the Words Made Flesh

Fortunately, there is no bereavement if "Charlie' s Dead". The now obsolete phrase, "Charlie's Dead" is enlisted amongst the Six Innocent Phrases and their Morally Suspect Origins" (Referenced below). "Charlie's Dead was said when a lady's petticoat was showing below her dress or skirt. Yet, where did this lingerie allusion generated from? King Charles II "It refers apparently to King Charles who was rumored to be an alley cat (c.c. a womanizer) of his time. When he perished, women flashed their petticoats as a sign of respect. King Charle's best known mistress was Nell Gwynn. On his deathbed, Charles is alleged to plead his wife to "Not Let Poor Nellie starve". "Charlie's Dead is not a massively common expressin and with good reason. You'd subtly whisper "Charlie's Dead" to a woman if her petticoat was showning below the hem of her skirt, which...

The retail bonanza known as Black Friday is now an integral part of many Thanksgiving celebrations but this holiday tradition has darker roots than the shopping frenzy it alludes to. First recorded use of the term "Black Friday" was employed not to holiday shopping but to financial crisis : Specifically, the crash of the U.S gold market on September 24, 1869 Two notoriously ruthless financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk plotted to buy up as much as they could of the nation's gold hoping to drive the price sky-high and then sell it for astonishing profits. It was on that Friday in September that the conspiracy finally unraveled, sending the stock market into free- fall and bankrupting everyone from Wall Street barons to farmers. The popular story behind the post-Thanksgiving shopping-related Black Friday tradition links to its retailers. After an entire year of operating at a loss in the red , stores would supposedly earn a profit went into t...

Bilingualism: the sooner, the better!

The York's medieval quarter that is known as the Shambles is a favourite amongst visitors' attractions. Shambles is an archaic term for an al fresco slaughterhouse and meat market. An interestingly good amount of history could be revealed by a place name. Such is the case of the aptly named "The Shambles", the beautiful medieval cobbled street in York that was once lined with butchers' shops and stalls, or benches for displaying meat known as " Shamels " in the Anglo-Saxon dialect of the era. The meat was hung up outside the shops and laid out for sale on what are now the shop window-bottoms. It is still possible to see some of the original butcher’s meat-hooks attached to the shop fronts. Lacking modern-day sanitation facilities, there was a constant problem of how to dispose of the waste produced by the slaughter of animals in the city. The pavements are raised either side of the cobbled street to form a channel wher...

Morston Quay, Norfolk.🇬🇧️ The place-name "Morston" means "marsh town or settlement".🛶 Like its neighbour Blakeney, Morston, used to be a major port 400 years ago, but is now only used by a small number of fishing boats, leisure craft and the regular seal watching trips which leave for Blakeney Point.

....Virtually, you don't know the person referred to at all. The informal, idiomatic expression "to not know someone from Adam" means to have never met someone and not know anything about them. To have never met with someone, to not know someone at all. E.g.: Why should she lend me money? She doesn't know me from Adam. Why would she trust me? She doesn't know me from Adam. Thesaurus to be in the dark, benighted, Goodness/God/Heaven/ Christ knows, I'll be hanged if I know, Ingnorance, Ignorant, In blissful ignorance, Insensate, Not have a cleu/have no clue, Not have the foggiest idea, Not have the remotest idea, Not know the first thing about something, Not know the half of it, Oblivious, Obliviousness, Unsuspecting, Untutored, With your eyes shut/ closed, Wouldn't know something if you fell over one/ it, Your guess is as good as mine. "I wouldn't know someone from Adam's off ox"...