Tricky Words in this week's OVI

There are several ways to translate the Slovak word "podľa" into English, with a range of styles from informal through formal and all the way to official. Considering ethical rules, for example, "in line with" is relatively informal, but "We do things by the rules" is more informal. "In accordance with" is more formal, and "in compliance with" is an official expression. Considering people's opinions, though, there's something tricky in English. "According to" is used to present OTHER PEOPLE'S views, opinions or ideas, and it suggests that we don't necessarily agree with them. For that reason "according to me" doesn't quite make sense: "I don't necessarily agree with what I'm telling you" is a strange thing to say. Say "I think" or "If you ask me" or "In my opinion" instead.

Andy's Wordshop

I'm glad the Košice Peace Marathon item mentions?the new book which has been published to celebrate 90 years of the Marathon, and I can't resist banging my own drum (or blowing my own trumpet either) here, because I provided the English texts for it. I think this book has something for everyone in it: there are amusing stories of what happened in specific years, background information and anecdotes about particular runners over the decades, and then lots of up-to-date statistics for resolving friendly disagreements about Marathon details. The new book draws on two older ones: Košice Peace Marathon marking the 75th and Najstarší v Europe marking the 80th anniversary, published in 1999 and 2004 respectively. Let's all support the KPM!