If you want peace, prepare for war.
An ancient, but enduring adage, first found in the 5th century De re militari (Concerning Military Matters) by the Latin writer Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus.
I was thinking about this phrase recently, inspired by the subtitle of the latest John Wick film – Parabellum. Continue reading
What’s so bad about being on the B-Team? I mean, sure, they’re obviously not as good as the A-Team, but they’re still better than the other 24 teams! Continue reading
Yes, but how many? Wait, that doesn’t make sense, does it…?
Obviously you can’t say four clothes or five clothes. But why? Continue reading
-Going anywhere nice this year? Going abroad?
I haven’t had a haircut in a while, so I haven’t had the pleasure of such charming conversation recently. But I recently thought about the word abroad while reading. You see, it was being in the more old-fashioned way, as in: Continue reading
I had a moment of inspiration today about the word ocarina. In case you’re unaware of what it is, an ocarina is small wind instrument that probably became a lot more famous around the world after it was prominently featured in the 1998 N64 videogame The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Of course, being as cool as I am, I was already familiar with the instrument, as it had featured as a useable item in the 1993 Gameboy game The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
Anyway, today I saw a picture of an ocarina somewhere, and it made me wonder if the word’s related to geese somehow. Continue reading
I always begin these posts by saying I came across this expression recently.
I didn’t though. Instead, while reading something, I came across something like He cried like a crocodile. And the fact that it wasn’t the specific expression crocodile tears is what caught my eye, and actually made me think about that expression, and where it might come from. Continue reading
Hello there! It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, I know, but I’ve been pretty busy lately. And I thought it’d be better to take a break and not write anything sub-par or forced while tired. And you’ve got plenty of old articles to read anyway.
Anyway, this is one of those times when I started writing without much of an idea in my head, but as soon as I started, I thought about that opening phrase: Hello there! Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 