Aug 2025 – Calmgrove
2 posts published by Calmgrove during August 2025| Calmgrove
Roadside Picnicby Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky.Translated by Olena Bormashenko,foreword by Ursula K Le Guin, afterword by Boris Strugatsky, 2012.Gollancz, 2012 (1972). Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;The proper study of mankind is man. From ‘An Essay on Man: Epistle II’ by Alexander Pope Superficially a speculative thriller, the Strugatsky brothers’ Roadside Picnic … Continue reading A being darkly wise| Calmgrove
The third temptation of Christ: Christ and the devil on a pinnacle of the temple.’ Coloured chromolithograph after John Martin. Wellcome Collection. (CC BY 4.0) One Billion Years to the…| Calmgrove
Wandering among Words 13: Incongruity incongruous (adj.)from Latin incongruus, inconsistent, not agreeing, misfit, unsuitable. Call me sad if you like but I’ve always liked puns, Christmas cracker riddles and dad jokes, however groanworthy they indubitably are. For instance, ‘What do you get when you cross a policeman with a skunk?’ – ‘Law and odour.’ Okay, … Continue reading Lexical paradoxes| Calmgrove
Wandering among Words 12: the 1948 show Normally in this ‘Wandering among Words’ feature I explore a group of words or phrases related through meaning, sense and/or etymology. This time, however, I’m going to resort to a gimmick, by examining words and phrases which first appeared in print seventy-five years ago – in 1948. (Not … Continue reading Gimmickry| Calmgrove
Wandering among Words 11: Bookworm bookworm (n.)1590s, “person devoted to study;” by 1713 in reference to the larvae of certain insects that eat holes in the bindings and paper of old books. etymonline.com We all know the term bookworm, don’t we, and doubtless judge ourselves each to be a representative of that particular genus. Forget … Continue reading Bibliophages, unite!| Calmgrove
2nd-century CE funeral portrait of a Roman Egyptian officer wearing a gold wreath (detail). Faiyum, Egypt. Wandering among Words 10: Pupil What’s the link between a celebrity and a chrysalis,…| Calmgrove
Wandering Among Words No 9: Exclamation! I came across an interesting neologism the other day which, as usual, had me musing — and I thought, again as usual, I would share them with you. Here it is, courtesy of the popular BBC TV panel show QI and its busy QI elves on Twitter: Bangorrhea. Hint: … Continue reading Warning!| Calmgrove
Wandering among Words 8: March No, this is not a post about the month marking the start of spring in the northern hemisphere. Nor is it about walking determinedly from A to B. So what am I referring to? I’m talking about a liminal space. ‘March’ in this sense is related to the Latin margo, … Continue reading At the margins| Calmgrove
Image credit: WordPress Free Media Library Wandering Among Words 7: Gramarye If, as Alice Hoffman is everywhere quoted, “Books may well be the only true magic,” then she is only followi…| Calmgrove
Wandering among Words 6: Awe I’m no etymologist but I do like exploring the genealogies of words: quite often these interrelated family trees reveal the real power of both the spoken and the written word, a kind of magic that’s so much stronger than the weak usage ancient roots are treated to over time. I’ve … Continue reading Awe, or just plain Aw?| Calmgrove
Wandering among Words 4: Strangers What links a popular American TV series set in the 1930s, the 2016 UK referendum, and the End of the World? There will be a bit of wandering in this post whi…| Calmgrove
Corbel in the form of a grotesque, Quakers Friars, Broadmead, Bristol (© C A Lovegrove) Wandering among Words No 2: Corvid You will often find them if you glance above you in a medieval church, hig…| Calmgrove
