Bumfuzzle


Definition:
Confuse; perplex; fluster
Example:
"Irish can bumfuzzle any team" – headline about the Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" football team, Chicago Tribune, October 27, 2002
About the Word:
Bumfuzzle may have begun as dumfound, which was then altered first into dumfoozle and then into bumfoozle. Dumfound (or dumbfound) remains a common word today, butbumfuzzle unfortunately is extremely rare.

Gardyloo

Definition:
Used in Edinburgh as a warning cry when it was customary to throw slops from the windows into the streets
Example:
"Residents often threw refuse out of windows at night onto the streets. A commentator observed that, 'One never knew the moment when the warning cry 'Gardyloo'... might ring out, following which would come in quick succession an avalanche of unmentionable filth on to the footpath – or the passer-by.'" — Jonathan Yeager, Enlightened Evangelicalism: The Life and Thought of John Erskine, 2011
About the Word:
Pity the visitor to Scotland unfamiliar with the practice of using what is most likely a French-based term (garde à l'eau! literally means "look out for the water!") when dumping slops into the streets.

Taradiddle

Definition:
1 : a fib 2 : pretentious nonsense
Example:
"'We haven't got time to listen to more taradiddles, I'm afraid, Dumbledore.'" — Cornelius Fudge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling, 2004
About the Word:
There is a myth that taradiddle was born in the town of Taradiddle, Ireland; that itself is ataradiddle, because there is no such town.
We don't know where taradiddle (also spelled tarradiddle) comes from, but we do know that the word has been a favorite of writers ranging from Balzac to Trollope to G. K. Chesterton. Lyricist W. S. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) used it in two operas.

 Billingsgate

Definition:
Coarsely abusive language
Example:
"Modern billingsgate betrays puerile imbecility of pundits" — headline in the Rome (GA)News-Tribune, March 4, 2006
About the Word:
Since the 14th century, Billingsgate has been the name of a fish market in London, England – a fish market at one time notorious for its merchants' vulgar language.
We find an allusion to the merchants' crude talk in 16th century British chronicler Raphael Holinshed's description of a messenger's language, which he said was "as bad a tongue ... as any oyster-wife at Billingsgate."

Snickersnee

Definition:
1 archaic : to engage in cut-and-thrust fighting with knives 2 : a large knife
Example:
"Oh, never shall I / Forget the cry, / Or the shriek that shrieked he, / As I gnashed my teeth, / When from its sheath / I drew my snickersnee!" — The Mikado by W. S. Gilbert
About the Word:
Snickersnee comes from the Dutch phrase steken of snijden, "to thrust or cut." Over time,snick and snee, snick-or-snee, and snickersnee followed.

Widdershins

Definition:
In a left-handed or contrary direction; counterclockwise
Example:
"And the waves beat upon the one hand, and upon the other the dead leaves ran; and the clouds raced in the sky, and the gulls flew widdershins." — Robert Louis Stevenson,The Song of the Morrow, 1896
About the Word:
English speakers got widdershins from an old German word meaning "to go against," and by the mid-1500s we were using the word as we use it today – as a synonym forcounterclockwise.
For the first 200 years of the word's life, however, it had another meaning as well – it was used to describe that particular kind of bad hair day when unruly hair stands on end or simply falls the wrong way.

Cattywampus

Definition:
Dialect : askew, awry, kitty-corner
Example:
"The points ... where [the two grids] would meet became Broadway and Colfax Ave. which is why to this day downtown Denver sits catty-wampus to the rest of the city." – Francis J. Pierson and Dennis J. Gallagher, Getting to Know Denver: Five Fabulous Walking Tours, 2006
About the Word:
Long ago English gamblers called the four-dotted side of a die cater (from the Frenchquatre, "four"). The placement of those four dots suggested two diagonal lines, which is likely how cater came to mean (dialectally, anyway) "to place, move, or cut across diagonally."
Catercorner (later kitty-corner) and caterwampus –and eventually cattywampus –followed.

Collywobbles

Definition:
Pain in the abdomen and especially in the stomach; a bellyache
Example:
"... unfortunately I awoke this morning with collywobbles, and had to take a small dose of laudanum with the usual consequences of dry throat, intoxicated legs, partial madness and total imbecility..." — Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima Letters, 1890-1894
About the Word:
Etymologist believe that collywobbles most likely has its origin in cholera morbus, the Latin term for the disease cholera (the symptoms of which include severe gastrointestinal disturbance).
How would cholera morbus have shifted into collywobbles? By folk etymology – a process in which speakers make an unfamiliar term sound more familiar. In this case, the transformation was probably influenced by the words colic and wobble.

Gubbins

Definition:
Dialect Britain : fish parings or refuse; broadly : any bits and pieces
Example:
"The biggest change is that the new iMac takes on some of the design ethos of the old eMac from all those years ago, featuring a bulbous back plate that hides all the gubbins but tapers down to an incredibly thin 5mm edge." – Stuart Miles, Pocket-lint.com, October 23, 2012
About the Word:
Gubbins originates in the language of cooking. Its ancestry includes words meaningparing, portion, and gobbet (meaning morsel).

