“ad fontes!”
Why is the element one in words such as alone and only not pronounced like the numeral one? Both the indefinite article an (a before consonant) and the numeral one are from Old English ān—which has survived in Scotland as ane, used both as indefinite article and as numeral. This Old-English word ān meant a/an, one, […]
Read MoreScotland, 1749—from the idea of daring to grab a lion’s “beard” and figurative uses of ‘beard’: (verb) ‘confront’ – (noun) ‘face’
Read Morefrom Phormio, by the Roman dramatist Terence—appeared in English in the 1539 translation of Erasmus’s adages
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UK, 1816—successful person attracting envious hostility—from Tarquin’s decapitation of the tallest poppies to indicate the fate of enemies
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the drawing of the ‘Gerry-mander’ and the accompanying text—as published in the Boston Gazette (Boston, Massachusetts) of 26 March 1812
Read MoreUSA, 1960s—those who already have will receive more—refers to gospel of Matthew—coined by sociologist Robert King Merton
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(jocular) to become unduly agitated or angry—twisted clothing as a metaphor for mental confusion—UK, 1971, in the comic strip Andy Capp
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Irish English, 1907—out of touch with reality—ultimately refers to the belief that the fairies spirit away human beings
Read MoreUK, 1930—‘as the bishop said to the actress’, ‘as the actress said to the bishop’: mischievously implies a sexual innuendo or ambiguity in a preceding innocent remark
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the city or university of Oxford; the sheltered condition of unworldly academics—from the poem ‘Thyrsis’ (1866), by Matthew Arnold
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word histories 