Stanley, Albion and Argyle... Great Football Names

Last week we began to look at some of the reasons why football clubs have the names they do. This week we will continue this interesting little project, and look at some of the less common team names. Why is Accrington Stanley, Plymouth Argyle or West Bromwich Albion?

Accrington Football Club was one of the 12 founding members of the Football League when it was formed in 1888. At the same time there was another football team playing in Accrington, called Stanley Villas, which was so called because the team was based at the Stanley Arms pub, on Stanley Street. Accrington FC resigned from the Football League after only five years, and Stanley Villas took the opportunity to adopt the name of its home town, and became Accrington Stanley. So the next time you are at a sports quiz, and the quizmaster says that Accrington Stanley was one of the founder teams of the Football League, you can now challenge him with confidence!

There is some confusion over the origin of the name Plymouth Argyle. The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, and there was speculation that the name came from an army regiment, the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. This regiment was renowned for having a very strong football team. However, the geographical separation between Plymouth in the south of England, and the Highlanders from Scotland suggests that this may not be the real reason. Far closer to home, there is a pub in Plymouth called the Argyle Tavern, on Argyle Street. As many amateur teams started off playing from pubs it is much more likely that this was the source of the name. But this is not quite as romantic as being named after one of the most illustrious regiments in the British army!

Albion is not an uncommon name in football. West Bromwich, Brighton and Hove, and Burton all use the term. The word Albion comes from the old name for Great Britain, and is considered to be patriotic. The first football club to use the name was West Bromwich Albion. The team started life as the West Bromwich Strollers in 1878, but changed its name to Albion in 1880 as this was a district in the town of West Bromwich where a number of the players lived. By comparison, Stirling Albion, a team in the Scottish League is reputed to have taken the name from the Albion make of heavy lorries that were provided by the club’s first owner, a coal magnate, and used as temporary grandstands for the fans. However this story may be apocryphal! There is even an Albion FC in Uruguay. Founded in 1891 this is the oldest football club in the country, and was started by students from the English High School in Montevideo.

Don’t forget, if you would like any help with your written English, visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com

Would a Tantalus Stop the Ubiquitous Sabrage of Champagne?

It’s Friday, so it must be time to have a look at some more interesting and rarely used words.  Let us start with “sabrage”, the technique of opening a champagne bottle with a sabre. Now this is one that I certainly suggest that you do not try at home!  The history of this unusual pastime is believed to date back to France and the victories of Napoleon’s army all across Europe. It is believed, that at parties given to celebrate these successes, the cavalry would open the bottles of champagne with their sabres. Indeed, I think Napoleon may have encouraged this as he is known to have said, "Champagne! In victory one deserves it; in defeat one needs it."  Either way bottles of champagne were required! These days sabrage tends to be used only at ceremonial occasions, such as weddings. Unbelievably, the record for the greatest number of champagne bottles sabered in one minute is thirty two. This amazing achievement was accomplished by Julio Chang in Marbella, Spain in April 2011. I must admit, having witnessed a champagne bottle being opened in the more conventional way of “popping” the cork, that led to a scene involving a shattered light bulb and a screeching cat, I think to involve a sabre must certainly be left to the professionals.

Keeping on with the alcohol theme have you heard of a tantalus? This is a locked case containing wine bottles or decanters, where the contents of the bottles are still on view.  It is believed that they were first used to prevent servants stealing from their masters. The term originates from Tantalus, a Greek mythical figure who received the terrible eternal punishment of having to stand in a pool of water, where the water always receded when he tried to drink.  Above his head was also a fruit tree, with low branches, but the fruit always eluded his grasp. Therefore, he was forever unable to eat or drink. The name Tantalus is also the origin of the verb “to tantalise” meaning to arouse a desire or expectation for something unobtainable. You can see how the experience of someone who is tantalised can compare with Tantalus, the thing they most desire is out of reach.

We could have a little cheat when it comes to looking at words beginning with “u”. Many words can be changed to mean the opposite by putting “un” in front of them. Let me give you a few examples to explain: approachable becomes unapproachable, meaning discouraging and reserved, assuming becomes unassuming, not arrogant or pretentious and unbiased simply means without bias.  However, the word I want to leave you with this week is ubiquitous meaning to appear to be in many places at the same time, to be everywhere! There are many examples of how we could use this word, maybe to describe a politician in the run up to elections or a popular television advertisement. It just has a certain ring to it –  I hope you will use it too!  

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Where do Football Club Names come from?

