The Words to Say It and How Some Meanings Have Been Reversed
The number of words a language has for apparently identical object is one measure of how familiar and important those things are to the speakers. In the United States, English offers a host of words for an automobile: car, sedan, coupe, hardtop, convertible, cab, crate, roadster, van, compact, dragster, limousine, jalopy. Some of these words are not found in any other language in the word, not even in Britain.
The Outlaw with a Past: The Search for Robin Hood
Although the legend of Robin Hood has persisted for centuries, no one knows if he ever really existed. The earliest visual representation of him, is in a “biography” entitled A Lyttell Geste of Robyn Hode, probably written about 1400…To this day, the figure of Robin Hood remains elusive. Whether he actually existed as a real person or was a fictional representation of one or more real-life outlaws, his origins will continue to entertain and intrigue young and old alike.
Daniel Dunglass Home: The Man Who Could Change The Size and Shape of His Body
Sometimes Home was made to stand in the middle of the room back with another man for comparison as he shrank or stretched. At other times Home, closely watched by the observers, would walk around, elongating and shortening three or four times, until the trance state ceased and the spirit voice said “Good-night” to let those present knows that the evening had ended.
The Unusual Origins of Some Familiar Words – Curious Origins
When Portuguese sailors first encountered a large flightless bird on the island of Mauritius, they were struck by its ludicrous clumsy appearance and the ease with which they were able to catch it. They christened it the doudo, the Portuguese word for stupid. Even the bird’s Latin name (Didus ineptus) emphasized its silliness. Since doudos, or dodos, tasted delicious, they were extinct – hence the origin of the expression “as dead as a dodo.”
A Presidential Secret: An Operation to Save The Nation
The report was strenuously denied. At the time it appeared, Cleveland was in the White House in Washington, D.C., and seemingly in good health. His speech was normal and he displayed no signs of any recent operation. All that his aides would admit was that the 56-year-old president had indeed been on the yacht and had suffered a slight toothache, which was the reason that a dentist had been summoned on board. Most people were satisfied with the official explanation. The argument caused by the report raged briefly but soon died down. The affair was quickly forgotten.
