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Which Shakespeare play was made into a film directed by Baz Luhrmann in 1996?
Games and Facts Blogs
The catchphrase, which we sometimes use in our clues, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a well-known sentence or phrase, especially one associated with a particular famous person”.
Winston Churchill’s phrase "Blood, toil, tears and sweat" was only ... read more
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Amid the clutter of images and acquaintances on Facebook arises the difficulty of formalising one's relationships with people, those to whom one has accorded 'friend' status at some stage (though perhaps not those people privy to the more restricted areas of one's life), but with ... read more
When it comes to creating and naming fictitious characters, there can’t be many authors more colourful than Charles Dickens, who provided us with such well-known names as Martin Chuzzlewit, Oliver Twist, Tiny Tim Cratchit and Barnab ... read more
This above all to thine own self be true... to which the word 'own' should itself pay some attention. If you're a gamer, or if you have a teenager in the family or work environment, you're probably familiar with the expression, 'totally owned'.
Now ... read more
In her recent blog about 'mullets', Miranda discussed how the meaning of words can change over time. But sometimes, existing words just don't cut it and new words need to be thought up.
In a time far in the future English readers may look back at this ... read more
In Roman times the red mullet was a prized dish - eaten, even cultivated as a pet. The red mullet are not, however, the same as the common, or grey, mullet which, nonetheless, has been a major food source in ... read more
We take much for granted these days, but in our line of work, a dictionary is an absolute must! Yet there wasn't such a thing 250 years ago. Lists of hard words had been issued as dictionaries but there was no comprehensive national work.
The English literary world was acutely embarra ... read more
Most writers hope to be remembered for their writings, and the characters they create, but in some cases they are also remembered for the fashion crazes that their characters inspired.
At the end of the 19th century, two French writers created heroines whose names are both in the diction ... read more
One of the joys of reading aloud to the younger members of one's family is that, after finishing Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, you can progress to Through The Looking-Glass in which lies the never-ending pleasure of Jabberwocky. Yes, we can still recite th ... read more
Did you know that an expression like sixty is the new thirty has a name? It’s called a snowclone, which is a type of cliché that uses an old idiom in a new context – the key words change and you have a new expression with a familiar rhythm. Sixty i ... read more
Leaning, as I do, towards the view of grammar that says 'less is more', I find myself battling icky little bits of punctuation and the traditions that insist they be used.
I should rather none were used (see, I can do a subjunctive!) or, at least, as few as possible. Whi ... read more
If I say I’m ringing up the curtain on a new puzzle, it means I’m launching it, and this expression comes, as you may guess, from the world of theatre. The beginning of a performance is indicated by raising the curtain. It’s curtains for you ... read more
