Definition:
substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound, in which the resulting phrase makes no sense but often creates a comic effect
Description:
Named after the character Miss Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 play The Rivals, a malapropism is any well-intended saying that takes on a different and often ludicrous meaning when a similar yet utterly inappropriate word is used. To wit: ‘He is the very pineapple of politeness.’
Source:
Richard Brinsley Sheridan - The Rivals
Mar 07
daveLiterary, Shakespeare british, english, latin
Definition:
of strange or extraordinary character
Description:
You may know today’s word as a generalized term for anything unusual, but ‘weird’ also has older meanings that are more specific. ‘Weird’ derives from the Old English noun ‘wyrd,’ essentially meaning ‘fate.’
By the late 8th century, the plural ‘wyrde’ had begun to appear in texts as a gloss for ‘Parcae,’ the Latin name for the Fates — three goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of life. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Scots authors employed ‘werd’ or ‘weird’ in the phrase ‘weird sisters’ to refer to the Fates.
William Shakespeare adopted this usage in Macbeth, in which the ‘weird sisters’ are depicted as three witches. Subsequent adjectival use of ‘weird’ grew out of a reinterpretation of the ‘weird’ in Shakespeare.
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Mar 07
daveLiterary
Definition:
Utterly useless existence
Description:
Originated from Nietzsche, the Superman (Essay)
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Mar 07
daveLiterary, Mythology greek
Definition:
a prolific source of troubles
Description:
According to Greek mythology, the problems brought by Pandora’s box started with Prometheus. He was a Titan, one of the first Greek gods. He stole the secret of fire from his fellow gods and shared it with mortal humans. To punish humans, the gods then created Pandora. Each god gave her a gift to make her appealing (her name comes from a Greek word meaning ‘all gifted’ or ‘all giving’). Then they sent her to the mortals with a jar full of evils. Pandora’s curiosity prompted her to open the box, and all those ills escaped to plague humanity.
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Mar 07
daveLife, Literary greek
Definition:
A seeming contradiction.
Description:
2 Greek derivatives:
‘Oxy’ which means ‘sharp’ ‘Moros’ which means ‘dull’ which are opposites.
It referrs to terms like ‘act natural’ ‘false truth’ ‘athletic scholarship’ etc.
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Mar 07
daveEveryday, Life, Literary french
Definition:
A complete surprise.
Description:
Thomas Carlyle (1837). The French Revolution.
‘Arrestment, sudden really as a bolt out of the blue, has hit strange victims.’
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