English Language FAQ

Charles  Dickens'  A Christmas Carol  (1843) introduced many  memorable words, phrases and idioms into the English language . It also popularised the greeting 'Merry Christmas' which was not widely used at that time. Stave One is a particularly rich source of memorable phrases. 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 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 -fi

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"

In American English a curveball is a deceptive or unexpected action which poses a new challenge e.g. He threw a curveball by threatening to walk out of the meeting.  

I was born into an Irish family living in London. This has left me with an Irish name, an English voice and an extra trove of words and phrases that have passed down from the Irish language.

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

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