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846-5: Useful information 24 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion 2013. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this newsletter in whole or part in free newsletters, newsgroups or mailing lists online provided that you ...
846-4: Sic! 24 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
• Seen by John Peck in the Marks and Spencer store in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, a set of four “serial bowls”. He suggests the great advantage is that one only has to do the washing up every fourth...
846-3: Crack shot 24 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
[Q] From Mark Brown, US: Where did the term “crack shot” originate? [A] The short answer to your question is England, but I suspect that may leave you feeling a bit short-changed. Fortunately I can s...
846-2: Whiffler 24 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
Students of Shakespeare will know of whifflers from Henry V: The deep-mouth’d Sea, Which like a mighty Whiffler ’fore the King, Seems to prepare his way. Whifflers went in front of a procession to...
846-1: Feedback, Notes and Comments 24 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
Parcel “If you are in the habit of reading antiques catalogues,” Anthea Fleming wrote, “you may come across the term parcel-gilt in descriptions of silver items. It means partly gilded, as in a silver...
845-5: Useful information 17 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion 2013. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this newsletter in whole or part in free newsletters, newsgroups or mailing lists online provided that you ...
845-4: Sic! 17 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
• “While walking in AbbeyDore in Herefordshire,” wrote Pete Sinclair, “we saw a plaque over a gate at the church: ‘ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF CAPT R.C.B. PARTRIDGE, M.C. C. de G. KILLED IN ACTION SEPT 2...
845-3: Part and parcel 17 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
[Q] From Malcolm Ross-Macdonald, Ireland: Has the parcel in the stock phrase part and parcel anything to do with the parcel handled by the Post Office? I recall resellers of war-surplus goods in the 1...
845-2: Lemniscate 17 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
Take a doughnut (not a traditional British one, but an American one with a hole in the middle). Lay it on a chopping block. Take a sharp knife and hold the blade vertical, positioning it so that its e...
845-1: Feedback, Notes and Comments 17 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm
Agog Dharmachari Padmavyuha wrote, “I think you’re right about this ‘new’ usage of agog being confused with goggle, and I think it’s happening by way of agape (which has the same flavour of meaning as...
