In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the literary history of a distinctive word During the eight years I’ve been running this blog and combing every book, website, and trivia list I can find for eye-catching literature-related facts, one of the most satisfying I’ve discovered […]
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle examines the origins of a famous phrase ‘We have nothing to fear except fear itself.’ Those words – and the sentiment they convey – are inextricably bound up with Franklin D. Roosevelt. But what are the origins of the […]
What’s the technical term for talking about yourself in the third person? Or using the royal ‘we’ when you aren’t a king or queen? Words, of course, are the tools of the writer’s trade. But what are some good words, perhaps even some unusual but wonderfully descriptive words, which mean […]
‘Yankee Doodle’ is a classic American song, a patriotic tune that is also the state anthem of Connecticut. But where did the words to ‘Yankee Doodle’ come from? And what is the history of this popular tune? Before we delve into an analysis of these issues, here’s a reminder of […]
A few days ago, we delved into the curious origins and meaning of the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’. That got us thinking about another popular feline phrase, ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’. We all know the rough meaning of the phrase: namely, if it’s raining cats and dogs, it’s […]