A little more Greek mythology for you.
The other day, I wrote about the Furies, and as usual I initially confused them a little with the Fates.
The Fates and The Weird Sisters
politics
Fire and Fury
You may have heard of this book, an insider’s look at Trump’s chaotic White House. I have some doubts about how true all the book’s revelations are, but some of them sound convincing, like Trump going to bed at 6.30pm with a cheeseburger.
You might known that the title comes from a speech earlier this year in which Trump threatened to “unleash fire and fury” on North Korea. Fury was an interesting choice of word. You could tell that it was one of Trump’s scripted speeches, because he normally wouldn’t have the vocabulary to come up with such a word spontaneously.
Maiden Name
You may never have thought much about this term. It probably seems fairly logical to you. It’s the name your mother had when she was a younger woman, before she was married, and maiden is an old word for a young woman, isn’t it? Yes, but as always, there’s a little more to it than that.
The White Album
Have you ever wondered why we call a group of songs released together by the same band or artist an album? No? Well, I guess you and I are just very different people then…
It occurred to me as strange recently while writing about mistletoe. If you recall, the plant’s Latin name is Viscus Album, with Album meaning white. How did we get from there to a music album?
I Me Mine
Over breakfast today, thinking about what to write today, I noticed this article on the BBC website:
In One Fell Swoop
In a news article today about the new US tax bill, the writer said:
In one fell swoop, the Republicans have introduced some of the largest changes…
In one fell swoop is a pretty common phrase, perhaps almost to the point of cliché. But where does it come from, and what exactly does it mean?
Placeholders and Little Chiefs: The Meanings of Military Ranks
Using the phrase in general today, it struck me that the word general is of course a military rank. As I began to think about the meaning of general as a military term, I thought it might be interesting to look at the origins of military ranks.
English-Language Thoughts 