Speech King English

We send this word, glower, out to the glaring grumps, the scowling scoundrels, and the pouting pessimists of the world. Its gloomy roots grow in Scotland, where glower (or glowren, to use the older Scottish form of the word) has been used since the late Middle Ages. Originally, the word meant simply "to look intently" or "to stare in amazement," but by the late 1700s, glowering stares were being associated with anger instead of astonishment. We can offer no explanation for this semantic development, but we will submit that in its evolved form it reminds us of an older and unrelated English word: lower (it rhymes with flower) means "to frown or look sullen."

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

The phrase can be used in various contexts, and its meaning can change depending on the situation it is used. The phrase can sometimes be hyphenated (drop-dead) depending on its usage, particularly when used as an adjective. English is a rich collection of idiomatic expressions, each with its own special beginning and journey of change. The phrase “drop dead” shines as a prime example of how language can communicate strong anger and breathtaking admiration all at once.
Let’s travel back to the early 1930s, a time when something interesting happened with the phrase “drop dead. People began to use these words differently and especially. However, the puzzle lies in the fact that the originator of this phrase remains a mystery, like a riddle that even the sharpest minds cannot unravel.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

Posse started out in English as part of a term from common law, posse comitatus, which in Medieval Latin translates as “power or authority of the county.” Posse comitatus refers to a group of citizens summoned by a reeve (a medieval official) or sheriff to preserve the public peace as allowed for by law. “Preserving the public peace” so often meant hunting down a supposed criminal that posse eventually came to refer to any group organized to make a search or embark on a mission, and today one may read about posses organized for search and rescue efforts. In even broader use it can refer to any group, period. Sometimes nowadays that group is a gang or a rock band but it can as easily be any group—politicians, models, architects, tourists, children, or what have you—acting together for some shared purpose.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

The phrase “bay for blood” is an expression that has been around since the 17th century and was likely coined by William Shakespeare in his play, Macbeth. The phrase is used to describe a situation where people are demanding or calling for violence or revenge. In Macbeth, this phrase describes the reaction of the Scottish nobles to their leader’s murder. The phrase has been used in literature and popular culture since then, often to describe situations when people are calling for justice or revenge after a wrong has been done. It serves as a reminder of the fragility of peace and stability in society, where human passions can quickly lead to violence and chaos. This phrase is still in use today and is often used to describe popular unrest or political turmoil. It is a reminder that sometimes justice must be demanded before it can be achieved. As such, it has come to symbolize the need for justice and a call for social reform.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

When avoirdupois first appeared in English in the 15th century, it referred to “goods sold by weight,” which is also the meaning of its Middle English predecessor, avoir de pois. That term comes from an Anglo-French phrase meaning “goods of weight” or “property.” Today, avoirdupois most commonly refers to the system of weight measurement used for general merchandise, in which the pound is equal to 16 ounces, the ounce 16 drams, and the dram an ultra-specific 27.344 grains. (Some other weight systems are apothecaries’ weight, used to measure pharmaceutical items, and troy weight, used for precious metals.) It was William Shakespeare, in his play Henry IV, Part 2, who first used avoirdupois to mean “heaviness”: “the weight of a hair will turn the scales between their avoirdupois.”

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

This idiom originated in the 1900s. Some people might think that since it references a physician, it is exclusively used in the context of health. However, this is not the case. People can use this expression anytime something is making them feel better. The idea behind this expression is that doctors prescribe medicine to cure something. If something offers a perfect solution to whatever problem the person is having, it is said to be just what the doctor ordered.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

Warm, cheerful, and pleasant? That’s genial in a bottle, baby. Or at least (if such a declaration rubs you the wrong way) that’s the most common sense of genial. You may also be familiar with its closely related meaning of “favorable to growth or comfort” as in “what a girl wants most on vacation is to recline in the genial sunshine.” Or perhaps you’ve heard genial used to describe someone or something displaying or marked by genius, as in “who among us doesn’t appreciate genial insights embedded in a beautiful pop song”? After all, both genial and genius share an ancestor in the Latin word genius, meaning “a person’s disposition or inclination.” There are also older, now obsolete senses of genial. When it first entered English from the Latin adjective genialis (“connected with marriage”) it shared that word’s matrimonial meaning. At one time genial was also a synonym of native or inborn, describing things (such as musical talent) present or seemingly present in someone from birth.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

