14 Origins of Phrases You Probably Use Every Day but Had No Idea about
Have you ever walked into a tiny room and thought ‘I couldn’t swing a cat in here?’ Have you ever ‘rubbed someone up the wrong way?’ These are examples of phrases we use all the time, but do you know their origins? I love words. I love metaphors, words that…
10 Little-Known Origins of Words That Come from People’s Names
Does anyone fancy a ham and cheese stamford? You might be eating one right now if that particular Earl had invented what we all now know as the sandwich. Here are some other origins of words that come from people’s names. It’s a famous story but let’s just recap for…
23 Weird Words That Have Different Meanings to Those You Imagine
Our language is full of weird words that look as if they mean one thing but actually imply something completely different. For example, take the word bucolic. If you didn’t already know what this word meant, you might surmise that it was a medical word connected to an illness of…
8 Obscure Emotional States You’ve Felt but Couldn’t Find a Name for
Have you ever been stuck for a word to describe some of your more complex emotional states? Which of the following 8 emotional states are you familiar with? 1. Sublimation Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, used the term sublimation to refer to the redirection of the erotic drive (or libido)…