As the British football season comes to an end, have you ever wondered about the names of the football clubs involved? I often have, and have asked myself the question “why is Manchester called United, when there is another major team in the same city?” The same question goes for Sheffield, and where did the title Wednesday come from? Why are Bolton called Wanderers, and Bristol Rovers?

Time for a little research! My research reveals some interesting stories about the development of these names, and of the histories of some of the clubs involved.

Looking first at the names Wanderers and Rovers, these usually mean that when the teams first started out they did not have a fixed home ground, and wandered or roved from pitch to pitch. As an example Bolton Wanderers started life as Christ Church FC in 1874 and played their home games at 3 different venues. The club name was changed in 1877 to Bolton Wanderers, and the team was one of the twelve founder clubs of the Football League in 1888. Bristol Rovers also lacked a permanent home ground when it was formed as Black Arabs FC in 1883. The team played at a number of venues and changed its name to Eastville Rovers in 1884, later becoming Bristol Eastville Rovers, and finally formally changing to Bristol Rovers in 1899. By this time the club had a fixed home ground at Eastville, where it remained for almost 100 years.

It is fairly obvious that teams with names like City, County and Town derive their names from their locations. Manchester City, for example, was established to help alleviate poverty and social need in east Manchester in 1894, and named Manchester City so that it could be a team that the entire city would be proud of. At the same time another club operating in Manchester, Newton Heath, had started out as a football team from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) depot of the same name. Originally playing only against other departments of the LYR, the team started to represent the entire LYR and wore the green and gold colours of the company livery. Newton Heath FC became insolvent in 1902, and was rescued by a consortium of local businessmen, who immediately changed the club name to Manchester United. I wonder if they ever imagined the global brand that that name now represents!

Across the Pennines in Sheffield, a cricket club called the Wednesday, strangely enough played its games on a Wednesday! In 1867 the club decided to form a football team to help the cricketers stay fit and keep together as a team throughout the winter months. Thus Sheffield Wednesday Cricket and Football Club was born. The football team was a great success and soon eclipsed the cricket team. Originally playing its games at Bramall Lane, Wednesday soon moved on to another venue, the Olive Grove. There was a sound financial reason for this as the club had to pay a percentage of the gate receipts to the owners of the Bramall Lane ground. After Wednesday’s departure the ground owners decided to form another football club in an attempt to replace the lost income. In 1889 Sheffield United Football Club was formed, and still plays its home games at the Bramall Lane ground.

In future blogs I will take a further look at some of the interesting names and histories of sporting clubs in Britain and across the world. In the meantime, if you would like help with your written English, please visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com

Preprandial Conversations with a Quidnunc and a Ragabash

Another week and another look at some unusual, interesting and rarely used words. We are certainly racing through the alphabet and we have already arrived at the letter “p”. We could look at postprandial, meaning after a meal. We may, for example, say we took a postprandial stroll by the meandering river. This, of course is opposed to taking a preprandial stroll, meaning before a meal. Or we may prefer to consider posthumous, occurring after death. You may have heard of someone receiving a posthumous award after their death, or you can have a posthumous book, published after the writer’s death. It is also possible to speak of a posthumous child, being a child born after the death of its father. There again we could look at plethora, meaning a large quantity or abundance. However, if you are looking for something even more obscure how about panurgic, an adjective meaning skilled and adept at all kinds of work, ready and able to do anything! I think that has to be my favourite word beginning with “p”.

Onto “q” and, obviously, not quite such a wide selection to choose from. As we all know, in English, generally the letter q is followed by the letter u. However there are a few exceptions, although these tend to be loan words, words that are borrowed from another language such as qabalah, a Jewish form of mysticism or qadi, a Muslim judge.  For those that follow the q followed by u rule how about qualtagh. This may be the first individual a person meets after leaving his or her home; and can also refer to a “first footer”, that is the first person to enter one’s home in the New Year. This unusual word is from a form of Gaelic known as Manx, which is spoken on the Isle of Man. Unfortunately, this language is rarely spoken today, although I am pleased to advise that there is an effort to revive its use. I couldn’t move on from the “q” words, without taking a peek at quidnunc – an inquisitive and gossipy person, a real busybody! This word dates back to the early 1700’s and is derived from the Latin quid nunc, which literally means what now?

I recently stumbled across a word that was previously unknown to me, riziform, meaning shaped like a grain of rice. If there are any dentists out there, it may be a term you are familiar with as I believe it is sometimes used to describe a person’s tooth!  To complete this week’s blog I thought you may be interested in a few unusual insulting terms! How about ragabash, meaning an idle and worthless fellow.  You may prefer runagate, meaning a deserter, a defector, a fugitive or renegade.  On the other hand we have rampallian, a scoundrel and a rascal – a mean wretch!  Of course none of these terms would refer to anyone reading this blog. Enough said.

