by Christine Burgmer | Sep 10, 2026 | Sparks of English |
Yes, “zeitgeist” is an English word. It might sound very German. That’s because it is. But you’ll also find zeitgeist in English dictionaries. It means “the spirit of the time” or “the spirit of an age”. In other words,...
by Christine Burgmer | Sep 9, 2026 | Sparks of English |
Why gobstopper and jawbreaker are both still correct Someone uses a different word from yours. And for a second, you wonder if yours has gone out of date. Last week in Hamburg, I was talking to a young man from Britain about school. We got onto sweets. I said...
by Christine Burgmer | Sep 8, 2026 | Sparks of English |
Actually? It’s doing you a favour. Actually?It’s not a filler word.It’s a parachute for the three seconds your brain needed to think. I lean on it more than I’d like to admit. I once rewatched a recording of my own training session and lost...
by Christine Burgmer | Sep 7, 2026 | Sparks of English |
Nervous in English? You speed up. Nervous in English?You don’t slow down.You speed up, as if you’re trying to outrun your own sentence. It happens to me too, just in my second language. Ask anyone who’s heard me answer a surprise question in German...
by Christine Burgmer | Sep 4, 2026 | Sparks of English |
“He’s in the home office.” “Where is he?” someone asked after a colleague missed a call. “He’s in the home office,” came the reply. Everyone understood he was working remotely. But in English, “home office” usually sounds like a room in your house. It...
by Christine Burgmer | Sep 3, 2026 | Sparks of English |
That accent? It’s not a problem, it’s a clue. That accent?It is not a problem.It is a clue. It tells you where someone is from. Mine gives me away in about four words, usually before I’ve finished introducing myself. (Someone once asked if I was from...
