As Talking Heads alumni band Tom Tom Club once sang: “What are words worth?” Well quite a lot when you think you knew a few of them and in the space of a day you encounter two — make that three actually — brand spanking new ones. The first is colporteur. No, not some some… Continue reading What are words worth?
Tag: language
Not from Cyprus, not so frail
How we call things at any moment in history is an interesting topic. Times change and words are re-chosen to fit the mood of the age. I thought I’d heard every euphemism there was to hear about prostitutes. ‘Ladies of the evening’, ‘women of easy virtue’ and so on were common 19th century code words.… Continue reading Not from Cyprus, not so frail