Tag Archives: Interesting Expression

Students, Teachers, Training & Conferences

Interesting Words And Expressions – Whistleblower

what is a whistleblower

 

The term ‘whistleblower’ is used to describe a person who tries to raise the alarm about a problem and publicizes it inside and/or outside of his/her organization.

Origin: ‘Whistle blower’ was used literally well before it gained its current figurative meaning. Lots of people blew whistles; hunters, sailors, police officers and sports referees.

In the 19th century we had ‘whistle blowers’, in the 20th we had ‘whistle-blowers’ and now we have ‘whistleblowers’. This changing of an expression into a word, with the intervening hyphenated phase, is one of the most common ways we form new words.

Students, Teachers, Training & Conferences

Interesting Words and Expressions – Achilles Heel

Expression “Achilles Heel” is used to describe a weak point in somebody’s character which can be attacked by other people.

Origin: Named after the Greek hero Achilles. When he was a sall child, his mother held him below the surface of the river Styx to protect him against any injury. She held him by his heel, which therefore was not touched by the water. Achilles died by being wounded by an arrow in the heel.

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Students, Teachers, Training & Conferences

Interesting Words and Expressions – White Elephant

White Elephant – a thing that is useless and no longer needed, although it may have cost a lot of money, a valuable but burdensome possession.

Origin: from the story that in Siam (Thailand) the king would give a white elephant as a present to someone that he didn’t like. The person would have to spend all their money on looking after the rare animal.

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Students, Teachers, Training & Conferences

Interesting Words and Expressions – Stepford Wife

The expression “Stepford Wife” is used to describe a woman who does not behave or think in an independent way, always following the accepted rules of society and obeying her husband without thinking. Origin: From the title of the book and a movie “The Stepford Wives”, in which a group of women who behave in this way are in fact robots. Source: The Little Book of Word Origins, Oxford University Press

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Students, Teachers, Training & Conferences

Interesting Words and Expressions – Trojan Horse

trojanhorse

The expression Trojan Horse is used to describe a person or thing that is used to trick an enemy in order to achieve a secret purpose. This expression is also used in programming to describe a computer program that seems to behelpful but that s, in fact, designed to destroy data.

Origin: from the story in which the ancient Greeks hid inside a hollow wooden statue of a horse in order to enter the city of their enemies, Troy.

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Interesting Words and Expressions – Big Brother is watching you

Yesterday it was George Orwell’s Birthday!

Most of us have heard famous phrase from the novel 1984 “Big Brother is watching you”. In this novel, Big Brother is the supreme dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state where “the Party” has total power over the people in its quest to perpetuate itself. In this society, everyone is under constant surveillance by the authorities, and people are reminded of this endlessly by the catch-phrase “Big Brother is watching you”.

Since 1984 was published, the term “Big Brother” has become synonymous with overly-controlling authorities, organizations and governments.

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Students, Teachers, Training & Conferences

Interesting Words and Expressions – Red-Letter Day

Do you know what “Red-Letter Day” means?

It’s an important day, or a day that you will remember, because of something good that happened then. Origin: from the custom of using red ink to mark holidays and festivals on a calendar.

Source: The Little Book of Word Origins – Oxford University Press