then?