English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
Nov15

English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today

How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.

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Wordsmith – Test your ‘Celluloid Vocabulary’
Sep27

Wordsmith – Test your ‘Celluloid Vocabulary’

Improve and test your wordpower against a list of rather unusual english words.

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Euchre – Guernsey’s Card Game
Sep20

Euchre – Guernsey’s Card Game

The card game of Euchre can arguably be considered Guernsey’s national game. Across the island there’s a collective enthusiasm for the game that has resulted in leagues, clubs, Euchre drives and many a private euchre party . But how do you play it?

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The Worlds Longest Running Battery
Aug02

The Worlds Longest Running Battery

In a physics lab at the University of Oxford there is a battery that has been powering a metal ball ringing two bells for a staggering 175 years and nobody knows why.

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Origins of Some English Eponyms : Titch, Platonic, Maudlin, Machiavellian
Jul05

Origins of Some English Eponyms : Titch, Platonic, Maudlin, Machiavellian

Eponyms are one of the most fascinating examples of how the English language gains new words. In this article we take a colourful look at the phenomenon that is the eponym gathering together the stories of the people behind the words that have passed into our everyday vocabulary : Titch; Platonic; Maudlin and Machiavellian.

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How Can Flies Fly at Speed into a Pane of Glass and Seemingly Remain Uninjured ?
Jun28

How Can Flies Fly at Speed into a Pane of Glass and Seemingly Remain Uninjured ?

How Can Flies Fly at Speed into a Pane of Glass and Seemingly Remain Uninjured ?
The answer lies in a basic physics equation – one we would all have learned at school – and in the fact that the anatomy of a fly is rather springy.

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5 Words Introduced to the English Language by Rudyard Kipling
Jun21

5 Words Introduced to the English Language by Rudyard Kipling

Shakespeare is often credited as a the most prolific contributor of many of the words we use today in the English language. However he’s not the only venerable writer to do so. Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, was also a highly prolific contributor, coining and popularising many words and phrases still in use in modern English.

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English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
May24

English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today

How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.

Read More
Bonus Question : Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic?
Feb08

Bonus Question : Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic?

We at guernseydonkey.com are always keen to promulgate that ever exapanding ‘body of knowledge’ we like to call “intenet fluff”. Accordingly we recycle here for your delectation a story that seems to have begun its life way back in 1997 when the internet was still young. Multiple examples now exist and its opening often varies – who the setter supposedly was and at what institution – but the core of the piece is always the same. Enjoy! 🙂

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How do the Stripes get into Striped Toothpaste?
Jan18

How do the Stripes get into Striped Toothpaste?

We may just be mobile bags of chemicals but what separates us from other things like rocks, water & viruses are questions like “How do the Stripes get into Striped Toothpaste?”

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English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
Dec28

English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today

How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.

Read More
Origins of Some English Eponyms : Farenheit, Colossal, Macabre, Dolby
Nov23

Origins of Some English Eponyms : Farenheit, Colossal, Macabre, Dolby

Eponyms are one of the most fascinating examples of how the English language gains new words. In this article we take a colourful look at the phenomenon that is the eponym gathering together the stories of the people behind the words that have passed into our everyday vocabulary : Farenheit, Colossal, Macabre, Dolby

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How is it that a Yacht Can Travel Faster than the Wind ?
Nov20

How is it that a Yacht Can Travel Faster than the Wind ?

There is something undeniably odd about a yacht doing 25 knots while sailing into a 15 knot wind. So, how is it that a yacht can travel faster than the wind ?

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What is the Evidence Supporting Claims of Spontaneous Human Combustion?
Nov13

What is the Evidence Supporting Claims of Spontaneous Human Combustion?

In the 150 years since Dickens described the horrific death of Krook the rag-dealer in Bleak House, several hundred cases of apparent spontaneous human combustion in humans have been recorded. They typically involve the rapid yet complete incineration of the person, often with no obvious nearby source of heat. But what of any scientific analysis ?

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From Robot to Airy-Fairy to Cyberspace – 10 Beautiful Words Coined by Famous Writers
Oct23

From Robot to Airy-Fairy to Cyberspace – 10 Beautiful Words Coined by Famous Writers

If you look at the number of words in the English language you’ll find that estimates vary between 500,000 and just over 2 million, depending on how you count them. You will find that some of these words were simply “made up” by various authors at one time or another but they’ve proved so popular that they’ve entered our everyday lexicon like Robot, Airy-Fairy, Banana Republic, Cyberspace, Co-ed and many more.

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