Merry Christmas to all our course subscribers and blog readers! Whatever you are doing, we hope you are having a lovely day. Here is a list of the Christmassy Words for Wednesday we’ve shared over the years: December 'Decem' is Latin for 'ten', so why is it the twelfth month of the year that’s called December? Advent Is advent a period of anticipation or a period of reflection? Pudding Christmas puddings may be delicious, but the origins of this word are less appealing... Reindeer How long have these creatures been a part of Christmas mythology? Trim Trim is a Janus word, which me...
Before you tuck in to your Christmas dinner tomorrow, let's look at the not-so-appetizing origins of the word ‘pudding’. It’s worth noting first the difference in meanings between the American English and British English word ‘pudding’. In the US, ‘pudding’ now almost exclusively refers to a sweet, soft milk-based dessert usually eaten cold. In the UK, you can usually take the word ‘pudding’ to mean ‘dessert’ unless referring to a specific savoury dish such as ‘black-pudding’ or ‘Yorkshire pudding’… The beginnings of the word arose at the turn of the 14th century and the word &lsq...
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