Author Archives: Scribe Doll
Words and Civilisation: Coffee Language (Part 2)
For Part 1, please click here. It had been a long day and a late night awaited so, at about five, I ventured into a Central London Starbucks. “Tall, half-shot, wet latte,” I ordered, using the company’s recognised terminology with … Continue reading
Posted in Words and Civilisation
Tagged blog, coffee, food, katherine gregor, life, privacy, scribedoll
6 Comments
Words and Civilisation: “Laid-Back”
“Oh, don’t worry,” my friends say about someone I have yet to meet, “he’s very laid-back.” Little do they know that that is when I start worrying. Describe somebody as “laid-back” and I have an inner reaction of tension, irritability … Continue reading
Posted in Words and Civilisation
Tagged formality, informality, katherine gregor, laid-back, life, musings, punctuality, respect, rules, scribedoll
8 Comments
Pet Hates: Mean-Spirited Favours
There are favours for which you are sincerely grateful. Favours which come as rain upon the desert, or a hot salt bath when all your muscles are aching. Then there are favours which are a pain in the far South … Continue reading
Posted in Pet Hates
Tagged favours, generosity, katherine gregor, life, musings, scribedoll, thoughts
4 Comments
Pet Hates: By E-Mail
Number One: The CC option. At the risk of upsetting many of my friends and acquaintances, I simply have to voice this. Why do so many people find it so difficult to grasp the concept of the BCC option? … Continue reading
Posted in Pet Hates
Tagged e-mails, katherine gregor, life, musings, scribedoll, thoughts, writing
9 Comments
Theatre Review: ‘Lucky Stiff’
The show that launched the careers of song-writing musical team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (who went on to write hits such as Ragtime), Lucky Stiff is a manic, madcap, slapstick number with zero plot realism but full marks for … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged katherine gregor, landor, lucky stiff, musicals, scribedoll
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Words and Civilisation: My Friend ‘Cox’
I have just acquired a new friend or, perhaps I should say, a new incarnation of an old friend. My old one has retired to a well-earned rest, after ten years of inexhaustible patience and loyalty, his jacket a little … Continue reading
Posted in Words and Civilisation
Tagged books, culture, dictionary, english, French, inspiration, katherine gregor, larousse, life, musings, opinion, oxford english dictionary, scribedoll
2 Comments
Odds & Ends: A Green Pillar Candle
I am warming my stiffened fingers on the green pillar candle on my desk. Forest green. I bought it from Robert Sayle’s. The flame is dancing on the sloped ceiling of my attic room. The East Anglian wind is … Continue reading
Posted in Odds & Ends
Tagged american accent.english accent, cambridge, katherine gregor, king's college, la boheme, life, music, musings, sarcasm, scribedoll, sound of music
20 Comments
Words and Civilisation: A Smidgeon of Français
Say sidewalk, elevator or garbage, and the English will wince in disgust and mutter the almost unspeakable. “That’s American,” they will remark before casting you out of Society for polluting the purity of Shakespeare’s tongue. Using French, however, suggests to … Continue reading
Posted in Words and Civilisation
Tagged english, foreign languages, francais, French, katherine gregor, language, londoner's musings, pronunciation, scribedoll
3 Comments
Theatre Review: “Man in the Middle”
Someone should coin the phrase “bandwagon play”. Not that there is anything wrong with drawing a story from an item of current affairs fracas, and produce a piece of drama that makes history alongside History – as long as it … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
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Words and Civilisation: The Kiss X or the X Kiss?
Who was it, that first had the idea of putting an x by the signature, to symbolise a kiss?In every social missive we receive, be it an e-mail, a card, or a text message, our contact’s name is appended with … Continue reading
Posted in Words and Civilisation
Tagged cheek, katherinegregor, kiss, scribedoll, signature, x
2 Comments
Scribe Doll 