Curfew
Clues we might use for this word include ‘Night-time outings restriction’ or ‘After-hours travel ban’, but a curfew started as a law aimed at preventing villages burning down.
The word’s origin is in the Old French couvre-feu meaning ‘cover-fire’. In medieval times fires were precious for lighting, heating and cooking. Crude wooden houses with thatched [more…]
Puzzler or Puzzlor?
Hi,
With words ending in either ‘er’ or ‘or’, is there any rule which determines which is the correct usage?
Or is it merely happenchance like so much of our language?
Arms akimbo
Akimbo is a stance with hands on hips and elbows turned out, usually showing impatience or defiance.
Akimbo is an old word that is only heard in this phrase, or very occasionally and more recently, as ‘legs akimbo’. Another such example is ‘aback’, which only occurs in ‘taken aback’.
In Middle English akimbo appeared as kenebowe [more…]
Argy-bargy
Argy-bargy is British slang with the meaning ‘noisy quarrelling’.
The word appears to come from an earlier form, ‘argle-bargle’, which originated in Scotland. The first part of the doublet is a modification of the word ‘argue’ and the second part is nonsense rhyming. Oxford lists the plural as argy-bargies.
This type of playful language is known [more…]
Scuttlebutt
This is a wonderful slang word for gossip and we have to thank sailors for it.
Water for drinking on a ship was kept in a butt, or a large cask. The cask was scuttled, that is, a hole was cut in it, usually with a hatch as a lid. The hatch could be lifted [more…]
Fuddy-duddy
If someone calls you a pompous old fuddy-duddy you will no doubt take offense.
This term meaning stuffy and old-fashioned might well sound like a stuffy old-fashioned expression, but it has only been around for a short time really – well around 100 years, which is recent when you think that so much of our [more…]
Lazy Susan
A Lazy Susan is a revolving tray in the middle of the dining table for easy access to condiments and shared dishes.
What a strange name for this turntable that became fashionable in the early 20th century.
If your name is Susan, I am sure you are not lazy, but you are probably interested in the [more…]
As dead as a doornail
English abounds with similes in the form of ‘as x as a y’ but where did this one come from?
The answer is not clear, but the expression has been around since before Shakespeare (and the good Bard used it in Henry IV).
Quite possibly ‘as dead as a doornail’ has survived down the centuries because it [more…]
At one fell swoop
This means in a sudden move or all at once but started out with more sinister connotations.
The expression is often wrongly quoted as ‘one foul swoop’, or even ‘one fowl swoop’, but it doesn’t relate to chickens.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macduff on hearing of the death of his family says;
All my pretty ones?
Did you say [more…]