Posts Tagged: god

  • AI generated image of a sailing ship in a cyclone.

    Hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons and tornadoes—the angry gods

    Over the last few days we have watched the destruction in the US after Hurricane Milton made landfall on Thursday (AEDT) before tracking across the state. When fierce storms wreak havoc, we hear them described as hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons or tornadoes. These words are used for different types of storms in different places and even […]

  • Hubris in Greek mythology was when man became so arrogant that they thought they were the equal of the gods. Nemesis would punish them. So it is with Australian cricket!

    The meaning of hubris in Australian cricket

    The word of the week is hubris. It has been thrown around in the media to describe the attitude of the Australian cricket team leading up to this week’s controversial ball-tampering incident. Otherwise known as #cricketcrisis, #tapegate or #sandpapergate. I have always struggled to understand exactly what hubris means but with a bit of reading […]

  • ICON Jesus Christ, messiah, saviour, redeemer, Lord

    In the name of Christmas

    Christ Christmas is the mid-winter celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The meaning of Christmas is literally Christ’s mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, from Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. Sometimes Christmas is abbreviated to Xmas, the X representing Christ. Although this irritates some people, it […]

  • Post apocalypse morning reading the paper while my daugher plays the trumpet.

    Post-apocalypse analysis

    Sunday morning and the world has not ended (22 May 2011). My hangover has gone which is a good post apocalypse result. There are no hoof prints in the garden, no open graves and there was no thundering in the night. The only trumpet to be heard is my daughter’s rather perfunctory practising, which for quite […]

  • Ogham text in the The Book of Ballymote

    Ogham signed by the Druids

    Understanding where the word, ogham, comes from is difficult but may help substantiate the belief that ogham was a secret Druid language.

  • Thunder ... Thor Destroys the Giant Thrym Rydberg, Viktor. 1906

    From Thor we get thunder

    As Sydneysiders suffer our dog days (see note below) the Bureau of Meteorology appease us by suggesting that thunderstorms are on their way. We pray for the sound of thunder to bring a change from the constant heat. Thunder is the sound caused by lightning as it passes through the air. Lightning heats the air […]

  • The Basque language is considered one of Europe’s oldest languages. The authors suggest it survives from the stone age. Jingo is one of the few words that English may have taken from it. IMAGE: Basque man on balcony

    By jingo it’s Basque

    I have just finished reading a wonderful book on language called WORDS: the evolution of western languages (Edited by Victor Stevenson, Van Nostrand Rheinhold Company Inc.). It looks at how the early Indo-European language created most of the modern languages now used in Europe, Turkey, Iran and all the way to India. The Basque language is an […]