Meanwhile

A monthly newsletter about language, teaching, editing, reading and anything else I’ve coaxed up from the silt.

Meanwhile in January is
on its way!

While going about Adverbs business, I encounter news, titbits and tricks that might not be chunky enough for a whole post or article but are still full of interest. Each month, this is where they find a home.

This month: comparative and superlative adjectives, pet names for poets, compound swear words (and what makes them stick), fonts and their impact on writing and a Christie/Wodehouse paradox.

Read Meanwhile

English words and their unintuitive pronunciation, poetry as a master key to jailbreaking LLMs, punctuating Christmas carols, my top cosy Christmas reads and a useful – very useful – rhetorical device that makes your writing memorable.
A short one this month: in vs of, Dante’s divine besties, six-seven and J. Alfred Prufrock as a trans character.
This month: banned books, the twelve buttocks of Brave New World, incomprehensibility as a weapon, me vs Tom Wolfe, an English word with a brain-bonking 645 meanings, the rare instance of an apostrophe indicating a plural and Raye’s newest single marking a wider trend in how we punctuate questions.
Nidification, the best short story I’ve read in yonks and a brief history of nature writing. Also, my favourite tiny books for reading on the bus, Father’s Day and AI finally letting us put aside childish things like art to realise our potential as dredge operators.
Spume, a weepy poem, Outlook’s latest attempt to sabotage your grammar, Palestinian essays, a story-pairing I love, Chicago style updates and Wodehouse’s enchanting distaste for the constabulary.

Meanwhile

Meanwhile in January ison its way!

Read Meanwhile

December 2025 — How fast the stream flows.

November 2025 – The Norway of the year.

October 2025 – Any wonderful unexpected thing.

September 2025 – The ache for the larger life.

August 2025 – The odd uneven time.

Meanwhile in January is
on its way!