Word/Play

Catalog description

Word/Play: Did you know that the Syracuse suburb of Nedrow was originally called Worden, before the residents decided to turn the name backwards? Or that if you say "the sky lit up like a golden candle" you're borrowing words from Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Romans, made possible by a thousand year history of invasions? How is it that "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing? And why is it that we eat "beef" when our English-speaking ancestors used to eat "cow?" That last one has something to do with the year 1066. This course traces all the interesting ways we got where we are in English. In playing with words, their histories, and the many ways they've been used (and abused), we'll discover how the language we speak is (to quote Shakespeare) "a very fantastical banquet.".