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War of Words

Ancient/War of Words

War of Words – ‘soldier’

March 31, 2021
1 min read

In the early 4th century, Emperor Constantine (r. 306-337) introduced a new gold coin of stable value, with 72 such coins per

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War of Words/WWII

War of Words – ‘kamikaze’

February 3, 2021
1 min read

Driven by desperation in the waning months of the Second World War – and motivated by a martial code, bushido, that glorified

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War of Words/WWI

War of Words – ‘trench warfare’

December 14, 2020
1 min read

Because of the unrelenting ferocity of trench warfare, the term has also come to mean a fierce, grinding contest of a non-military

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War of Words/WWII

War of Words – ‘Flak’

October 15, 2020
1 min read
2

After the war, flak would also come to mean very strong criticism or abuse.

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Ancient/War of Words

War of Words – ‘Spartan’

July 29, 2020
1 min read

The Spartans were well-known for their frugality, living simply with a minimum of comforts, and ‘spartan’ acquired the sense of extreme simplicity

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War of Words/WWI

War of Words – ‘Zeppelin’

June 8, 2020
1 min read

‘Zeppelin’ appeared in English that same year in Whitaker’s Almanack: ‘The Zeppelin Air-ship… is a cylindrical frame of aluminium in partitions, each

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Modern/War of Words

War of Words – ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’

May 25, 2020
1 min read
1

Ordinarily, a gunboat was a lesser craft, mounting just a few guns. They were particularly useful in shallow waters that larger warships

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Ancient/War of Words/WWI

War of Words – ‘Hun’

May 11, 2020
1 min read
1

‘Hun’ became an unflattering synonym for Germans during World War I, used by Britons to emphasise their enemy’s brutality.

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19th Century/Napoleonic/War of Words

War of Words – ‘Waterloo’

July 15, 2019
1 min read

‘Waterloo’ – and especially variations of the phrase ‘to meet one’s Waterloo’ – have come to signify a firm, conclusive end to

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Ancient warfare/War of Words

War of Words – ‘Auxiliary’

June 15, 2019
1 min read

The Roman legions needed support. By the 1st century AD, the citizen legionaries of Rome, drawn primarily from Italy, were supplemented by

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