Sunday, February 18, 2007

It's Bedlam!

In English, when we say something is 'bedlam', it means chaos or madness.

The word bedlam comes from the name of a hospital for mental patients - Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem. The common people pronounced Bethlehem as Bedlam.

In the 1700s people used to go to this hospital for entertainment. They would bring their families to laugh at the mad people there! Please don't try this today!

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Origin of the Word HOOLIGAN

Here's one for the word nerds. I was wondering where the word HOOLIGAN comes from and whether it's related to the Old English word ...