Since ancient times, the raven has been a symbol of death. This could be because it’s a carrion bird, feeding on the flesh of dead animals but there’s also something about the jet-black raven that makes it seem sinister, the sort of bird you might see in a Dracula movie perched eerily on top [more…]
At the close of a Sunday school class in 1876, Ann Jarvis expressed a deeply-held wish; she hoped there would be a day commemorating mothers like her for their peerless service rendered to humanity. At just 12 years old, Anna Jarvis heard her mother’s prayer, and she took it to heart. Two years after [more…]
When we want to describe something truly huge, English gives us some wonderfully dramatic options. These are the words we reach for when ‘big’ just isn’t big enough.
A behemoth is a huge or monstrous creature, or something enormous, such as a big and powerful organisation, first mentioned in the Bible. This is what Job [more…]
One of the most common spelling mistakes we notice in competition entries is the er/or endings, which usually occur with names of doers – that is, people who do certain jobs.
Why do some doers have ‘er’ endings, such as farmer, baker, minister, lawyer, plumber, banker, teacher or crossword compiler while other doers are spelled [more…]
Anyone with Scottish ancestry will know that 25th January is a very special day, the birthday of Scotland’s favourite son, poet and songwriter Robert Burns. This day is celebrated more widely than the official national day, St Andrew’s Day. It is known as Burns Night and all around the world, Burns Suppers are held.
You [more…]
Although birthdays and Christmas are probably the biggest celebrations in our year, many cultures around the world don’t celebrate birthdays or Christmas. The festival that is observed in the most areas of the world has got to be New Year – although not necessarily on the same date as ours.
The earliest recorded festivities for [more…]
It’s not long now until the jolly season of yuletide, when the extended family traditionally gathers together peacefully to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Nowadays, who takes any notice of tradition? It’s more often than not a season fraught with shopping for food, writing cards or racing around the shopping centre.
In fact, the stress of [more…]
It says a lot about our tendency to procrastinate that the word presently in the late 14th century meant ‘immediately, in the present time’, but by the 1560s it had relaxed into ‘soon’. In fact, soon also used to mean ‘at once’ and eventually came to mean ‘within a short time’. Anon is one [more…]
I sometimes think of the English language as a living, breathing creature that devours new words and spits out the obsolete ones. New words are added all the time, and existing words are given new meanings, which is what makes the English language so wonderfully diverse.
The word ‘gifted’ means ‘blessed’ or ‘talented’. When [more…]
