Humorous Etymologies
Anthony Poulton-Smith
- Region:
- West Midlands
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: Negotiable
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 9th April 2021
- Tagged:
- History | Literature
Humorous Etymologies features a look at some of the more ludicrous ways words which, coined to mean one thing, were later used in a completely different context. For example the gasket found in all engines began as meaning 'a little girl' and later used to mean 'small rope'; easel, that used by artists, began as a Dutch word meaning 'donkey'; orange, that is the colour not the fruit, was originally called 'yellow-red'; quack originally meant 'the croaking of frogs'; and inch, the measurement, began as 'thumb'.
Views: 1717 | Enquiries: 1About Anthony Poulton-Smith
A freelance journalist and author, with 94 books, many articles, is a ghostwriter, innumerable crosswords and puzzles published, whilst also compiling and marketing quizzes. These books have mostly been on the subject of the origins of place-names and as part of the publicity Anthony has been interviewed several times on the radio and privileged to be the guest speaker at more than seven hundred events. Fascinated by the development of language and etymology, based in Tamworth Staffordshire and trustee of Tamworth Literary Festival, Tamworth History Group, Friends of Tamworth Castle and Museum, League of Friends of Tamworth Hospitals.
Happy to travel and available at short notice.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Anthony Poulton-Smith
- Origins of Place Names
- Not the Normal Paranormal
- When Nature Called
- Origins of Pub Names
- Animal Myths
- The Saxon Era
- Talking Butts
- Salt Routes
- Watling Street
- The Fastener Industry
- Ancient Ley Lines
- Our Lost Lines
- Know What You're Eating
- An Odd Shopping Basket
- Crime on Canals
- The Daft of Fire
- The Daft of Time
- Gunpowder Plot
- Classic Toys
- Measurements
- Pots and Pans
- Laboratory Literature
- Street Names
- Forgotten Holidays
- Stupid Moments in History
- Wonderful Words
- Tales of Ales
- A Tale of Attire
- Old Wives Tales
- An Author's Errors
- Old English to Modern English
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
- Colloquialisms
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