The Word Detective

Opie Collection of Children's Literature This site uses cookies to support some content and functions, and also Google Analytics. By using this site you agree to their use. Find out more and opt out » This site uses cookies to support some content and functions, and also Google Analytics. More » The Sunday Times Bonmarché blames Brexit and weather for sliding profits new Bonmarché, the discount clothing retailer, blamed a string of factors, from bad weather to Brexit, for sliding annual profits and its failure to increase market share. The company, which specialises in clothing for women aged over 50, complained that last year had been more challenging than it had expected and that it had not managed to...Bonmarché, the discount clothing retailer, blamed a string of factors, from bad weather to Brexit, for sliding annual profits and its failure to increase market share. The company, which specialises in clothing for women aged over 50, complained that last year had been more challenging than it had expected and that it had not managed to...Bonmarché, the discount clothing retailer, blamed a string of factors, from bad weather to Brexit, for sliding annual profits... Read the full story

Word Links: A Vocabulary Game I am sure this activity goes by another name, but I have called it Word Links for the time being. I first saw this activity on a Japanese TV show called QSama, where two English words were shown on the screen and the contestants had to guess the connecting word. If you know this activity by another name, please let me know in the comments section. I thought this game would make a great vocabulary activity for the classroom, so I produced a few adaptations of it. Perry Index The Perry Index is a widely used index of "Aesop's Fables" or "Aesopica", the fables credited to Aesop, the story-teller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BC. Modern scholarship takes the view that Aesop probably did not compose all of the fables attributed to him;[1] indeed, a few are known to have first been used before Aesop lived, while the first record we have of many others is from well over a millennium after his time. Traditionally, Aesop's fables were arranged alphabetically, which is not helpful to the reader.[2] Perry and Rodriguez Adardos separated the Greek fables from the Latin ones, with the Greek ones first; then they arranged each group chronologically and by source; finally they arranged the fables alphabetically within these groups.[2] This system also does not help the casual reader, but is the best for scholarly purposes.[2] Ben Edwin Perry (1892–1968) was a professor of classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1924 to 1960.

Theophilus of Adana Saint Theophilus the Penitent or Theophilus of Adana (died ca. 538) was an Orthodox cleric in the sixth century Church who is said to have made a deal with the devil to gain an ecclesiastical position. His story is significant as it is the oldest story of a pact with the Devil, and was an inspiration for the Faust legend. His feast day is 4 February. Eutyches, who claimed to be an eyewitness of the events, is the first to record Theophilus’ story.

Expressions & Sayings Index If you prefer to go directly to the meaning and origin of a specific expression, click on its relevant entry in the alphabetical list below. Use this alphabet to speed up your search: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z SF Citations for OED This site is maintained by Jesse Sheidlower, Editor at Large of the Oxford English Dictionary. The content side of things is handled by Jeff Prucher and Malcolm Farmer. The project grew out of regular work that was being done for the OED's reading programs. Briefly, research for the OED takes two main forms: general reading, in which a variety of texts are read for any interesting words that are encountered, and targeted research, in which particular terms are specifically analyzed. This can consist of doing searches in electronic databases, sending general researchers to a library to see what they can find, or asking specialists for help in their subject fields.

It’s Never Too Late To Be What You Might Have Been George Eliot? Adelaide Anne Procter? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation about untapped potential and enduring spirit is attributed to the prominent Victorian novelist George Eliot: It is never too late to be what you might have been. Flotsam and jetsam Meaning Ships' goods which are lost at sea. Also used figuratively in non-nautical contexts to means odds and ends, bits and pieces. Origin Flotsam and jetsam are rarely seen apart nowadays although the words, in a variety of spellings, have separate meanings and were frequently used independently in the 17th century. John Cowell, in his 1607 publication The interpreter: or booke containing the signification of words [what we would now prosaically call a dictionary] wrote of "Flotsen alias (Flotzam)".