I like the word INEVITABLE. Not because I particularly like its meaning, but because I like the story of its journey into English....

Part 1: Jigsaw Joan’s Little Lesson Watching my toddler giggling happily as he completed his Paw Patrol jigsaw, I fell to musing on...

“42.” Yes, but what is the question? Fans of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (of which I am one) will smile at this reference to this...

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe...

The Human Heart of Myth part IV

The Perennial Quest Part II A modern observer might raise an eyebrow or even laugh at this notion. How can a half-man bull, or half-bull...

The Perennial Quest Myth and Meaning Should similarities in far-flung myths from across the world be attributed to a common ‘archetype’...

The Human Heart of Myth It is very easy to think of myths as stories full of magic and fantasy and should not be taken as serious in...

We have all had that tantalizing moment, seeing something that makes us think, ‘oh, yes, that looks lovely’, but which for some reason we...

A Greek in Rome In 167 BC, an intelligent, well-educated, and experienced Greek found himself bound for Italy as an exile/detainee. It...

The Subject and its Beginnings “We consider that geographical investigation, as much as any other subject, to be a valid concern for the...

‘Man is by nature a suspicious animal!’ I hope Aristotle would have forgiven my (mis)appropriation of his original statement (‘man is by...

Well, the Tea-Drinkers are obviously the English. Our famous stereotype as tea sippers and samplers even made it into Asterix, although...

Well, 'Changed in Derivation' might be more accurate. Some English derivatives from Latin show a slightly altered meaning from that of...

There’s nothing like a good joke! And lots of words related to humour and comedy come from Latin or Greek. So, we have a funny flavour...

"...you will come across misbehaving and spoiled children, elitist parents, smug self-centered rulers, obnoxious nobility, disgruntled...

Euripides, Hippolytus When I was an undergraduate and studying this play as a set text for one of my Finals’ papers, I had to answer the...

Why is the Arctic called the Artic? Where does the word Galaxy come from? This year’s second Wordy Weekly has an astronomical flavour....

What do we know about the life of Herodotus? Well, not a huge amount. End of article. No, just kidding. We do have some knowledge....

A nine-book history, running from the Trojan War to the end of the Persian Wars with Greece, and for this, I would argue quite rightly,...