Diphthong

Definition:
Two vowel sounds joined in one syllable to form one speech sound, e.g. the sounds of "ou" in out and of "oy" in boy
Example:
"A glitch refers to some piece of technology's failure to do something it's intended to do. But Siri is doing exactly what it was built to do…. Siri would have an actual glitch if it couldn't understand diphthongs or something." — Damon Poeter, PC Magazine, December 1, 2011
About the Word:
Evoking the dual nature of diphthongs themselves, the word diphthong retains the two parts in its Greek ancestor diphthongos: di- meaning "two" and phthongos meaning "sound" or "voice."
The word is a bit strange-looking to English speakers, a fact reflected in the two pronunciations the word has, one with a first syllable of /dif/ and one with a first syllable of /dip/.

About the Word:

Gubbins originates in the language of cooking. Its ancestry includes words meaningparing, portion, and gobbet (meaning morsel).

Diphthong

Definition:

Two vowel sounds joined in one syllable to form one speech sound, e.g. the sounds of "ou" in out and of "oy" in boy

Example:

"A glitch refers to some piece of technology's failure to do something it's intended to do. But Siri is doing exactly what it was built to do…. Siri would have an actual glitch if it couldn't understand diphthongs or something." — Damon Poeter, PC Magazine, December 1, 2011

About the Word:

Evoking the dual nature of diphthongs themselves, the word diphthong retains the two parts in its Greek ancestor diphthongos: di- meaning "two" and phthongos meaning "sound" or "voice."

The word is a bit strange-looking to English speakers, a fact reflected in the two pronunciations the word has, one with a first syllable of /dif/ and one with a first syllable of /dip/.

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com

Picture this: You want to apply for a dream assignment abroad. There's just one problem. You need foreign language skills that you don't have — and time is not on your side.
It might sound like an impossible task, but according to language experts, you can learn basic communication skills in weeks and master the basics of a foreign language in several months. While you might not quickly reach the fluency that allows you to understand great foreign literature classics, you can, though, quickly hone in on phrases and technical language specific to your needs whether you are working with the diplomatic service or a blue chip multinational.

It won't take most people long to be well on their way to discussing current affairs with a native speaker in Rome or sharing a 'water cooler' moment with new French work colleagues in Paris.

Getting started

Sometimes travelling the globe for work will force you to come up with ways to master conversation in many languages. Benny Lewis, an engineer, learned enough of seven languages — including Spanish, French and German — to work easily and attained near fluency in several others, including Mandarin.
Learning Spanish, Lewis's first non-native language, took over a year but subsequent languages, even the basics of conversational Mandarin, were quicker. His secret: when he first needs to learn a language, Lewis compiles a script of sorts for himself so that he can respond to simple queries from strangers. As Lewis mastered new languages, he was even able to do work as a translator of technical engineering texts.
Phrasebooks and online tutorials can prove useful in this early stage, experts say, as they can give you the vocabulary and the confidence to have basic conversations with native speakers, the crucial first step in learning a language.
"The biggest barrier in the beginning is the lack of confidence," said Lewis. "That got better and better for me [as I spoke]."
Indeed, simply having the courage to speak is necessary if you are going to make progress in a foreign language, language experts said.
"A lot of people don't make progress if they don't open their mouths," said Michael Geisler, the vice president for language schools at Middlebury College in Vermont in the US. "If you are not willing to put your identity on the line, progress will be slower."
This means not being afraid to take risks or make mistakes. When he started learning Spanish, Lewis said he spoke a lot like Tarzan, the fictional man of the jungle.
"I would say 'me want go supermarket'. But I reached the advanced stage by starting as a beginner. My 'light bulb' moment was when —two weeks into learning Spanish — my toothbrush broke and I was able to ask for a replacement at the supermarket," he said. "Wherever you go, people are very patient."

