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A Mickey Finn
This phrase is not often heard nowadays, which is quite surprising in some ways, given how often you hear reports of people being afflicted by the effects of what it means, which is a sedative (or sometimes in the US a purgative) drug surreptitiously slipped into someone’s drink. It has very likely been supplanted by the more modern words ‘spiked’ or ‘roofied’, but it is a shame that the practice continues, even if the original phrase does not.
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English Corner Archive
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A Mickey Finn
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Frequent Handling Of English
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It’s So HOT In Here!
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One Man Went To Mow, Went To Mow A Meadow
Read more: One Man Went To Mow, Went To Mow A MeadowSorry to disappoint you but the title might suggest that we were going to reveal the long lost origin of the nursery rhyme, but sadly this will remain lost in the mists of time; however, we are going to examine the word meadow, and it’s origin, as it leads on to a series of interesting…
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High Tea
Read more: High TeaDinner is, for most English speakers, the main meal of the day. When the word was first used (in the 12th century) it referred to a midday meal, but it did not remain so for long. By the early 16th century it had become the first meal of the day, what we would call breakfast.…
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Names Of Elements
Read more: Names Of ElementsA 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…
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Names Of Elements
Read more: Names Of ElementsA 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…
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Clutching At Straws
Read more: Clutching At StrawsIt 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…
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AWOL
As this is the first English Corner to appear in the Hua Hin Citizen Journal, we thought it quite appropriate to give a brief history and etymology of the phrase that was the name of our printed predecessor, along with the thought process and the other possibility that was considered back in the heady days…
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It’s a Gas
Try not to laugh but scientists at the University of Maryland have developed a device that they hope will clear the air on a delicate topic – flatulence. Previous research has more often than not fallen a bit flat because of relying on self reporting by volunteers of their flatus (the scientific name for passing wind, farts or one of the many other names used for this expelling of intestinal gas), but the creation of “Smart Underwear” looks to have allowed the researchers to let rip in this field of study.
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Weird News Archive
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It’s a Gas
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Lost On The Bus
WHERE IS MY INFLATABLE DINOSAUR COSTUME?
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Man Swallows Fabergé Egg Pendant In Alleged Theft
POLICE WAITING ON “FOR YOUR EYES ONLY” EVIDENCE
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The Great Melbourne Bagpipe Bash
Read more: The Great Melbourne Bagpipe BashA most unusual new world record was set this week as 374 bagpipers gathered in Melbourne’s Federation Square and belted out AC/DC’s rock and roll classic “It’s a Long Way to the Top”, which has always stood out among rock classics because of the use of the ancient instrument on it. Billed as “The Great…
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School Demands Parents Pay For Their Own Kids Art
Read more: School Demands Parents Pay For Their Own Kids ArtA Kindergarten and Preschool in Brisbane facing financial difficulties sent emails to pupil’s parents requesting AU$2,200 for their preschoolers’ artwork portfolio, with the kids only aged up to 5. The centre’s volunteer management committee sent the email to help pay off its mounting debt owed to staff and keep the preschool afloat. The one-man committee…
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Striped Cows, Drunk Bats and Smelly Shoes
Read more: Striped Cows, Drunk Bats and Smelly ShoesA team of researchers from Japan wondered if painting cows with zebralike stripes would prevent flies from biting them. Another group from Africa and Europe pondered the types of pizza lizards preferred to eat. Those researchers were honored Thursday in Boston with an Ig Nobel, the prize — a hand made model of a human…
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Striped Cows, Drunk Bats and Smelly Shoes
Read more: Striped Cows, Drunk Bats and Smelly ShoesA team of researchers from Japan wondered if painting cows with zebralike stripes would prevent flies from biting them. Another group from Africa and Europe pondered the types of pizza lizards preferred to eat. Those researchers were honored Thursday in Boston with an Ig Nobel, the prize — a hand made model of a human…
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“I am the Ambassador of Westarctica”
Read more: “I am the Ambassador of Westarctica”An Indian man has been arrested by police in New Delhi after he had been found to be running a fake “embassy” from a rented residential building near the capital. The cops also recovered cars with fake diplomatic plates. Harshvardhan Jain, 47, had apparently duped people for money by promising overseas employment, said senior police…
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When is a bone not a bone?
Apparently, in Ohio, when it is in a “boneless chicken wing”, according to the state’s Supreme Court. They recently ruled in a case where a diner sued a restaurant, Wings on Brookwood, after ordering boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce, which then led to serious medical complications, and doctors found a long, thin bone had…
