François Lévêque Mines ParisTech A few hundred years ago, who would have dreamed that the humble Christmas tree would one day be an immense global success? Certainly not Martin Luther, who is said to have decorated a tree with candles to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Nor Prince Albert,
Nelson Blackley Nottingham Trent University The “commercialisation” of Christmas has long been a feature of the season. Although there have been significant changes in seasonal shopping habits over the past decade (such as online stores and the introduction to the UK of “Black Friday) the practice of buying gifts, bringing
Katherine Baker mercatornet.com Katherine Baker is a freelance writer who lives in Western Pennsylvania. A couple of years ago there was quite a kerfuffle about the holiday duet, “Baby, its Cold Outside”. This song, from 1944, features a dialogue which some people might describe as a man trying to
Sarah Eyerly Florida State University One of the world’s most famous Christmas carols, “Silent Night,” celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. Over the centuries, hundreds of Christmas carols have been composed. Many fall quickly into obscurity. Not “Silent Night.” Translated into at least 300 languages, designated by UNESCO as
The word for today is… pertinacious (adj) – 1. Holding tenaciously or stubbornly to a purpose, opinion, or course of action. 2. Extremely persistent or unyielding. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Remove the first syllable of pertinacious and say what remains out loud: you’ll hear something that sounds a lot
Anne Lawrence-Mathers University of Reading The idea of hanging up decorations in the middle of winter is older than Christmas itself. Decorations are mentioned in ancient descriptions of the Roman feast of Saturnalia, which is thought to have originated in the 5th century BC. Some 900 years later, a Christian
The word for today is… pecuniary (adj) – 1. Of or relating to money. 2. Requiring payment of money. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Pecuniary first appeared in English in the early 16th century and comes from the Latin word pecunia, which means “money.” Both this root and Latin peculium, which
Marguerite Johnson University of Newcastle Can Christmas be about gender? Apparently so, if the paucity of female Santas is anything to go by. There have, in fact, been cases of Australian women donning the secular red and white Santa attire as far back as 1930 — and there is no reason
Gerry Mind Your (My) Own Business Meaning: to not meddle, to stay out of other people’s matters To follow this course of action was recorded from ancient times. Plato in his polemic on justice stated that “Justice means minding one’s own business and not meddling with other men’
The word for today is… pachyderm (noun) – Any of various large, thick-skinned, hoofed mammals such as the elephant, rhinoceros, or hippopotamus. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Pachydermos in Greek means literally “having thick skin” (figuratively, it means “dull” or “stupid”). It’s from pachys, meaning “thick,” and derma, meaning “skin.
The word for today is… operose (adj) – 1. Involving great labour; laborious. 2. Industrious; diligent. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Operose comes from the Latin operosus, which has the meaning of “diligent,” “painstaking” or “laborious.” That word combines opera, meaning “activity,” “effort,” or “work,” with -osus—the Latin equivalent of
Angela Gorrell George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University The year 2020 hasn’t been one to remember – in fact, for a lot of people it has been an outright nightmare. The pandemic, along with political turmoil and social unrest, has brought anxiety, heartbreak, righteous anger and discord to
Coming from behind in two races to win, Team NZ Skipper Peter Burling has the boat to beat.
The word for today is… nepotism (noun) – Favoritism shown or patronage granted to relatives, as in business. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : During his papacy from 1471–1484, Sixtus IV granted many special favors to members of his family, in particular his nephews. This practice of papal favoritism was carried
Bruce Bennett Lancaster University Forgive me, I’m about to go all Scrooge. Christmas, you see, is a particularly grim time of year. Rolling around with grinding, Groundhog Day relentlessness, it is an interval of dark days and long nights, bad music, kitsch clothing and decor, enforced jollity, stilted family
Karl D. Stephanro mercatornet.com Faithful Muslims are required to pray five times a day, facing toward Mecca. In our smartphone era, it was only a matter of time before someone came up with an app that reminds the Muslim user that it’s time to pray, and conveniently uses