Immerse yourself

Geisler believes that total immersion is key to mastering a foreign language quickly. The more you immerse yourself in the foreign language — such as reading, listening to the radio or speaking to people — the more rapid your progress will be.
Students at Middlebury College are required to conduct all extra-curricular activities, from sport to theatre, in the language they are learning. Middlebury, which also runs graduate programs, runs courses in 10 languages including French, German, Chinese and Hebrew.
Such immersion is also actively encouraged at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, DC, which trains US diplomats and US foreign affairs personnel in foreign languages. With teaching expertise in more than 70 foreign languages, courses last up to 44 weeks, with the aim of taking students to 'level 3' in a language — essentially this means they can read and understand the equivalent of a magazine like Time and hold in-depth conversations.
Getting to basic conversational proficiency can be achieved in much less time, just several weeks according to experts, particularly if you can speak regularly. James North, associate director for instruction at the Foreign Service Institute, said students are encouraged to get to know native speakers.
"You need to invest not just the head but also the heart," North said. You can, for instance, do volunteer work or engage with the local community at restaurants and neighbourhood functions.
More broadly, in major cities there are often regular — several times weekly — language-immersion Meet-Up groups that join together people practicing a language. There are also online alternatives. Lewis recommends italki.com, a language social network that connects native speakers and teachers with students. Others include lang-8.com and voxswap.com.
By conversing regularly with language experts or native speakers you also have someone to check – and correct — your progress.
"Practice makes perfect," said North. "But practice without feedback just makes perfect whatever you are practicing. The naïve learner does not have a perspective on what they are doing. It is really vital to have someone saying yes you are on track."
You'll need to ask those you speak with for feedback and make sure they know it's OK to correct your pronunciations and grammar, although experts say you need not worry too much about grammar in the early stages.
Use the language first and focus on the grammar later, Lewis said. When you are ready to pick up the grammar, he recommended using podcasts at sites such as radiolingua.com or languagepod101.com as particularly useful in picking up grammar and dissecting the language.
"By then you have so much context. I would see a rule and I would say, 'That's why they say it that way'," he said.
As you learn, be sure to consume media in the foreign language. If you are starting out, read illustrated children's books or watch familiar films in a foreign language, experts advise.
If you have specific goals to achieve, such as conversing with a partner or using a foreign language at work, that motivation can be all you need to begin to master conversations. But beware lofty ambitions. If you say you want to be fluent in two months, you will likely be disappointed. But if your goal is to reach some level of conversational proficiency, especially for a work assignment, that's entirely possible.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150302-secrets-to-learning-a-language

By Rob Budden

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17, the saint’s religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. On St. Patrick’s Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast–on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

ST. PATRICK AND THE FIRST ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE

Saint Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. He later escaped, but returned to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people. In the centuries following Patrick’s death (believed to have been on March 17, 461), the mythology surrounding his life became ever more ingrained in the Irish culture: Perhaps the most well known legend is that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock.

Did You Know?

More than 100 St. Patrick's Day parades are held across the United States; New York City and Boston are home to the largest celebrations.Since around the ninth or 10th century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Patrick on March 17. Interestingly, however, the first parade held to honor St. Patrick’s Day took place not in Ireland but in the United States. On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

GROWTH OF ST. PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATIONS

Over the next 35 years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called “Irish Aid” societies like the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold annual parades featuring bagpipes (which actually first became popular in the Scottish and British armies) and drums.
In 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one official New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world ‘s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours. Boston,Chicago, Philadelphia and Savannah also celebrate the day with parades involving between 10,000 and 20,000 participants each.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY, NO IRISH NEED APPLY AND THE “GREEN MACHINE”

Up until the mid-19th century, most Irish immigrants in America were members of the Protestant middle class. When the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland in 1845, close to 1 million poor and uneducated Irish Catholics began pouring into America to escape starvation. Despised for their alien religious beliefs and unfamiliar accents by the American Protestant majority, the immigrants had trouble finding even menial jobs. When Irish Americans in the country’s cities took to the streets on St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate their heritage, newspapers portrayed them in cartoons as drunk, violent monkeys.
The American Irish soon began to realize, however, that their large and growing numbers endowed them with a political power that had yet to be exploited. They started to organize, and their voting block, known as the “green machine,” became an important swing vote for political hopefuls. Suddenly, annual St. Patrick’s Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew of political candidates. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman attended New York City ‘s St. Patrick’s Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish Americans whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and racial prejudice to find acceptance in the New World.

THE CHICAGO RIVER ON ST. PATRICK’S DAY

As Irish immigrants spread out over the United States, other cities developed their own traditions. One of these is Chicago’s annual dyeing of the Chicago River green. The practice started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river–enough to keep it green for a week! Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only 40 pounds of dye are used, and the river turns green for only several hours.
Although Chicago historians claim their city’s idea for a river of green was original, some natives of Savannah, Georgia (whose St. Patrick’s Day parade, the oldest in the nation, dates back to 1813) believe the idea originated in their town. They point out that, in 1961, a hotel restaurant manager named Tom Woolley convinced city officials to dye Savannah’s river green. The experiment didn’t exactly work as planned, and the water only took on a slight greenish hue. Savannah never attempted to dye its river again, but Woolley maintains (though others refute the claim) that he personally suggested the idea to Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY AROUND THE WORLD

Today, people of all backgrounds celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, especially throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. Although North America is home to the largest productions, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in many other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore and Russia.
In modern-day Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day was traditionally been a religious occasion. In fact, up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. Beginning in 1995, however, the Irish government began a national campaign to use interest in St. Patrick’s Day to drive tourism and showcase Ireland and Irish culture to the rest of the world. Today, approximately 1 million people annually take part in Ireland ‘s St. Patrick’s Festival in Dublin, a multi-day celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions and fireworks shows.

Source: www.history.com