Posted: Jan 10, 2019 2:11 am
1. Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics – Dianne Larsen-Freeman & Lynne Cameron
2. Around the World in 80 Words: A Journey Through the English language – Paul Anthony Jones
268 pp.
This was a briskly written and enjoyable examination of some English language vocabulary that is derived from place names around the world. Many of the entries are familiar (Shanghaied for kidnapped or abducted, Bedlam (Bethlehem) for the famous mental hospital in London, Doolally (mad) from the transit camp in British India and so on. Other entries were more obscure. Dollar from a town in Bohemia, Panama Hats from Ecuador and Vaudeville from Vire in France. Two entries that I particularly like were:
Siege of Gibraltar. This territory was subject to numerous sieges over the centuries. So, when someone was on the booze and it wasn’t clear what the occasion was, they could just say that they were commemorating the Siege of Gibraltar, as there had been so many sieges that odds on any given day could be an anniversary! Cheers!
The second one that made me laugh was the origins of Gotham for New York. The original use of the word referred to a small village in Nottinghamshire which was supposedly populated by country bumpkins of remarkably low intelligence. There was a boom in Elizabethan times of songs and stories about these rustic dimwits and the author quotes one of the rhymes:
Three wise men of Gotham,
Went to sea in a bowl.
Had the bowl been stronger,
My song’d been longer.
Made me laugh! The word Gotham gradually lost its negative connotations and moved towards a place holder for any large town or city and thus it crossed the Atlantic to New York. Holy Etymologies Batman!
An enjoyable and informative read.
2. Around the World in 80 Words: A Journey Through the English language – Paul Anthony Jones
268 pp.
This was a briskly written and enjoyable examination of some English language vocabulary that is derived from place names around the world. Many of the entries are familiar (Shanghaied for kidnapped or abducted, Bedlam (Bethlehem) for the famous mental hospital in London, Doolally (mad) from the transit camp in British India and so on. Other entries were more obscure. Dollar from a town in Bohemia, Panama Hats from Ecuador and Vaudeville from Vire in France. Two entries that I particularly like were:
Siege of Gibraltar. This territory was subject to numerous sieges over the centuries. So, when someone was on the booze and it wasn’t clear what the occasion was, they could just say that they were commemorating the Siege of Gibraltar, as there had been so many sieges that odds on any given day could be an anniversary! Cheers!
The second one that made me laugh was the origins of Gotham for New York. The original use of the word referred to a small village in Nottinghamshire which was supposedly populated by country bumpkins of remarkably low intelligence. There was a boom in Elizabethan times of songs and stories about these rustic dimwits and the author quotes one of the rhymes:
Three wise men of Gotham,
Went to sea in a bowl.
Had the bowl been stronger,
My song’d been longer.
Made me laugh! The word Gotham gradually lost its negative connotations and moved towards a place holder for any large town or city and thus it crossed the Atlantic to New York. Holy Etymologies Batman!
An enjoyable and informative read.