The patron Saint of England, although he was not an English man and it is highly unlikely he even ever went to England. George is in fact a Saint with connections to countries across the globe. The story of his determination and faith in the face of oppression is an inspiration to people everywhere. Strip away the myth and the judgement and find out what we know about George the man! The article is also available on our website
Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, although he was not Irish. He is celebrated on March 17th , known as Saint Patrick's Day, which has become a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and heritage.
Learn more about the life and works of Saint Patrick, the slave who became a saint and is now the global patron of excessive drinking!
The celebration of his feast day has become so synonymous with partying that it has become a global phenomenon, but you may be surprised as to what you discover about festivities on this day around the world. Read more in our associated article here.
Find the original script article here.
Get the B2 Saint Patrick's Day teaching worksheet here.
"Hello again word lovers!"
A finale to our first series of Interesting Etymologies as Charly dives into a hotch-potch, a mish-mash of his favourite etymologies. Join us for a last short journey before we prepare for series two. Knotts, Clue, Fiesty, Glamour, loss of S on words, Sly, Tawdry, Canary Islands and Halycon
The associated article on our website is available here
Our programme is also available on Youtube here.
Short story The Bet, part of our Soundbook collection.
The tale sees a banker recalling a dinner party some 15 years previous in which he entered into an extraordinary bet with a young lawyer. After a passionate conversation on capital punishment the lawyer concludes he would prefer life imprisonment to death. The banker offered him 2 million Roubles if he could withstand 15 years of such isolation.
A B2 worksheet to accompany this story is available on our website here
An accompanying article including the full text in downloadable PDF is available on our website here
A biography of Chekhov can be found on our website here
Music: Autumn Leaves by Maarten Schellekens
"Hello again word lovers!" Some interesting examples of curious opposites in English in this penultimate episode of series one of Interesting Etymologies.
The associated article on our website is available here
Our programs are also available on our Youtube channel here
"Hello again Word Lovers!"
In this episode we examine some words that have come into English from African. This is not as distinct from PIE roots as you mat first think.
We have many examples of animal and vegetable/fruit names but some words that have made their way into English via the slave trade which have significant influence on music.
Associated episodes include Ebonics and The Jazz Age to discover more on some of these words.
An associated article is available on our website here and all episodes are also available on YouTube
A short story by Jack London published in 1902 explores the protagonist and how he is consumed with his irrational hatred of another man, John Claverhouse. His hatred drives him to increasingly horrendous actions to force suffering on the cheerful neighbour. When Claverhouse seems unfazed by the relentless misfortune that is wrought upon him, the narrator makes the decision to kill him.
You can learn more about Jack London in the article about him on our website
A downloadable PDF of the story, the cover artwork and a brief summary of the story are available here
Introduction and end music : Another Autumn in Despair by techtheist
Dead Air - Strange Christmas Traditions
We return at Christmas time to look at some strange traditions across the world. We discover what the Japanese eat for Christmas dinner, what Ukrainians decorate their Christmas tree with, why Spanish culture seems so obsessed with Christmas scatology and what the original Black Friday was with many more traditions to unpack.
There is an accompanying article on the dark culture of Black Friday in the UK on our website here. It has been observed that the British media have rebranded this as Mad Friday this year.
Our podcast on the history of Saint Nicholas and his transformation into Father Christmas with details on the Krampus era as well, is available on our playlist. The accompanying article is on our website here.
"Hello again word lovers!"
As we near the end of the Interesting Etymology series Charly takes a whirlwind tour of Scottish words that have transferred into English
The associated article is available here.
This programme is also available on YouTube here.
"Hello again Word Lovers!"
In this episode we are going to look at the names of flowers. There are different categories to consider, with words that come to English unchanged, words that have religious meanings or connected to the properties of the plant and the names of those who discovered or classified the plant.
The associated article for this episode is available on our website here.
This series is also available as a YouTube video here.
The 6th of December is the feast day of Saint Nicholas, better known to you and me as Santa Claus. The story of this man's journey from Greek/Turkish orphan to international globe trotting magical gift giver could be a superhero blockbuster film plot. Resurrecting children, cannibalism, calming the seas, the battle between good and evil, culture wars and alcohol, it has everything! A fascinating journey into myth making and reinvention that will amaze and bewilder. You thought you knew Santa Claus, well, prepare to be amazed!
"Hello again Word Lovers!"
Rather than investigate the origin of words this episode, we discover the original meaning of the letters of the alphabet.
The associated article for this episode can be found here
This programme is also on YouTube
Saint Andrew the Patron Saint of Scotland, fisherman and a host of other places and people is celebrated on his feast day 30th November.
Read the article version of this episode here.
Find our programmes on Youtube
"Hello again word lovers"
A brief by-water of etymological discussion, hybrid words. Mixing words from Latin and Greek roots.
Associated article is available here.
Saint Cecilia, the Saint of musicians amongst many others, celebrates her feast day on the 22nd of November.
For the article version of this episode head over to our website
Find our program on Youtube as well.
To Listen to Ode to Saint Cecilia by Purcell go here
"Hello again word lovers"
We continue our exploration of Greek with more prefixes and some interesting nods to mythology.
Associated article is available here
"Hello again Word Lovers!"
We continue our exploration of Greek as we delve into the words for people and relationships between people, numbers, academia and study.
We can start to see some words in English made by combining two Greek words, for example the city of brotherly love Philadelphia is Philos - love of Adelphus - brother
Associated article is available here
"Hello again word lovers" We begin our dive into Ancient Greek with some prefixes and parts of the body. There is a huge amount of material to cover and this is only the beginning so strap in and away we go....
Remember, Remember the 5th of November: A cultural touchstone in Britain, Guy Fawkes night, Bonfire night or Fireworks night is celebrated every November 5th. An opportunity to remember when an ambitious and devious plot was foiled in 1605. A Catholic conspiracy to blow up the Parliament, killing King James, his whole family and the entire political class in one explosion was narrowly averted after an anonymous tip off. The plotters were brutally tortured and executed but the elite instigated an obligatory annual night of thanksgiving that has become a lasting tradition in British culture. Find out all you need to know about the plot and how the personality of Guy Fawkes has become an international icon, through the comic book and film V for Vendetta and the mask of his face becoming the symbol of anonymous protest.
We have alternative resources on the gunpowder plot, including a previous podcast discussion, class worksheets, an article on the plot and a further article on the anonymous mask in culture.
"Hello word lovers!"
We deviate from our usual path this episode to investigate some translation from the Bible. The word of God can be tricky and translation can be challenging.
Is the virgin birth down to a misunderstanding of language?
Did you know Jesus liked a word play joke?
Did John the Baptist actually survive on a diet of locusts?
These and many other mysteries are examined by Charly on this latest episode.
A full associated article with more consideration of some of the theological implications of these translations is available on our website:
https://www.bulldogz.org/post/interesting-etymologies-48-the-bible