Posts Tagged: french

  • the second most important event of 2020 was the US election played out in against the back-drop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

    WORD OF THE YEAR 2020—POLITICS AND THE US ELECTION

    Perhaps the second most important event of 2020 was the US election played out against the back-drop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Here we look at words from politics and the US election for 2020  (I have borrowed a photo from the Trump Tie Meme). The OED reported that in the early […]

  • Hiram Codd and his Codd Bottle

    Codswallop—a load of old or new

    Codswallop is slang for nonsense. It is a way of calling something fanciful and untrue without having to resort to the more overtly crude bullshit. Although there is no doubt to its meaning its origins are not clear. It has only been found in written English in the last fifty years. Wallop has been in […]

  • Gorumand is not a super gourmet

    The sophisticated gourmand

    I have been hearing, every now and then, people in the media referring to lovers of fine dining as gourmands. However, it is quite wrong and quite comical. It is used as if it were the superlative of gourmet, ie one starts as a simple consumer of food, graduates to being a gourmet, a lover […]

  • Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte coined the word altruism.

    Altruism is not about me

    Altruism is a word coined in 1830 by the French philosopher, Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte, better known as Auguste Comte. He was born 20 January 1798 (according to the French calendar) and died in 1857. Altruism is the principle or practice of unselfish concern for, or devotion to, the welfare of others. It […]

  • Sabots, the French word for clog is the basis for sabotage.

    Sabotage the Dutch story

    Origin of sabotage Sabot is the French word for clog and sabotage is derived from it. There is a popular story that sabotage emerged in 15th century Holland. It occurred when textile workers threw their sabots (clogs) into the gears of new automated looms fearing that their jobs would be lost. This deliberate attack on machinery […]

  • Marcel Proust thinking about madeleines?

    Why are you nostalgic, Madeleine?

    Madeleine is a feminine given name. It is a form of Magdalene, first used in the New Testament referring to Mary Magdalene, the female follower of Christ. Magdalene, is thought to have meant from Magdala, an unknown city in ancient Israel. In France a madeleine is the name of a small, shell-shaped cake baked in […]

  • Our word of the week celebrates the spring. Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, is a ubiquitous weed that originates from Europe and Asia.

    Get your teeth into dandelions

    The coming of spring Our word of the week highlights the coming of spring (here in Australia). So we are celebrating the humble dandelion, Taraxacum officinale. I love dandelions in my lawn—the golden flowers are quite delightful. But they are considered a weed (having been introduced from Europe and Asia) by those that love their […]