 

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Idiosyncratic English

I came across this poem on the internet the other day and just had to share it with you!  As the poem highlights, English is a language of idiosyncrasies – that’s why I love it so much!  

The English Lesson

We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a whole lot of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be pen?

The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But the plural of vow is vows, not vine.
And I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet,
But I give a boot... would a pair be beet?

If one is a tooth, and a whole set is teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be beeth?
If the singular is this, and the plural is these,
Why shouldn't the plural of kiss be kese?

Then one may be that, and three be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.
We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.

The masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim.
So our English, I think you will agree,
Is the trickiest language you ever did see.

I take it you already know
of tough, and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
on hiccough, through, slough and though.

Well done! And now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.

And dead; it's said like bed, not bead!
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt)

A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear.

And then there's dose and rose and lose –
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword.

And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language: Why, man alive,
I'd learned to talk when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned it at fifty-five.

 

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Obstreperous Maundering under the Nitid Moon

Thinking of unusual words for this week’s blog and, being the obtuse person that I am, I thought what is the most common word used in the English language. As you would expect, it is not a very exciting word at all, never the less it is one we would find it hard to do without being “the”. Just check any written text and count how many times this little word appears – it just might surprise you!

On with our quest for more unusual and interesting words and this week we start with words beginning with “m”. I hope I am not maundering my way through this blog! To maunder is to speak indistinctly or disconnectedly, to ramble on in a foolish or meaningless manner. This use of the word can be traced back to the 1620’s. To maunder may also mean to move or act in a dreamy or idle way, to amble or dawdle. Basically to act in a disorganised way.

I am certain that none of us are malefic for that would make us capable of causing harm and destruction, especially by supernatural means. For those who can remember, “Maleficent” was the fictional name given to the evil character in Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty”. She was the one who cursed the baby princess to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die before her sixteenth birthday. I think that is enough said on that subject!

On a more positive note, I wonder if we will have a nitid moon tonight. Nitid is a lovely adjective that is rarely used in everyday conversation but, in my opinion, deserves a comeback. From the Latin “nitidus”, meaning to shine, nitid means bright, glistening and radiant. Bright with a steady but subdued shining. I love this word; it conjures such a beautiful picture in my mind and hopefully for you too. Use it to describe people, clothes, objects or a scene, but let’s use it so we don’t lose it!

With the weekend upon us I will leave you with a final thought. I hope you have something nice planned and that you will be having fun, but whatever you do, I do hope that you will not be obstreperous! To be obstreperous is to refuse to act in a reasonable way, to be noisy and aggressively boisterous and defiant. I’m sure, at some time; we have all met obstreperous customers, neighbours or children and would prefer to avoid them whenever possible!

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Are You Jocoserious?

So here we are steering to the end of another week; and time for a look at some more interesting and unusual words.  As we are methodically working our way through the alphabet, today we start with the letter “j” – let’s see what we can discover.  How about jocoserious?  Have you come across this word before? It means mingling mirth with and seriousness, half serious and half in jest! Yes, it really is a word and can be found in the Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, printed in 1913.  Next I would like to share an interesting adjective, janiform, meaning to resemble the god Janus, having two faces looking in different directions.  Just as a point of interest in ancient Roman religion and myth, the god Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions. He is depicted as having two faces since he looks into the future as well as to the past. The Romans named the month of January in his honour.

History lesson over, let’s move on. I wonder if anyone reading this is a koniologist?  koniology is the science of studying atmospheric dust and the effects it has on animal and plant life. Its origins lay in the Greek word konia, meaning dust.  It thus follows that a koniologist may well use a koniscope, which is a scientific instrument used to detect and measure the content of dust particles in the atmosphere. Alternatively, they may choose to use a konimeter, a device for measuring airborne dust concentration in which samples are obtained by sucking the air through a hole and allowing it to pass over a glass plate coated with grease on which the particles collect. Similarly, you will not be surprised to discover that the fear of dust is called Koniophobia, and like all phobias can have a huge effect on a person’s health and well-being.  

Let’s end today on a pleasant note and think of love and romance. Think of a leman, meaning a lover or a sweetheart. However, be careful when you use this word as it often used to describe a secret love or a mistress, so you could get yourself in trouble! Perhaps, this weekend would be a perfect time to try the lavolta, a lively, bouncy dance for two persons. This is the anglicised name of a renaissance dance, which became more acceptable, though never dignified, after Queen Elizabeth 1 danced it with the Earl of Leicester. Maybe you could try to lavolta with your leman? Sounds like fun!

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