Language
Martin McKenzie-Murray
Mortality takes its toll in a grim year for language lovers
Martin McKenzie-Murray It was not a good year for writers or language, and a particularly bloody one for journalists. According to Reporters Without Borders, it was the deadliest on record since its first yearly report in...
Warwick McFayden
Hard-boiled critics seek to escape yoke of scrambled English language
Warwick McFayden ''When I use a word,'' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ''it means just what I choose it to mean ... .''
Heckler
Language ladies did themselves a disservice
Heckler I called into a pub the other afternoon (not my usual local) for a refreshing ale.
Karl Quinn
The curse of the foul-language law
Karl Quinn With a clampdown on swearing in public places in Victoria, Karl Quinn asks, frankly, what's the point in even going out?
Peter Craven
Dickens would rotate in his grave at such language
Peter Craven Scriptwriters should give up on trying to improve the words of masters.
Language is power; let us have ours
Aden Ridgeway Once while travelling through many remote communities on the Tanami Track, an old man said to me, "Come speak my language and I'll speak yours".
Labouring under old ideas as the 'great divide' disappears
Matt Wade And Deborah Snow THE language of class lives on in Australia's political debate thanks to cliches such as ''class warfare'' and ''middle-class welfare''.
Barbara Taylor Bradford
Something for Kate? Not this Mantel piece portrait of a young duchess
Barbara Taylor Bradford I am a fan of Hilary Mantel's books. I even sent her a congratulatory email when she won her second Booker Prize.
Richard Glover
Life after parliament: a new gig guide
Richard Glover Post-election career suggestions for redundant politicians.
Amanda Dunn
Downton rides on winds of change
Amanda Dunn ''You Americans never understand the importance of tradition,'' the perennially disapproving Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) tells Martha Levinson (Shirley MacLaine), who has arrived at Downton Abbey...
Warwick McFadyen
Poor Richard III - Shakespeare really gave him bad press
Warwick McFadyen Whatever the merits or otherwise of the king, he is not remembered fondly.
Richard Glover
Creative drinking
Richard Glover The history of beverages is full of unintended consequences.
Heckler
Word to the wise, if that's OK
Heckler I WANT to change the English language - well, the use of it - but I'm going to need your help and your consensus to do it. Are you prepared to try? Yes or no?
Craig Fry
High on moral panic
Craig Fry Last week we did indeed witness the blackest day in Australian sport. But the low point was the public reaction to this latest drugs-in-sport story, not the apparent truth of the matter.
Lucas Walsh
Racism demands action from all of us
Lucas Walsh Last week we saw another high-profile incident of racism, this time involving ABC journalist Jeremy Fernandez, who allegedly received a tirade of defamatory and racist abuse from a Caucasian woman...
Paul Collins
Moment ripe for a pontiff from the developing world
Paul Collins I'm still getting over the shock of the Vatican's announcement of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation.
Jacqueline Maley
PMS may be gone but women are in no mood to lose anger
Jacqueline Maley News of the death of pre-menstrual syndrome came as a terrible shock.
Michael Shmith
Enigmatic to the last, crossword king Araucaria will be sorely missed
Michael Shmith The puzzle-setter's announcement of his terminal cancer was admirably cryptic.
Martin McKenzie-Murray
Cult of celebrity feeds our hunger - and our gullibility
Martin McKenzie-Murray JFK, Tiger, Armstrong - you'd think we would have learnt our lesson by now.
Charles Waterstreet
A lonely verdict on a life in the law
Charles Waterstreet Lawyers are the modern-day witches, burning at stakes for telling truths.
