Ats wai lurnin Inglish iz sow diffikul fur furrinurs. Wee av fownd arsel spellin wurdz ol rong, an it mayks it sow diffikul too prunowns Inglish proplee. Wee drop consnunts ol owvur plays, an wee uree vowlz til ay down get prunownst at ol. It may not bee stanurd Inglish, but it iz fahr eeziur to yoo...

The Syriac word ħesnā means fortress or stronghold: from ħsan, to be strong . In Imperial Aramaic, the verb ħăsan (where the very short vowel is marked) appears in the book of Daniel, in the haph'el form haħsēn, meaning to possess . The general Semitic meaning, therefore, seems to be increase of pow...

In northern British English dialects this is usually spelled owt , and is pronounced as out . The corresponding naught is refigured as nowt . It is very common in these dialects, but less so in southern and standard British English. It's only in the south that someone would confuse aught and naught ...

Perhaps this is not as odd as it seems. We tend to split apart our spacial and temporal referrences. However, if we consider the English word world , we see that it comes from were- (as in wolf ) and old -- the age of man. The Hebrew `olam ha-ba' is the world to come , which reminds me of the Prayer...

The Phrygian cap may have come to symbolize freedom, but it seems that it was the product of the fettered mind -- the ancient Phrygians are said to have practiced head-binding. From early years, an infant's head would be bound by tight strips of cloth to encourage the crown of the head to form into ...

Phrygian?

What wasn't quite so あっぱれ was the fact that I hadn't read your answers, BD, while I was still trying to figure out the squiggles!

-- Garzo.

I do have some old curtains that I need to get rid of, and now I have the small ad to it: The amazing Sunlight Removal Cloth is now available to you. Known throughout Japan as the solution to sunlight glare, and guaranteed to enhance security and privacy in your home, the Sunlight Removal Cloth is n...

Am I missing something? (1) seems to be about 'injection' something, and have the Japanese perfected a cloth for removing sunlight?

- Garzo.

In Europe, I only hear this word used in a derogatory manner. I am unsure whether this is a feature of the word itself or because of the perceived nature of US foreign policy.

In Devon and Cornwall, tin mining used to be big business. This was to the extent that certain centres of tin mining were given peculiar administrative provisions, and were called stannary towns, or stannaries. Each stannary was governed by a stannary court - a mini-parliament made up of local tin b...

Hurrah for Katy! Speedily deployed verbage!

There is something about make-up making one artificial. Such beauty is a figment.

-- Garzo.

I don't know where you get it from, but, Flam, you're spot on. The l`olam `olmin phrase comes at the end of the Syriac Lord's Prayer ( hear it here ). I don't know whether this is a specifically Jewish turn of phrase that carried over into Christian prayer, or whether this was more common currency. ...

We glory in your brilliance as we have ever gloried thus.

It be not usual, but it be done!

-- Garzo.

Ah, that is where Italians keep their cuttings!