(It's something that you might say when you find something that belongs to someone else and decide you are going to keep it, but by law, you don't have any right to keep something you 'find'.)
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14 items tagged "word"
Related tags: new [+], Interesting [+]
Interesting Facts Fun
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Interesting Word # 92 - Finders Keepers
Posted: July 31st, 2009, 5:13am EDT
Tags: Interesting word
According to the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the saying "Finders keepers (losers weepers)" dates as far back as the early 19th century, recorded as "No halfers-findee keepee, lossee seekee".
(It's something that you might say when you find something that belongs to someone else and decide you are going to keep it, but by law, you don't have any right to keep something you 'find'.) -
Interesting Word # 91 - Butterfly
Posted: May 23rd, 2009, 6:01pm EDT
Tags: Interesting word
According to the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's International Dictionary, the word butterfly came about either because the instect was supposed to like butter or because its excrement resembles butter.
( The link with dairy products is not only evident in English: the German name "Schmetterling" is derived from "Schmetten", the word for "cream" in some German dialects. Still, many websites claim that butterflies were originally called flutterbies, which is much cuter. Some even claim that Shakespeare was responsible for changing the name from flutterby to butterfly. The truth, as ever, is a bit less interesting and this case a bit disgusting.)
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Interesting Word # 90 - Influenza
Posted: April 29th, 2009, 5:53am EDT
Tags: Interesting word
The name influenza comes from the Italian word, influenza, meaning "influence" (Latin: influentia).
(It refers to the cause of the disease; which ascribed illness to unfavorable astrological influences. Changes in medical thought led to its modification to influenza del freddo, meaning "influence of the cold". The word was first used in English in 1743 when it was adopted, with an anglicized pronunciation, during an outbreak of the disease in Europe. Archaic terms for influenza include epidemic catarrh, grippe (from the French), sweating sickness, and Spanish fever (particularly for the 1918 pandemic strain). No matter what you call it it's horrible.)
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Interesting Words # 86 - Polydactyl
Posted: March 12th, 2009, 8:33am EDT
Tags: Interesting word
Being a "polydactyl" means you were born with additional digits (toes or fingers).
(Famous polydactyls include Anne Boleyn and cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers. I'd love to have 12 fingers, I'd be able to type that much faster.) -
Interesting Word # 82 - Euthanasia
Posted: December 28th, 2008, 6:01pm EST
Tags: Interesting word
The word 'euthanasia' means good death.
(It comes from Ancient Greek eu- "good" + thanatos "death." Now it refers to the practice of killing anyone who is suffering from an incurable illness or condition.) -
Interesting Word # 81 - Charlie's Dead
Posted: December 15th, 2008, 7:01pm EST by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting word
"Charlie's dead" means that someone's slip is showing.
(Slip means petticoat and of course this is from a time gone by, when ladies wore petticoats. "Charlie's dead" was said when a ladies' petticoat was showing below her dress or skirt, along with the equally bizarre "It's snowing down south", which probably started because ladies' petticoats were usually white. There are a couple of different explanations for Charlie's dead though.
The first explanation is that the Jacobites wore white ribbons to identify themselves to each other as supporters of "Bonnie Prince Charlie. And after he died you could point to someone who had a piece of white in their clothing and say "Charlie's dead".
The other explanation that I found is that it may stem from Charles I, where apparently at his execution the women in the front row dipped their petticoats in his blood.
Of course, like most idioms, nobody really knows for sure.) -
Interesting Word # 79 - British
Posted: November 17th, 2008, 7:01pm EST by Your Teacher
Tags: word
Why one earth would this word be interesting? Well independent Councilor Ron Davies has told on his staff at Caerphilly council to stop using it, because it upsets people from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Asia and China.
(Quote: “the idea of British implies a false sense of unity”. I wonder what he thinks of being called a stupid prat.) -
Interesting Word # 79 - Hacktivist
Posted: November 4th, 2008, 7:01pm EST by Your Teacher
Tags: new word
Hacktivist refers to politically motivated computer hackers.
(It's a play on words, mixing activist and hacker. I'm not sure if it's in the dictionaries yet, but I'm sure it will be soon.) -
Interesting Word # 77 - Oenology
Posted: October 16th, 2008, 8:01pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting word
Oenology (BrE) or enology (AmE) is the science and study of all aspects of wine and winemaking from the grape harvest to bottle. An expert in the field of oenology is known as an oenologist.
(I knew I'd chosen the wrong course at Uni!) -
Interesting Word # 65 - Pseudocide
Posted: July 26th, 2008, 7:16am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting word
Pseudocide is the act of faking your own death.
(Believe it or not there are lots of websites that offer tips and hints on how best to vanish successfully - providing advice on how to cut family ties, sell possessions and start up a new business under a new identity. My own recommendation is to hang around and face the music.) -
Interesting Word # 64 - Monsoon
Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 7:03am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting word
The word monsoon is often used to describe heavy rain, but it actually refers to the wind, specifically the seasonal reversal of wind direction.
(In fact, according to Jim Dale, senior meteorologist at British Weather Services, monsoons only affect one part of the world and that is the Indian subcontinent. So, us Brits will have to restrict ourselves to the "It's raining cats and dogs" idiom.) -
Interesting Word # 63 - Mysophobia
Posted: July 15th, 2008, 10:02am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting word
Mysophobia is a fear of dirt.
(It is sometimes referred to as germophobia (or germaphobia), a combination of germ and phobia to mean fear of germs, as well as bacillophobia and bacteriophobia. Several famous people have suffered from this phobia, including: Cameron Diaz, Howard Hughes, and Joan Crawford.) -
Interesting Word # 61 - Potato
Posted: July 10th, 2008, 10:16am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting word
In the UK there are loads of words derived from the word potato. They include Scots: pitatie, pirtie, pirta, purta, purty, pitter, porie, tattie, tottie | Hiberno-English pratie, praitie, prae, prata, prater, pritta, pritty, pruta, poota, tater, tattie, totie | Irish: spud | Norfolk: tater. -
Interesting Word # 59 - Genuvarum
Posted: April 29th, 2008, 9:40am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting word
Genuvarum describes the condition of bow-leggedness.
(If you are bowlegged it means your legs bow outward at, or below the knee. The chief cause of this deformity is rickets, which is caused by a deficiency of vitamin D, due to a lack of sunlight or a poor diet. Researchers believe that the increased use of sunblocks and increasing levels of atmospheric pollution are responsible for a world-wide increase in cases of rickets.)
