Most explorations in the past were privately funded by well-to-do individuals; it should therefore, not come as a surprise that many of the newly discovered places were named after people – mostly Kings and Queens. The state of Virginia in the United States, for example, is named in honour of the ‘Virgin’ Queen, Elizabeth. Similarly, […]
Read More STORIES BEHIND PLACE NAMESFor those of us who grew up watching a lot of cartoons, when we hear the word canary, we immediately think of Tweetie, the cute little yellow bird that frequently appears in Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes cartoons. We seldom think of the group of islands off the coast of Morocco, called Canary Islands. Although canaries […]
Read More A Group of ISLANDs THAT WENT TO THE DOGS!Mentor, pundit, guide, professor, educator, instructor, tutor, etc. are some of the words that pop up when we Google for a possible synonym for ‘teacher’. No Dictionary of Synonyms, however, lists ‘slave’ as a possible alternative. Perhaps, they should, for you see, we teachers sometimes refer to ourselves as pedagogues, and the profession that we […]
Read More TEACHER, ART THOU A SLAVE?Several decades ago, not much ink was spent on proclaiming the arrival of the impending New Year; it failed to create the kind of hoopla that is associated with the event today. Like Jeeves, the immortal character created by PG Wodehouse, the day ‘glided’ or ‘floated’ in imperceptibly, and left without leaving a trace. For […]
Read More RINGING IN THE NEW YEARThe expression an apple a day keeps the doctor away was probably the brainchild of someone who had an orchard. How else can one explain the dramatic swing in the fortunes of a fruit that supposedly brought about the downfall of Mankind? Overnight, it was transformed from a villain to a saviour. The liberal sprinkling […]
Read More APPLE OF ONE’S EYE?
Know Your English 