After writing about the term bohemian recently, I realisd that there are a few other cases in English of adjectives relating to certain regions having a particular meaning. Continue reading
The Corinthian Spirit
language learning
Bohemian Rhapsody
Why do we call a free-spirited artistic type a bohemian? Continue reading
What Does Thanos Mean?
About a week or so ago, when Avengers: Infinity War was released, I thought, I wonder if there’s any interesting points related to language raised by the Avengers and their ancillary characters? If you clicked on that link in the first line of the paragraph, or read this post inspired by Black Panther, you can see that these films often give me a lot to think about.
Hello Europe!
This evening I was at my parents’ house, watching a little TV after Sunday dinner. I don’t really watch much TV anymore, at least not in the conventional broadcast sense, apart from Sunday afternoons at home. Gaelic football matches are the usual background noise to Sunday-afternoon dinner, but we had it a bit later today, so I found myself watching an interesting nature programme.
Update
Hello! I haven’t written much lately, mainly because I’ve been pretty busy.
With work mainly, though I also think it’s been nice to take a little break from writing, and refresh my mind a little. Not that I’ve been giving it too much of a break, mind you.
Secretary
What are the first six letters of the word secretary?
Why do We Say Steal Someone’s Thunder?
Like soap opera, this phrase is one of those little bits of language which seems quite bizarre when you really look at it. But like soap opera, most of us don’t really look at it like that, because we’re so used to it.
And also, I think, like soap opera, it just feels right. For me I think that was because it seems somewhat classical, ancient. Maybe it’s because it makes me unconsciously think of aspects of Ancient Greek myths, like the story of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, and Zeus’ thunderbolts.
Despite its classical feel though, the phrase is actually relatively modern, and its origin can be traced to a very specific point.
English-Language Thoughts 