The idiom “poles apart” is a vivid expression that describes two things or individuals that are incredibly different or have opposing views, beliefs, or characteristics. To understand its origin and history, we delve into the fascinating backstory, interesting facts, and varied variants of this evocative phrase. The origin of the idiom can be traced back to the early 20th century, with its roots in geography and physics. In this context, “poles” refer to the geographic North and South Poles, the farthest points on Earth in opposite directions. The phrase draws an analogy between the extreme distance and dissimilarity of these geographical poles and the vast differences between the two entities.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

Today’s word has been part of the English language for a very long time; its earliest uses date to before the 12th century. Smite can be traced back to the Old English smītan, meaning “to smear (a substance) on something” or “to stain or defile.” Smite kept these meanings for a few centuries before they became obsolete and others arose or became more prominent, among them the modern “to strike or attack.” But smite also has a softer side. As of the mid-17th century, it can mean “to captivate or take”—a sense that is frequently used in the past participle in such contexts as “smitten by their beauty” or “smitten with them” (meaning “in love with them”). If such a shift seems surprising, just remember what they say about the moon hitting your eye like a big pizza pie (that’s a smiting). Smote is the past tense form of the verb smite, which is most frequently used to mean "to strike sharply or heavily especially with the hand or with something held in the hand," or "to kill or severely injure by striking in such a way." Smite has two past participle forms (the form used with have and be), smitten and smote, as in "a villain who was smitten/smote by a sword." The former is more common.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

The phrase “tit for tat” originated in the mid-16th century, meaning to respond in kind, especially with retaliation of equal measure. It comes from the children’s game of exchanging light blows back and forth, where a “tit” represented a light tap and a “tat” was the responding blow. So “tit for tat” conveyed the idea of reciprocal exchange. While the phrase still suggests mutuality and equivalence, over time it has taken on a more negative connotation related to retaliatory behavior in conflict. It now often suggests an unhealthy cycle of retaliation rather than simple reciprocal treatment.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

If you believe dexterous to be on the right side of etymological history, well, right on. Dexterous comes from the Latin word dexter, meaning "on the right side." Since most people are right-handed, and therefore do things more easily with their right hand, dexter developed the additional sense of "skillful." English speakers crafted dexterous from dexter and have been using the resulting adjective for anyone who is skillful—in either a physical or mental capacity—since at least the early 1600s. (The noun dexterity arrived a bit earlier, influenced both by Latin and the Middle French word dexterité). The adjective ambidextrous, which combines dexter with the Latin prefix ambi-, meaning "both," describes one who can use both hands in an equally skillful way. With so many handy words at its disposal, the English language itself is pretty dexterous, amirite?

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com

The phrase dog days of summer originated from ancient Rome and is used to refer to the period of hot, humid weather that spans from July 3rd to mid-August in the Northern Hemisphere. Ideally, the idiom was coined from Sirius, a term that translates to “dog star,” the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major. Normally, Sirius is observed behind the sun from Earth during the Northern Hemisphere summer. However, in late summer, it shows up in the East before sunrise and occupies the same part of the sky as the sun, hence the name Dog Days of Summer. Most people associate the phrase “hakuna matata” with the 1994 Lion King movie. But the origin of this idiom goes way back. “Hakuna Matata” was originally coined by the Swahili-speaking communities of East Africa, based on the Ubuntu philosophy. It was and is still used to define “there is no problem.”
The expression was popularized by a Kenyan band known as Them Mushrooms in a song titled Jambo Bwana. This hit, which was released in 1982, targeted tourists who were visiting the area. The theme of the song was to welcome visitors to their countries. The “Hakuna Matata” phrase was part of their chorus. This song found its way into the international arena when the German group Boney M. did an English version of it in 1983.

Tune in for more of Speech King Academy’s idioms and words of the day to improve your English-speaking skills. Learn more about vocabulary and fluency in English Speaking at .

Follow us:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/englishspeechking
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishspeechking/
Website: www.englishspeechking.com