All Articles
Americana – 7 Wacky Words Born in The USA
The U.S. may have won independence from Britain, but the English can gloat that Americans still speak a language named after them. American English, however, has spawned more than a few wacky words In this article we’ve brought together some of the more unusual terms.
Why do we dream?
This is one of those knotty questions that has many potential answers but tantalisingly eludes scientists. Nobody really knows why we dream; it may be a way to rehearse dealing with difficult problems, or it may be linked to learning.
A Shipwreck and a lot of Wine and Laughter : Guernsey gets Merry
There may yet still be some people who can remember the strange wreck of a ship on the rocks at Albecq on October 1st 1937, the result of which caused a lot of drinking, laughter and general merryment.
Out of the mouths of babes oft times come gems
As the saying goes “Out of the mouths of babes oft times come gems” … and those gems can sometimes be extremely hilarious indeed. We’ve gathered together some of the things that children have written at school in response to tests
So Why is the Day After Christmas Called Boxing Day?
In Britain, Boxing Day is usually celebrated on the following day after Christmas Day, 26 December. But why is it called boxing day ?
The Day the Guns Fell Silent – Christmas Truce 1914
The First World War is a byword for mud, blood and slaughter on a huge mechanised scale. Men living in squalid trenches only tens of yards apart from each other would daily tear each other to pieces if they got the chance. So then, it is no wonder that the Christmas truce is one of the best-known moments of the WWI. Amid the industrial slaughter, here was a reminder of simple human decency.
How Did Xmas Come to Stand for Christmas?
The use of the colloquial “Xmas” has often been singled out as an example of how this religious celebration has been commercialized and robbed of its religious content. So how did Xmas come to stand for Christmas?
Did the Romans invent Christmas?
The Romans were pagans for the first 300 years of Christianities existence.We’ll see in this article that Christianity has been very clever in subsuming pagan festivals and replacing them with their own, especially when the exact dates of some Christian festivals cannot be pin-pointed precicisely.
Winter Warmer – Mulled Cider
If ever summer sunshine could be bottled then it would be in the form of Cider. Dewy mornings, warm summer rain and lazy summer sunshine captured in golden ripening apples…scrummy. So what better than hot spiced cider to warm you and remind you of the half forgotten days of summer.
Has the Fabled Viking ‘Magic Crystal’ been discovered … in the Channel Islands ?
This is a true story of a mystery that’s puzzled archaeologists for a long time. Namely how to explain the nautical prowess of the Vikings in an age long before the invention of reliable magnetic compasses.. Up until now only strange and vague references to their use of a ‘Magic Sun Crystals’ has been offered up as part of the solution to this conundrum.
Is it ever “too cold for snow” ?
When it’s bitter winter and the sky is leaden grey there’s invariable some bright spark who’ll stair at the sky, sniff and say “it sure is cold , but too cold for snow”. But is that ever true ?
The Great U.S of A – Some of the Oddest Laws you’ll ever hear of
We Brits always secretly like to laugh at our some of the strange ways of our ‘American cousins’. However sometimes they just seem to bring it on themselves. In this article we look at some of the most bizare laws of some of the States on the good ‘ol U.S. of A.
Geek Speak – 8 Terms to Help You Navigate the World of ‘Techno Speak’
Our lives today are inextricably linked to the world of Technology.The English language is constantly evolving and creating new terms to describe and keep up with the technology. It can be quite baffling at times so in this article we’ve brought together some of those terms to help you navigate the world of ‘Techno Speak’.
