CAT CALL. A kind of whistle, chiefly used at theatres, to interrupt the actors, and damn a new piece. It derives its name from one of its sounds, which greatly resembles the modulation of an intriguing boar cat.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
DRAGOONING IT. A man who occupies two branches of one profession, is said to dragoon it; because, like the soldier of that denomination, he serves in a double capacity. Such is a physician who furnishes the medicines, and compounds his own prescriptions.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
"Focusing on classical philologists and biblical scholars in nineteenth-century Germany, it examines how Hyperkritik developed from a technical philological term into a pejorative label that was widely invoked to discredit the latest trends in classical philology and, especially, biblical scholarship."
VINCENT'S LAW. The art of cheating at cards, composed of the following associates: bankers, those who play booty; the gripe, he that betteth; and the person cheated, who is styled the vincent; the gains acquired, termage.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
Mystery as 1,600-year-old ancient Irish stone unearthed in English garden
“The 1,600-year-old stone, which is inscribed with an Irish language from the 4th century AD, was unearthed by a geography teacher in Coventry, West Midlands, in 2020.”
FRENCH DISEASE. The venereal disease, said to have been imported from France. French gout; the same. He suffered by a blow over the snout with a French faggot-stick; i.e. he lost his nose by the pox.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
“Some alphabets have been developed intentionally and purposefully to be exactly what the earliest alphabets became: efficient psychotechnologies for enhanced learning, communication and community building.”
SAVE-ALL. A kind of candlestick used by our frugal forefathers, to burn snuffs and ends of candles. Figuratively, boys running about gentlemen's houses in Ireland, who are fed on broken meats that would otherwise be wasted, also a miser.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
LOCK. Character. He stood a queer lock; he bore but an indifferent character. A lock is also a buyer of stolen goods, as well as the receptacle for them.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire; its magistrates are said to have attempted to hedge in a cuckow; a bush, called the cuckow's bush, is still shewn in support of the tradition. A thousand other ridiculous stories are told of the men of Gotham.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
GIB CAT. A northern name for a he cat, there commonly called Gilbert. As melancholy as a gib cat; as melancholy as a he cat who has been caterwauling, whence they always return scratched, hungry, and out of spirits.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
"In this episode, we look at how distant cultures were contributing to the growth of English and how Shakespeare’s acting company built a world-famous theater in the late 1500s."
"This is a video lecture in a course on the philosophy of language. It summarizes Saul Kripke's famous 1970 attack on the Descriptivist Cluster Theory of Proper Names of John Searle."