Have you noticed a Christmas theme in our Word for Wednesday posts? Last week we looked at the word trim, and today’s word is something you might use when trimming your tree: tinsel. Tinsel is a type of Christmas decoration made up of strips of shiny metal foil attached to a thread. Used during the Christmas season to adorn everything from trees, to picture frames, to ponytails; tinsel is often a divisive subject. While some love it, others deem it gaudy. In fact, the word is sometimes used figuratively to describe something that is superficially glamorous but ultimately cheap. Here is the word used in some example sentences: Every Christmas th...
Here at Spellzone, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And along with the decorations box and that Michael Bublé album, we’re finding ourselves using certain words that only come out at this time of year. Let’s take a closer at some Christmas-related words and where they come from: Carol While the word ‘carol’ can refer to religious hymns from all seasons, many people associate the word with Christmas songs in particular. Around 1300 the word referred to both a ‘joyful song’ and a ‘dance in a ring’, and it came to be used in reference to Christmas hymns from around 1500. ‘Carol’ comes from the Old F...
The Christmas carol We Three Kings tells the story of three kings who followed a star to visit Jesus in a stable just after he was born. Many British school children learn this story at a very young age and can recite the names of the gifts each king gave to Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. While gold is still well-known today, what are frankincense and myrrh? Do the three gifts have a special significance? The verses to the carol give us a hint – let’s look at them a little more closely. Gold ‘Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever, ceasing never, Over us all to reign.’ Gold is a precious metal which has ...
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