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I saw an article about the Ebola outbreak and it mentioned, “Katie, bar the door”. I hadn’t heard that saying before so I looked it up, and it seems to have its origins in the story of Catherine Douglas and her role protecting against the assassination of Scottish King James I in 1437 (as recounted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1881).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Douglas
It’s good to know. Maybe I’ll use that phrase in conversation/writing in the future.
You had never heard that phrase before? I am shocked, but then maybe I just know it because my mother is English.
Maybe I have heard it before but I didn't know if was a popular saying, so I didn't really think of it. I am not really sure why some bits of knowledge resonate with certain people and not others. In my dealings with adolescent students, I will sometimes assume they know the meanings of words that I think they would know, only to find out they do not. Then, just the other day I was remarking how I didn't know any movies one particular actor was in (Paul Rudd), and the others who I was with proceeded to rattle off several movies that I had heard of but which I had not seen.I guess knowledge is like the ocean: its ebbs and flows will cover most shores, but on occasion there are small places that remain unaffected.
, I will sometimes assume they know the meanings of words that I think they would know, only to find out they do not.
I run into this all the time. It actually amazes me how rudimentary most peoples vocabulary is these days. One would think that with the internet and the huge amont of information available that people have to read to grasp that the average vocabulary would be lager. I find that talking to most people under the age of 25 or so is like a constant game of "Stump the Chump" because I never know which word I use is going to elicit the deer in the headlights look from them.
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