Believe it or not, I've never read any of the Harry Potter books and consequently, I think the circus surrounding the latest release is, well, a circus, actually.

I suspect I haven't read them because I'm really quite sick of Harry Potter this and Harry Potter that - and have been for some years now. The movie was simply passable - nothing special.

Anyway, JK may now be richer than the Queen, but Dickens has been there and done that (not the "richer than the Queen" bit - the other stuff).

A pretty cool list of the meanings and origins of phrases, sayings, cliches and quotes.

And another one.

This Glossary of Colonial Terminology appears to be designed for developers of Victorian Colonial RPGs, but is an interesting look at the origins of some common slang and terminology in use in the UK. Most interesting to me was the British Military and Soldier Slang with the range of terms that originated in India and Asia, like "cheroot" (from Tamil), "cushy" (from the Hindi for pleasant) and "dekko" (from the Hindi "to look").

The BBC is so cool. Who else would use the term Schadenfreude in a ten-o-clock news bulletin?

It reminded me that I recently ran across this list of Foreign Words and Phrases. No SchadenFreude, however.

Ah well, c'est la vie... Oh, wait that one's not there either.

Swear like a sailor and no one will know (unless you're in London of course) with this brill dick'n'arry of cockney rhyming slang. There's also a Cockney translator, which though not brilliant, is a bit of a giraffe.

Reading through the list, it's pretty clear that rhyming slang is in the midst of a resurgence in the UK what with the inclusion of rhymes like Britney Spears (beers), Brad Pitt (shit), Uncle Toby (moby or mobile phone), Wind and Kite (website), Becks and Posh (nosh - or food - slang for slang there).

Funny, too, that these days, rhyming slang isn't just for Londoners as you'll find people all over the UK speaking complete flowers.

Innit?

(This little bit of English culture brought to us via NYC and that diamond lemon squeezer, IdleType)

Fantastic (and long) article via the War in Context about the various political cultures of democracy and the values and principles of the Arabic world.

Been wondering how to pick up some smatterings of Arabic and so I'm pleased that I've now learned a couple of interesting words. Words like fitnah or "chaos" which refers to free-for-all liberty preferred by both anarchists and individualists. Or muslaahjiyeen, which means "selfish and uncaring people who trample on others' rights and dignity in the narrow pursuit of their own crassly individualistic needs and objectives."

It brings to mind a conversation I overheard (well, over-read) between pro- and anti-gun proponents (who, by the way, were American and British respectively). On the one hand was the idea that one has inaliable rights that no one else has the right to subjugate, while the other suggested that in order to exist within a society, we need to accept that we have no real rights outside of our own bodies, but rather responsibilities to our fellows which would earn us the rights we covet. As Americans, we are brought up with the concept of the former and it's sometimes a difficult mindchange to accept a belief in the latter.

Fantastic (and long) article via the War in Context about the various political cultures of democracy and the values and principles of the Arabic world.

Been wondering how to pick up some smatterings of Arabic and so I'm pleased that I've now learned a couple of interesting words. Words like fitnah or "chaos" which refers to free-for-all liberty preferred by both anarchists and individualists. Or muslaahjiyeen, which means "selfish and uncaring people who trample on others' rights and dignity in the narrow pursuit of their own crassly individualistic needs and objectives."

It brings to mind a conversation I overheard (well, over-read) between pro- and anti-gun proponents (who, by the way, were American and British respectively). On the one hand was the idea that one has inaliable rights that no one else has the right to subjugate, while the other suggested that in order to exist within a society, we need to accept that we have no real rights outside of our own bodies, but rather responsibilities to our fellows which would earn us the rights we covet. As Americans, we are brought up with the concept of the former and it's sometimes a difficult mindchange to accept a belief in the latter.

If you're ever curious about the etymology of English sayings or phrases, you might find them at this Origin of Phrases site. It's an American site, but a lot of the phrases are common in the UK as well. In fact, many, if not most of them originated in the UK.

For anyone interested in the UK's nightlife, experience chucking out time[1] for your very own self with b3ta's swearing keyboard.[2]

[1] when the bars shut at 11 and the streets swarm with pissed-up lager louts[3]
[2] via Arseblog's forums
[3] drunken hoodlums who swill lager all night and then beat each 'uver' over the 'ead with beer bottles.

I was disappointed that the Cambridge Dictionary that I referenced recently no longer hyperlinks every word in the definition.

But that's ok, 'cause the HyperDictionary does. And in fact, Hyperdictionary had a definition for "wain" while the Cambridge one didn't (incredibly).

It's not like there aren't plenty of naughty words online, but this "Glossary of Sexual and Scatological Euphemisms" is quite a laugh, containing as it does, 277 different terms for "male genitalia" including Bathtub Eel, Doniker, Giggling Pin, Heat-Seeking Moisture Missle, Johnny One-Eye the Bald-Headed Champ, Master John Thursday, My Body's Captain, Old Blind Bob, One-Eyed Night Crawler in a Turtle-Neck Sweater, Pocket Piccolo, Purple-Helmeted Warrior of Love, Russel the Wonder, Shvontz, Steaming Hot Kanga, Zubrick and many, many (many) more. Unless someone tells me otherwise, I have to assume the "Russel the Wonder" is one man's pet name for his todger, but I could be wrong.

On the same site is a rather amusing Briton's Guide to Confusing and Embarrassing Words which includes helpful definitions such as "Git: An undesirable and miserable person. Between 'sod' and 'bastard' on the 'are you going to get your head kicked in?' scale."

Sometimes I think fate moved me here to be some sort of British-American ambassador (or anti-ambassador, maybe). I was down at Sainsbury's shopping for dinner and overheard an American women saying to the shop assistant, "I can't believe an English store doesn't have any plain brown sauce!" to which the bemused assistant pointing to the HP Sauce simply shrugged her shoulders.

"HP is brown sauce" I offered helpfully (because as an American I have no qualms about butting into conversations - helpfully, obviously).

"HP is the same as brown sauce?" the women said incredulously, but since it came from me, I guess that was the confirmation she needed and she went away with a bottle. I wonder where the confusion came from? Is there a bottle in the English food section of American supermarkets called Olde Englysh Playne Browne Sauce?

Anyway, the shop girl thanked me afterwards, observing that Americans are often complaining about the lack of variety in the supermarket (before putting her hand over her mouth as she realised my dodgy accent wasn't Irish, but American). I explained that the brands were completely different and the choice was, indeed, massive. I can't remember what I thought first time here, though I expect I was prepared after 2 years of shopping in the Italian ipermercado where you were more likely to find furniture than much in the way of groceries*.

*I'm taking the piss really. There are groceries. And tyres (tires). And toys, bikes, frames, photo albums, clothing, electrical goods, appliances and virtually anything you can imagine.