Category: language

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Where does the phrase “elephant in the room” come from?

Have you ever been perturbed by an issue and you’re pretty sure that no one around you is comfortable either, but you all repress the urge to address it? The issue is very intense, prominent and of great consequence sometimes… like there’s an elephant in the room. This phrase has been popular for quite some time, even though it is currently considered a cliché by most people. It has also metamorphosed through a few stages during this time, and here’s a bit about how it all started. A short fictitious story, written by Ivan Krylov, a 19th-century Russian fabulist, was

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Where did the saying “break a leg” come from?

Break a leg is an idiom. An expression or phrase that has a figurative meaning i.e. the meaning is not to be taken literally.  This idiom is traditionally used in theatre and means good luck. What is the origin of “break a leg”? Some scholars believe the term originated from Ancient Greece, where instead of clapping for performers after a production, the audience would stomp their legs to show their appreciation. This meant that a performance was well received and that the continual stomping would eventually lead to someone breaking their leg. Others believe it originated from the Elizabethan practice

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Ataxophobia: The Fear of Disorder or Untidiness

Have you ever come across someone who has an exaggerated sense of orderliness? Do they keep all their belongings in an order that is fascinating and yet disturbing? Well, they are most likely to be suffering from a condition called Ataxophobia. Ataxophobia is an irrational and abnormal fear of disorder and dysfunction. Literally, this word with Greek roots means ‘fear of untidiness’. “If a cluttered desk is a sign of cluttered mind, if what, then is an empty desk a sign?” – Albert Einstein This condition is not restricted to being a cleanliness freak alone but can instigate a horrifying

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Quirkyalone: someone who is single and does not feel the need to date for the sake of it

More and more, millennials and the generations directly preceding them are turning away from what was once a culturally accepted phenomenon: pairing up from a young age, and staying with a partner – any partner – through high school, to college, to marriage, children, and death. For some reason, generations older than those born in the last twenty years find the concept of not wanting to do this to be something on the edge of taboo. To them, the idea of someone happily existing as a single entity – by choice, no less – is seen as unnatural. Because surely

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Cynophobia: The Fear of Dogs

Unlike the fear of spiders, snakes or rats, the fear of cats (ailurophobia) and the fear of dogs (cynophobia) are not particularly common zoophobia fears. That said, those that do suffer from them are subjected to seeing the source of their fear everywhere they go. Cats and dogs are the most common household pets, from rural households to urban ones, and although to most of us the idea of fearing creatures we live in harmony with is strange, to some, the very idea of sharing a home with descendants of wolves is inconceivable. Perhaps that’s where cynophobia finds its source.

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Zoophobia: A Fear of Animals

To most of us, the idea that someone could fear all animals comes across as almost absurd. Animals are in our daily lives, even if we aren’t able to have a pet of our own. We see pigeons and sparrows on the streets, people walk their dogs on the beach… In some countries, farm animals are a common thing to see in public parks, grazing behind wire fences and bothering no one at all. But for some people, such scenes bring about terror and panic. The question is, why? Certainly fear of wild animals, such as wolves or boars, have

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Achluophobia: A Fear of the Dark

While many phobias can arise in early childhood – perhaps after hearing a frightening story or seeing a scary film – and others can pop up once one an adult, certain phobias are so deeply ingrained in the human psyche that they seem to have no dateable origin whatsoever. They are innate and uncontrollable, and sometimes – going against the grain of the very definition of phobias themselves – have very rational, and even evolutionary roots. One such phobia is achluophobia – or the fear of the dark. The dark is our only certain uncertainty, a constant, the one thing

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