Which Joe gave his name to ‘sloppy joes’? We look at five interesting sandwiches and their lexical origins.
A large extinct flightless auk (seabird) of the North Atlantic, resembling a giant razorbill. The great auk was the original ‘penguin’; many were taken for food, and the last individuals were killed on an islet off Iceland in 1844.
- ‘Apart from the globally-extinct great auk, the bustard is the only bird known to have bred in Britain that hasn't done so in recent times.’
- ‘Before the great auk became extinct in the 1840s, you could have been pardoned for making the classic mistake and supposing there were penguins in the Arctic as well as the Antarctic, the cold north as well as the cold south.’
- ‘The tiny island is home to one of the largest gannet colonies on the planet, and this is where the world's last two surviving great auks are reputed to have lived before they were killed by fishermen on 3 June 1844.’
- ‘Some have become extinct, the great auk, the passenger pigeon and the famous dodo bird have all disappeared.’
- ‘In the early 19th century another alcid, the great auk, still inhabited the North Atlantic waters.’
We take a look at several popular, though confusing, punctuation marks.
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, discover surprising and intriguing language facts from around the globe.
The definitions of ‘buddy’ and ‘bro’ in the OED have recently been revised. We explore their history and increase in popularity.