Origin of the word Halloween?
Photo by Tony J on Unsplash Halloween or All-Hallows-Eve takes place on the night of 31 October in anticipation of All-Hallows-Day (1st November) .
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Where does the word Halloween come from?
Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash Halloween or All-Hallows-Eve takes place on the night of 31 October in anticipation of All-Hallows-Day (1st November) . It has emerged from a combination of Christian and pagan traditions. Etymology Hallow is the old English word for saint. Halloween is a Scottish variation dating back to the 1700s. The 'een' suffix is a contraction of 'evening'. 'Hallowed evening' or 'holy evening' was later understood to mean eve or 'night before' as with Christmas Eve All Hallows Day is now called All-Saints-Day in the Catholic calendar. It commemorates Christian martyrs All Souls Day follows on 2 November. On All Souls Day Catholics pray for the 'souls of the (faithful) departed'. Photo by Tony J on Unsplash Halloween FAQ - brief history of Halloween customs - free 3 min read Halloween often features in Victorian ghost stories. Read and/or listen to E. Nesbit’s ‘Man-Made-in...
Why 'the Silver Screen'?
In 1898, the British film exhibitor Arthur Cheetham offered Londoners short reels of football matches "now shown on a new silver screen which brings the pictures out almost as well as electric light." Cheetham proudly called his innovation a Silvograph , but the American film industry didn't adopt it for over a decade. Edison A new, improved version was unveiled in 1909 on the US East Coast, where Edison had helped establish a nascent film industry. The Lyric Theatre in Smith St, New Jersey, was "equipped with a new patent silver-coated screen". Within a year, the Gem Theatre in North Dakota installed a new silver screen, " coated with aluminium or silver paint.... each picture stands out a great deal more distinctly than on the old screen." Silver symbol A silver screen became not only a technological upgrade but also a symbol of cinema's glamour. Vaudeville encouraged audience participation, but films seem to come from a more remote, luxuriou...
Best opening line in Dickens?
The most frequently cited example is the scene-setter for A Tale of Two Cities (1859): a novel about the French Revolution: The complete sentence "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Perhaps that sentence should have ended there, especially as A Tale of Two Cities is one Dickens shorter works. But he still has thirty-one weekly instalments of his new magazine to complete - and readers of his new magazine did not like to be short changed. Besides the author was keen to demonstrate the extensive research he had done into the revolutionary events, now seventy years in the past. And so this is the full version (118 words!) of one of the best selling novels of all time: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of des...
What does Auld Lang Syne mean?
I llustration to Robert Burns' poem Auld Lang Syne by J.M. Wright and Edward Scriven . Auld Lang Syne is from the Scots language.
What is Hogmanay?
Fireworks at Edinburgh Castle. Photo by Chris Flexen on Unsplash Hogmanay is the very distinctive Scottish celebration of New Years’s Eve.
What is a carol? Where does the word come from?
In old French a 'carole' was circle dance accompanied by singing.
How did A Christmas Carol change the English language?
A Christmas Carol (1843) has been one of the most influential novels every written. In Stave One alone there are many of the most memorable words, phrases and idioms into the English language . 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...
