You may be interested to know where the ‘&’ symbol on our keyboards came from and why it is called the ampersand.
Well, in medieval times the symbol & derived from the Latin et, meaning ‘and’.
The & appeared on every child’s hornbook as part of the alphabet; the 27th symbol after Z. It was [more…]
On February 10, 2013, Chinese New Year will be celebrated and it will become the Year of the Snake, according to the Chinese horoscope.
In the build up to New Year, houses are cleaned and newly painted and gifts, food and clothing are bought. Paper cut-outs of words such as happiness, wealth and longevity are used to decorate houses [more…]
What is the significance of December 25? We all know that it is Christmas Day, the celebration of the birth of Jesus and a time of families, presents and laughter, but why is it celebrated on that particular day?
In Armenia it is January 19 and in some eastern countries it is January 6 [more…]
Cupid is usually depicted as a naked winged boy holding a bow and arrows.
In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Mercury and Venus. His name comes from the Latin cupido meaning ‘desire.’
An episode of The Golden Ass, a story told by the Latin satirist, Apuleius recalls the story of Cupid And Psyche. Psyche [more…]
Dear Christine & staff I enjoy every moment of puzzling in The Lot and look forward to the 2009 issues. Thanks to all. Avon Simpson Toowong, QLD
Most people remember fondly the Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland, but the phrase mad as a hatter was around before Lewis Carroll created his crazy character.
Felt hats were very popular in Europe and North America from the 1500s to the 1800s, particularly top hats, the best of which were made from beaver fur.
In [more…]
From Colossus Inklings No.120
The Australian National University in Canberra ran a competition asking readers to send in an Australian place name with a suitable definition. The entrant was allowed to add, remove or change one letter of the place name if desired. Here are some of the witty results:
Barragate – a really fishy [more…]
From Colossus Inklings No.120
A reader recently wrote in to tell us that she was 20 years past threescore and ten. Why didn’t she just say ‘fourscore and ten’? I suspect it’s because the prescribed lifespan of an average person was purported to be threescore and ten’ 70 years old. And she was telling us [more…]
From Colossus Inklings No.120
To show how much words change their meanings, look at these five words that have similar meanings. Only one had the same meaning originally.
Danger comes from 13th C daunger ‘power’, as in ‘power to inflict injury’. This in turn came from Latin dominium ‘ownership’.
Hazard evolved from the Arabic al zahr, ‘the [more…]
