In wartime nations are often galvanised into frenzied action to innovate and invent in order to try to gain the upper hand in their struggle for survival. In this article we look at some of the seemingly more trivial and rather inexpected things that were invented or developed as a result of the WWI.
Christmas is probably the time of year when there is an overwhelming plethora of traditions and practices that we all enthusiastically embrace. In this article we look at one of the most enduring of British traditions … the Christmas Turkey.
Today the Christmas Tree is a pretty ubiquitous symbol of the yuletide season. It wasn’t always so. In this article we look at a few historical Christmas Tree factoids.
Christmas is a traditionally a time for family fun and games so why not try out this London Underground game. See how many London tube stations you can guess from this cryptic graphic we found on the internet.
Eponyms are one of the most fascinating examples of how the English language gains new words. In this article we take a colourful look at the phenomenon some eponyms like : Chauvinist , Draconoian, Hooligan, John Hancock & Mentor.
Everybody knows that if you want to catch a bus, you spend ages waiting and then three will come at once. That at least is the urban myth which is popular enough to become the title of a book. According to mathematicians, however, it really is a myth. Buses don’t usually come in threes, they come in twos, and the reason why this is so can be found in this article.
Ok, hang on to your hats, this conspiracy theory must be the Daddy of them all – The Phantom Time Hypothesis. In a Nutshell (pun intended) According to the Phantom Time Hypothesis theory, the period between 614 ad and 911AD didn’t exist; the history normally attributed to that time is either a misinterpretation or a deliberate falsification of the evidence. If this were true, Charlemagne (reigned 768-814) never existed and the...
In wartime nations are often galvanised into frenzied action to innovate and invent in order to try to gain the upper hand in their struggle for survival. As well as technical innovation the language and grammer of war changes also. In this article we look at some of the terms, still in use today, that owe their origins to this conflict.
We all know that the Americans are a litigious lot but sometimes they really outdo themselves. In this article we’ve gathered together some of the more crazy lawsuits that our American cousins have embarked on.
Some answers to the fluff of everyday life :
> Was the London Bobbie named after a real Bobby ?
> Was there ever any cocaine in Coca-Cola ?
> Why do we clink glasses when we say cheers ?
> Why do we say an outlaw is beyond the pale ?
> Why do we say that someone who is fired gets the sack ?
Improve and test your wordpower. How many of these (Southern) American-English words do you know?
When the red, red robin comes bob-bob-bobbin’ along, it’s not bobbing out of joie de vivre. The robin probably has one thing on its mind – food ! So how DO birds know where to peck for worms ?
“Mumbo Jumbo”, “Going great guns”, “going to the dogs” – The origins of a selection of some popular English expressions and sayings.
The Darwin Awards honour “Those who do a service to humanity by permanently removing themselves from the gene pool” : In this article we’ve included some past deeds which have been ‘recognised’ by the judges.
No one knows precisely how hiccups are caused— but they’re jolly annoying, even if they do provide much merriment for anyone witnessing them. In this article we list a few ‘cures’ that no-doubt someone somewhere swears by.