English Language FAQ

'Mad as a hatter' is usually used to describe extreme eccentricity.  The phrase appears in The Clockmaker (1817) by Thomas Haliburton. Perhaps surprisingly, it is not used directly by Lewis Carroll  in either  Alice in Wonderland ' (1865) or Through the Looking Glass (1871).  Chapter VII of the former is, however, called A Mad Tea Party. It also  attended by a hatter, who the Cheshire Cat calls 'mad. It is the  zany antics at the tea party that are being referenced in modern usage. Mercury poisoning The phrase is commonly believed to allude to the grim effect of mercury poisoning on workers (hatters) manufacturing felt hats.  Mercury poisoning  affects the nervous system, with dementia a common symptom.  Victims developed severe and uncontrollable muscular tremors and twitching limbs, called 'hatter's shakes'; other symptoms included distorted vision and confused speech. Advanced cases developed hallucinations and other psychoti...

According to legend, provincial doctor Edward Jenner once overheard a young dairymaid boasting:  “I shall never have smallpox for I have had cowpox."​  This eventually lead to Jenner establishing that smallpox inoculation could provide protection against its far more lethal virological cousin. With a scientist's precision, Jenner called this process 'vaccination' - after vaccinia  the Latin word for cowpox. The cow connection proved great branding - the alleged vanity of the anonymous dairymaid has amused children for two hundred years. It also proved a gift to the original anti-vax movement, who were deeply suspicious of Jenner's devilish new life-saver.  

Photo by  CDC  on  Unsplash It is often assumed that the bubonic plague (black death) spread across Europe because the authorities did not understand the concept of contagion. In fact, it was widely understood that an infected person would pass their disease to others. What was not known was the precise transmission mechanism or what you needed to do to avoid contagion. It was obvious, however, that the disease was manifesting itself in particular localities. The key to prevention was isolation. You needed to keeping infected persons out your town, city or community. Who first used the term? In the 1340s the Venetian authorities in charge of the port city of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) issued the first quarantine measures. This was aimed  at ensuring that infected visitors did not mix with the rest of the population.  The edict established an isolation period of trentino giorni (30 days). This applied to anyone arriving from an area known to be affected by bubo...

Covid test vial  Photo by  Vincent Ghilione  on  Unsplash Seroprevalence is the level of a pathogen (e.g. the virus Covid-19) found in a particular population - a country, city or region for example. This is measured by administering blood test to as wide a sample of that population as is feasible. Testing The accuracy of seroprevalence is dependent on a number of factors including the size of the sample tested as a proportion of the general population Photo by  Colin D  on  Unsplash the representative nature of that population in terms of age, sex, socio-economic conditions, ethnicity, size of household, number of social interactions, occupation etc. the accuracy of the tests, especially if these are physically difficult to administer. Covid-19 tests are quite physically intrusive as they require a throat swab. the accurate record keeping of the testers the potential for cross-contamination the estimated number of false positiv...

In the early 1960s the linguist and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky developed a theory which became known as universal grammar. The posited that we are born with the innate capacity to master a language.

English is the world's leading lingua franca or second language (see L2 speakers in the table below). According to David Crystal, this has nothing to do with its inherent qualities. Other linguists disagree: Read More  Download English Language FAQ Teaching Pack only £1.99

nerd nəːd/ noun informal:  a foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious. Single minded, expert:  "I was a serious nerd until I discovered girls and cars" synonyms : bore, dull person;  "a computer nerd"

It is often forgotten for nearly two centuries English has been the majority language in Ireland. At the same time speech patterns and vocabulary from Gaelic were retained, often in a bastardised form 

gossoon  Irish    a  boy  [C17:   from   Old   French   gararçon ]

Hashtags are the # symbols used on Twitter and other social media, like Instagram and Facebook.

Inside baseball  is a term popular with political and media analysts.

The 'be-all-and-end-all' is now used to refer to a decisive life-changing event. It is usually used in the negative e.g. Your exams are important but are not the be-all-and-all.

The word OK entered American English in the 19th century and is now one of the most popular in the language. But there is little agreement as to its origins.