history

Total Recall

Niall O'Donnell 6 Comments

Recall is an interesting word by virtue of how simple its etymology is.

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Engrossed

Niall O'Donnell 9 Comments

Maybe you’re engrossed in a good book, or a film, or perhaps simply an interesting conversation.

Whatever it is, it’s something that’s got our full attention.

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Home

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

What makes a house a home?

I’m sure you all have very different and interesting answers to that question.

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Try, Try, and Try Again

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

I seem to be thinking a lot recently about words that can have two meanings.

Spell. Mind. Cry. Fast. Inclined. And today: try.

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No, I Don’t Mind

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

Carrying on from yesterday: all native speakers of English are quite used to the phrase I don’t mind… But why do we use mind in this case? Continue reading →

To Coin a Phrase

Niall O'Donnell 6 Comments

Without checking, I can safely say that I refer to words and phrases being coined a lot in these posts. I’ve long wondered why we use to coin as a verb in this way, so different, apparently, from how we use coin as a noun. So I decided to look into it.

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AD/BC

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

You’re probably familiar with these abbreviations, used to indicate if a year took place either on or after AD 1, or before it. You probably also know that BC stands for Before Christ, as our current calendar system is based on the assumption that Jesus Christ was born in AD 1. What about AD though?

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