One of the delights of etymology is the discovery of unexpected connections between words and there is no richer source of these than the class of words known as frequentatives.  Never heard of them?  But you use them all the time.  For instance… when you are fond of something you might find yourself fondling it. …

Everyone, in every language, refers to temperature, probably multiple times a day, whether referring to themselves, the weather (particularly the British!), or without necessarily realising it or any presence of noticeable physical temperature (read on for this last one). Let’s begin with the basic words hot and heat; the difference between the adjective and the…

When you hear words like ‘cowboy’, most people will immediately conjure up images from the old Western movies, of rough, tough and handsome men, who shoot first and ask questions later, before riding off into the sunset with their ‘gal’ by their side. It shouldn’t surprise you too much to learn that real life in…

A slightly different English Corner this time, where we look at a type of name rather than a specific phrase. The Periodic Table, or table of elements, is a chart that organizes all known chemical elements by their atomic number, with rows called periods and columns called groups. This arrangement is based on the number…

It is only since the mid-19th century that we have been clutching at straws. Even more recently, the ‘grasp at straws’ version has become commonplace, especially in the USA. Prior to that, desperate people would ‘catch at a straw’. That usage of ‘catch’ was commonly used in medieval England, by which was meant ‘obtain/achieve’; for…

This was the very first “English Corner” that appeared in the 3rd October 2008 issue of AWOL, and is republished here as both a nod to the past and part of our pre-launch testing. The image is a new addition. An expression with several origin stories, but its meaning is to pay attention to details.…