Paul Anthony Jones

Paul Anthony Jones is a writer and musician from Newcastle upon Tyne. He is the author of word origins guide Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons, and runs its tie-in Twitter account @HaggardHawks.

6 Ways Europe’s Best Doctors Tried to Cure Beethoven’s Deafness
None of the treatments worked, but the composer kept trying.... READ ON
The Time That William Shakespeare Gave Evidence In Court
... READ ON
Mandarin, German, and Dutch? 8 U.S. Presidents Who Spoke More Than One Language
7. During his presidency, Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou would hold their private conversations in Mandarin to prevent their staff from listening in.... READ ON
The Origins of 14 Cocktail Names
The stories—and theories—behind 14 of your favorite tipples.... READ ON
5 Countries That Existed For Less Than a Year
'A' for effort?... READ ON
The Tiny English Village (Population: 41) That’s Twinned With Paris
Here's how one small town forged a huge partnership.... READ ON
Tom Skelton: The Serial Killer Court Jester
The original Tom Fool wasn't all fun and games.... READ ON
30 Words and Phrases from Victorian Theatrical Slang
Nicknames for noisy babies? Just because these terms have dropped out of use doesn't mean they're any less applicable today.... READ ON
20 Pieces of Advice From Old Tudor Proverbs
Even the Tudors knew not to shoot the messenger (even if they phrased it a little differently).... READ ON
The World’s Top 20 Languages—And The Words English Has Borrowed From Them
The most-spoken languages and their influences on English.... READ ON
The Origins of 9 Royal Nicknames
... READ ON
10 Famous People Who Fought In Duels and Lived to Tell the Tale
While a fight to the death may sound romantic, it's not often what happened.... READ ON
47 More Words That Sound Rude (But Actually Aren’t)
These words sound a lot more suspect than their fairly mundane meanings might suggest.... READ ON
How Shakespeare Changed America’s Wildlife
... READ ON
20 Brilliant Anglo-Saxon Words
Old English had a rich array of inventive and intriguing words, many of which have either long since dropped out of use or were replaced.... READ ON
The Parrot That Kept A Language Alive
In 1800, one explorer discovered a parrot who was speaking a dead language.... READ ON
Charles Dickens, a.k.a. “The Unparalleled Necromancer”
In the summer of 1849, a magician billed as "The Unparalleled Necromancer" gave an unforgettable performance—made even more memorable by the fact that he was actually Charles Dickens.... READ ON
10 Vacation Destinations that Ended Up in the Dictionary
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32 Long-Forgotten Weather Words
Whether you're currently enjoying a scalding bout of sunshine, enduring a sudden downpour of rain, or suffering through a drought, the most obscure corners of the English language have precisely the right word for you.... READ ON
10 Little-Used Shakespearisms
Not all Shakespeare’s snappiest phrases and expressions caught on.... READ ON
15 Surprising Words That Are Probably Onomatopoeic
... READ ON
25 Words That Don’t Mean What They Used To
It’s to be expected that the words we use will change and develop over time. In some instances, these developments can lead to words gaining new meanings entirely different from their original implications.... READ ON
12 Old-Timey Ways of Saying “Nonsense”
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40 Quirky Q-Words To Add To Your Vocabulary
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William Shakespeare’s Father: Official Ale-Taster of Stratford-upon-Avon
... READ ON
When Arthur Conan Doyle Judged A Bodybuilding Contest
... READ ON
How A Practical Joke Brought 19th Century London To A Standstill
... READ ON
Louis de Wohl, the Astrologer Who Was Hired By MI5
... READ ON
Why is it "Zed" in Britain, and "Zee" in America?
So zed is British and zee is American, yes? Well, that might be the case today, but once upon a time things were quite different.... READ ON
How Thomas Jefferson Invented A New Way Of Saying “Goodbye”
... READ ON
23 Notoriously Unrhymable Words (That Actually Have Rhymes)
This changes everything.... READ ON
18 Everyday Expressions Borrowed From the Bible
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42 Old English Insults
Next time someone winds you up or you need to win an argument in fine style, why not try dropping one of these old-fashioned insults into your conversation? ... READ ON
17 Bizarre Work-Related Ailments
Today's work-related ailments have nothing on these historical diseases.... READ ON
25 Words That Are Actually Acronyms
Here are the stories and meanings behind 25 words, names and titles that you might not have realized actually stand for something.... READ ON
12 Distant Places In The Solar System (And What They’re Named After)
... READ ON
A Month by Month Guide To The Anglo-Saxon Calendar
From the month of cakes to the month of blood sacrifices... READ ON
10 Words Shakespeare Used With Unclear Meanings
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20 French Phrases You Should Be Using
As much as 30 percent of the English language—or roughly one in three English words—is believed to be derived directly from French.... READ ON
12 Animals Named After The Noises They Make
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10 Words & Phrases Coined in Comic Strips
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10 Little-Known Units of Time
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50 Old British Dialect Words We Should Bring Back
9. CRUMPSY: Short-tempered and irritable.... READ ON
16 Words Derived From Animals
From bears and storks to singing wolves and castrated sheep, all 16 of the words listed here have surprising zoological origins.... READ ON
15 Words That Are Way More Interesting Than They Seem
They might seem straightforward on the surface, but hidden behind them is some remarkable quirk or bizarre piece of trivia that sets them apart.... READ ON
19 Colors You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
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30 Old (And Useful) Slang Names For Parts of the Body
People have been using belly button to mean “navel” since the late 1800s. Your nose has been your schnozz since the 1940s, and your hooter since the '50s. Booty has been dated back as far as 1928. Guys have been comparing their guns since 1973, and their pecs since 1949. But slang names for parts of the body don’t end there.... READ ON
22 Brilliant Old Nicknames For Animals
... READ ON
21 Slang Terms From World War I
One of the subtlest and most surprising legacies of the First World War is its effect on our language.... READ ON
26 First Names That Ended up in the Dictionary
Sometimes, through some quirk of etymology—and sometimes entirely by coincidence—first names like these find their way into the dictionary as words in their own right, and end up ultimately taking on whole new meanings in the language.... READ ON
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©2018 Mental Floss, Inc. All rights reserved. Mental Floss® is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.