Mum's the word - so don't ask

MOTHER'S DAY is looming and I would like to give you all a little heads-up on what would make the day truly special. It is a simple request and it won't cost a cent.

Bali? The word on the street is that it's no bother, really

Janet DeNeefe THE Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is over for another year and I am gloating at our success. With an audience increase of more than 20 per cent and endless praise from writers and readers...

The weight of the word

Chris Berg To oppose WikiLeaks is to be against press freedom and free speech.

Read to your babies and the word will prevail

Tony Wright The Phantom was Friday. Biggles, too. And Superman, Jeeves, The Magic Faraway Tree and many more.

Spread the word: you don't mess with diggers or our sacred Vegemite

Tony Wright In 2001, some marketing genius advising Athletics Australia decided it would be a splendid idea to adopt the name the Aussie Diggers for the track and field team competing in the World Championships...

Word, word, the nerd is the word

Jane Sullivan A whiffler, in 18th-century Oxford and Cambridge, was one who examined candidates for degrees. A whiffler also cleared the way for a procession, or was the man with the whip in Morris dancing.

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Macquarie's mitts all over our supposed Strine

Germaine Greer Australian academics have been laying down the law about my mother-tongue — oops, I mean, of course, mother tongue.

The apostrophe is a mother of all battles, but it's no day to keep mum

Richard Castles Among the greater controversies to test mankind, lying in scope somewhere between the question of God and the issue of spanking, is the correct placement of the apostrophe in ''Mothers' Day''.

Critical vision cloudy

Ronald Millar The works of Fred Williams remain a source of joy and a reason for pride.

If I may put in a good word for the mother tongue, can I say bunion?

Danny Katz There was some study done by somebody somewhere, some time recently - I know about it because I am a professional and meticulously researched journalist.

Face not in fashion? Take it on the chin

Richard Glover In news this week, the ''chinplant'' has become the latest must-have piece of plastic surgery.

Spare the rod, spoil the planet

Elizabeth Farrelly A plague of unwhacked children. Is it possible that, in an array of future threats that includes climate change, financial collapse, sprawl, greed, war, pestilence and famine, humanity's primary...

Swan's budget fiddles while the eurozone burns

John Huxley Swan's song! Swan's cash splash! Black Swan! Or, my favourite, Way down upon the Swanee River, without a paddle! Yes, the world's greatest finance minister gave birth to another budget.

Young searching for life's meaning embrace the rituals of old

Tanveer Ahmed There can now be little doubt that Anzac Day has emerged as the authentic national holiday, in the original sense of the word.

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And on the seventh day, he assembled the Lillangen

Richard Glover Home decorating is the new religion: it's often done on a Sunday, involves a visit to a large building (in this case, Bunnings) and entails a generous donation being placed in the collection plate...

Successful brothel bid would be a stiletto to inner-Sydney's heart

Paul Sheehan Jerry Hall, the former model and ex-wife of Mick Jagger, once infamously said that a woman should be a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom.

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Need new words to tell an old tale

Sharon Mascall-Dare Reporting of Anzac Day enlists a loyal corps of overused words and cliches.

Quay to our city? What a load of bull

Elizabeth Farrelly Standing out from the art-insect crowd at this week's MCA press preview were a couple of wilted Brits in silver trackies. I thought they looked quite depressed.

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Mad about you: how about honesty from our retailers?

Richard Glover In its new advertising campaign, Woolworths reveals that the company's staff members are ''obsessed'' with fresh fruit and vegetables. I don't know if this is a good thing.

We're all narcissists now … or are we?

Tanveer Ahmed There are few more common insults thrown at public figures these days than ''narcissist''. It is considered, in the mouths of many, a more sophisticated way of calling someone a bastard.

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