The Romans loved astrology and did everything according to the Seven Planets, which wandered across the sky. So far as the Roman were concerned there were the Fixed Stars (all those ones in the background that never move in relation to each other), and then there were seven things visible …
If I write: Louis Armstrong was the first man on the moon. The sentence is flat. But if I write: Louis Armstrong was the first chap on the moon. You immediately know what my voice is. You know what accent to read in. Chap doesn’t say anything new about the …
It’s always rather pleasant to watch a word shift in meanings until it means the opposite of itself. Such a word is manufactured, which is Latin for handmade. Manus is hand, as in manual, and facture is making as in, well, a factory, where things are made. But the difference between a factory and a manufactory is the handiwork. …
A fainéant is an idler and a sluggard. Somehow you can guess that without bothering to dig out your dictionary. Fainéants sound lazy. Why? Why, dear inactive reader, did you suspect immediately that a fainéant was a lazybones, a lie-a-bed, and a lotus eater Perhaps it was the suggestion of faint, with the éan slumbering …
According to the Guardian a dirty poem has been discovered with John Milton’s name attached. The poem runs: Have you not in a Chimney seen A Faggot which is moist and green How coyly it receives the Heat And at both ends do’s weep and sweat? So fares it with a …
Bashful is one of those wonderful words without an opposite. Try as you might, nobody will ever call you bashless. Which poses the question: what the devil is bash and how did you get so full of it? To answer that question one can turn to the Old Curiosity Shop where Dickens mentions …
Once upon a time there was a truly terribly Victorian poet called T.E. Brown. His verse is filled with the three Victorian vices: unnecessary piety, unnecessary children, and unnecessary medievalisms. His most famous work is probably the following: A GARDEN is a lovesome thing, God wot! Rose plot, Fringed pool, Ferned …
Once upon a long time ago in France, there was the word étiquette. But it didn’t have the meaning that it has today. Etiquette was nothing to do with passing the port the right way through a revolving door. An étiquette was just a small piece of paper. So far as anybody can tell (and …
‘What moved thee’, quoth she, ‘hither to come?’ ‘For sooth, quoth I, to buy some of your ware.’ And with that word on me she gave a glum With brows bent and ‘gan on me to stare. – Skelton The Barge of Court (1499) Before glum became an adjective it did steady trade as a …
There’s a Chinese poem called Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi. The reason for the title should be obvious if you read the poem in Westernised script: Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī. Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī. Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì. Shì shí, …
