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Showing posts with the label etymology

Why are Academy Awards called Oscars?

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The initial design for the art-deco influenced statuette came from a founding Academy member,  the Irish art director,  Cedric Gibbon .    In 1928  Gibbon  created the initial design for the 33 cm high gold-plated statuette. 

What is Globish?

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Globish  in British ( Ɡləʊbɪʃ     ) noun a  simplified   version  of English used by  non-native   speakers , consisting of the most  common  words and phrases only Collins English Dictionary Globish is a term invented by a French business man, Jean-Paul Nerriere. It describes the an adapted form of English used in communication between non-native speakers.

How did A Christmas Carol change the English language?

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A Christmas Carol  (1843) has been one of the most influential novels every written. It introduced many memorable words, phrases and idioms into the English language .  Many of these are used in Stave One Bah Humbug!   interjection . An exclamation of irritation or disgust.  Dead as doornail  - obviously/conclusively dead. Ghost of Christmas Past :   noun.   A person or thing from a past you might choose to forget  Gruel  - a thin liquid food of oatmeal - used to refer to cheap/poor food.  Scrooge:   noun . Someone with cold/mean/miserly attitude. Also someone who transforms from bad to good. Tight fisted  - ungenerous  Famous quotations A Christmas Carol is also one of the most widely quoted texts in literature. Here are some widely used examples from the opening description of Scrooge: Marley was dead, to begin with … Old Marley was as dead as a doornail. Oh! but he was …tight -fisted The cold within him froze his old features. He carried his own low temperature alwa

Origin of laughable?

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Laughable Adjective : to inspire laughter: comically ridiculous. A variation based on laugh which evolved from the Middle English laughen, laghen  

Origin of word blackmail?

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The original meaning of blackmail was not directly connected to the concept of extortion

What is the Rorschach test?

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Hermann Rorschach (1884–1922) invented the 'ink blot' personality test. It uses 10 standard black or coloured inkblot designs to assess personality traits and emotional tendencies. This diagnostic tool was initially intended to  provide insight into the mental processes involved with what was broadly termed schizophrenia. Rorschach, who died soon after completing his research paper Psychodiagnostik (1921) had cautioned that ‘that the test is primarily an aid to clinical diagnosis’. From the 1940s, the Rorschach was adapted for use in occupational assessment and other areas of social science.  In contemporary English, the term  Rorschach Test is often used metaphorically to describe what psychologists call projective assessment. Put simply, how you see something depends on your 'priors' or pre-existing assumptions. Who was  Hermann Rorschach?

Why 'Maundy' Thursday?

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The first citation of maunde  to describe the Thursday before Easter in middle English comes in the mid-15C. It described not only The Last Supper in general but also the ceremony of the washing of the feet of the poor or downtrodden. The immediate origin was Old French mandé. This in turn derived from the Latin mandatum  or "commandment" (see mandate (n.)). For Christians the crucial reference is to the opening words of the Latin church service for this day, Mandatum novum do vobis "A new commandment I give unto you" (John xiii:34). This new commandment is to love one another.  The supreme test of this commandment will, of course, be the events of the following day: Good Friday . Short essay : Where does the word Easter come from? Passover? Good Friday?

Where does the word Oz come from?

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"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." According to legend, the writer L Frank Baum was stuck for a name for his magical land. Looking up from his desk for inspiration, he saw a filing cabinet with two drawers.  One was labelled A-L and the other O-Z.  Baum wrote down OZ, meaning to replace this later. Christmas-related posts

What is the origin of the word alphabet?

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Origin of the word Jubilee?

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The  Levites  sound the trumpet of Jubilee (1873 illustration) J ubilee is an interesting example of a word that evolved to cover two distinct but connected meanings. 

What is a portmanteau word?

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Where does the word meme come from?

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What is an izzard? Why is it pronounced differently in the UK & the USA?

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An izzard is the letter Z -  the 26th letter of the Roman alphabet.  Like the letter Y this was imported into Latin directly from Greek. It is pronounced zed in British English and zee in American English. This is because the British English version - also used in other English-speaking countries - derives its pronounciation from the old French zed  which in turn is based on the Greek zeta. Where did zee come from? Izzard was the standard pronunciation in the US until the early 19th Century. Gradually, however, the dominant pronunciation pattern (c=see, d=dee) was imposed. The word izzard has never been widely used outside the expression 'everything from A to izzard.'

How did Japanese words enter the English language?

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Oxford English Dictionary editor, John Simpson, explains how Japanese words entered English in three distinct historical phases.

Where does the word pundit come from?

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From the Hindi/Sanskrit word 'pandit'. 

Where does the word shampoo come from?

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What is the Hobson-Jobson dictionary?

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In 1872 two men began work on a lexicon of words of Asian origin used by the British in India. Since its publication the 1,000-page dictionary has never been out of print.

What is a zero-sum game?

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A zero-sum game is  a competition/conflict in which 'the winner takes all'. Whatever is gained on one side is lost on the other.

What is hype? Where does the word come from?

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The first dictionary definition of hype (1967) was ' excessive or misleading publicity or advertising'.

Word most looked-up in the dictionary?

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