ARE YOU A STORMY PETREL?

Storm petrels are small sea birds, and according to seasoned sailors, they generally make an appearance just before the arrival of a storm. The birds are seen as an omen of the troubled times ahead. Therefore, when you refer to someone as a stormy petrel, you mean the individual is a troublemaker; someone whose arrival […]

ARE YOU LEXIPHANIC?

According to scholars, this word was coined by the the satirist, Lucian of Samosata, in the first century. Lexiphanes is not only the name of the main character in the play, but also the title of Lucian’s satire. In it, the hero makes attempts to flaunt his non-existent knowledge by using big words and lengthy […]

ARE we CANNON FODDER?

Fodder comes from the Old English ‘fodder’ meaning ‘food’. In the past, it was mainly used to refer to the kind of things that cows and other livestock generally ate – hay, straw, etc. Common sense suggests that the expression cannon fodder should mean ‘food for the cannon’. During a battle, what is it that […]

WHERE IS CLOUD NINE?

When someone says they are on cloud nine, they are implying they are on top of the world. They are extremely happy with the way things are, and as far as they are concerned, God is in his heaven and all is right with the world! The idiom has more or less the same meaning […]

CAMPAIGN TO CHAMPAGNE!

When people with political aspirations decide to take part in an election, they spend a lot of their time visiting villages, towns and cities in their attempt to woo the electorate. The few weeks/months they spend on the road zipping from one place to another, trying to garner support by interacting with people, is generally […]