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Why 'as mad as a hatter'?
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'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 psychotic symptoms. source Da
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.'
Where does the word vaccination come from?
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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.
What is Ulysses about? Is it worth reading?
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Mr Bloom prepares breakfast for himself, his wife & his cat. Photo by Vital Sinkevich on Unsplash Ulysses (1922) is long novel in which, on the surface, very little happens. Over a single summer's day (June 16, 1904) we share the lives of three Dubliners: Stephen Dedalus (a recently bereaved young graduate), Leopold Bloom (a middle-aged sales representative of Jewish origin) and Molly Bloom (unfaithful wife of Leopold and occasional singer). All the action takes place in and around Dublin. Within this framework, Joyce experiments with a multitude of literary techniques in a daring attempt to find a literary form to express the complexity of the modern world. This demands a lot of the reader but offers rich rewards. Read More