All Questions
Tagged with wording-choice historical-context
7
questions
9
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1
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732
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Where can I take a deeper dive into Jane Austen's vocabulary?
I'm translating some Jane Austen into Latin, and I'm wondering whether there's a resource that would allow me to do a deeper dive into the nuances of the vocabulary she uses, especially the words that ...
- 93
12
votes
2
answers
2k
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"Miss" as a form of address to a married teacher in Bethan Roberts' "My Policeman"
In Bethan Roberts' 2012 novel My Policeman, Marion Taylor begins working as a schoolteacher in 1957. She writes her name on the chalkboard for her students:
A moment passed as I gathered myself, then ...
- 30.1k
4
votes
1
answer
247
views
Why "Cagots" for albinos in Morpurgo's Robin Hood story?
In Michael Morpurgo's short novel Robin of Sherwood (1998), republished in 2012 as Outlaw: the True Story of Robin Hood, the band of outlaws in Sherwood forest starts off as outcast misfits including ...
- 74.1k
13
votes
3
answers
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Why is a "cucumber sandwich" specifically used as what English faith has "only just enough teeth to get through"?
In Chapter 34 of The Kingdoms, Kite goes on this musing about religion:
The golden dome of the cathedral at Cadiz showed, just. He had been trying not to stare at it as much as he'd been trying not ...
- 9,864
10
votes
1
answer
26k
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Origin and significance of E-I-E-I-O in the Old MacDonald song
The well-known children's song "Old MacDonald had a Farm" has lyrics in the following format:
Old MacDonald had a farm
E-I-E-I-O !
And on that farm he had {article} {singular or plural ...
- 30.1k
7
votes
3
answers
2k
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Context of "swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow"?
I go, I go; look how I go,
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
-- Puck, Act III Scene II, A Midsummer Night's Dream
This is a well-known line from a Shakespeare play, but did Shakespeare ...
- 74.1k
7
votes
1
answer
263
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Why does Shelby Foote use the phrase "airline miles" in The Civil War: a Narrative?
In The Civil War: a Narrative, Shelby Foote periodically uses the phrase "airline miles" to mean "distance on a straight line." I can't recall offhand hearing this phrase anywhere else; why this ...
