XML FeedsCategory: Altered English
Want a coffin?! - The original meaning of 'coffin'
By thorgal on Jan 7, 2008 | In Altered English | Send feedback »
When Petruchio in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew speaks of a 'coffin', he uses it to describe the shape of a cap:
"Why, thou say'st true; it is a paltry cap,
A custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie:" (Act IV, Scene III)
So did people wear hat… more »
About the manuring of students
By thorgal on Oct 15, 2007 | In Altered English | Send feedback »
Parents today would certainly be astonished and mostly appalled to hear that their offspring would be manured at school, since they would probably be afraid of the stench coming off their children.
In the times of James Murray (A New English Dictiona… more »
The original meaning of 'animosity'
By thorgal on Oct 1, 2007 | In Altered English | Send feedback »
Sensing animosity in other people did not always mean that you should try to get away from these persons as quickly as possible. To the contrary, it meant that you discovered a very positive attitude in those people.
Derived from the Latin 'animus' an… more »
An 'aquarium' but no fish
By thorgal on Sep 17, 2007 | In Altered English | Send feedback »
In modern times we associate the word aquarium with fish, or if more exotic with plants or other animals living in the sea or in lakes. Never, however, would we associate this word with cows...
In the end of the 19th century the word aquarium, that is o… more »
A brief description of the word 'brief'
By thorgal on Sep 3, 2007 | In Altered English | Send feedback »
If I had to brief you on the meaning of the word brief, I could have a look into my brief case and take out a dictionary. There I would find several clear and brief entries. However, none of those entries gives a valid explanation of the usage of the wo… more »
