Breakfast

I’m having breakfast as I write this. There’s nothing terribly unusual about that: it is the morning after all. But do you know what that word breakfast means?

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Alma Mater

What was your old school like? Have you ever gone back there, to your alma mater?

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For Crying Out Loud!

Usually, when people cry, they cry out loud. But of course you can cry silently, can’t you? That hasn’t always been the case though.

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Indiana

I was reading the blurb on the book I’ve just started reading, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, when I got a little surprise.

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Alienist

I’ve come across this word a few times recently, while reading “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by H.P Lovecraft.

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The Writing’s on the Wall

The signs are there that something bad is going to happen. Its meaning isn’t hard to figure out, and there’s a logic to it (writing on a wall is a pretty visible sign). But where does this expression come from?

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No, I Don’t Mind

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