We tend to imagine the Victorians were all top hats, stiff collars and serious faces, but it’s a fact that they also had a sweet tooth. By the late 1800s, ice-cream had become the ultimate street food. For just one penny, you could enjoy a refreshing scoop from a colourful street cart on a hot day. Enter the penny lick.
The idea was simple. Vendors would place a blob of ice-cream into a thick little glass with a shallow dip at the top. You’d lick it clean (hence the name), hand the glass back, and off it would go to the next eager customer. Sadly, the Victorians were not so aware of the importance of hygiene or the existence of germs. This, combined with lack of pasteurised milk ( yet to be a legal requirement ) and the prevalence of common diseases like cholera and tuberculosis, meant passing around the same unwashed glass turned out to be a recipe for disaster.
The penny licks were banned in London in 1899 after a medical report linked the re-use of unwashed glassware to the rise of tuberculosis. Along came a much better idea: the edible cone. Not only was it safer, it was also tastier and you got to eat the container as well as the ice-cream.
The Ice-Cream Cone
But who invented the ice-cream cone? As usual, the story is not clear cut. One idea is that Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian immigrant in New York, improvised an ice-cream from a Syrian pastry, called zalabia, in 1904. Another theory credits the invention of the cone to Italo Marchiony, an Italian immigrant in New York, who created ice-cream containers made from dough, although they were more cup-shaped than actual cones.
Another earlier contender was Agnes Marshall, who ran a cookery school in London and published The Book of Ices in 1885. The publication comprised 170 sweet recipes with ice-cream figuring prominently. A later offering, her Book of Cookery in 1888, made reference to an edible cone and was called a cornet. Although the cornet was actually designed to be eaten using cutlery, Agnes Marshall is also regarded as a pioneer of ice-cream cornets. In 1894 the follow-up to The Book of Ices arrived, namely Fancy Ices – see book cover above.
So next time you’re happily munching on a ice-cream, spare a thought for the Victorians. Without their dodgy glassware, we might never have had the immense joy of the cone. Are you an ice-cream lover?
On the evening of 7 August 1606, the halls of Hampton Court Palace glowed with candlelight. The Great Hall, hung with rich tapestries, was filled with the rustle of silks and the low murmur of voices as courtiers found their seats. Outside the palace walls, England still trembled in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed attempt to assassinate the king and topple his fragile new dynasty. Inside the hall anticipation hung in the summer air: Shakespeare’s company was about to unveil a brand-new play.
This performance was no ordinary entertainment. Written in haste, sharpened by politics, and laced with supernatural dread, Macbeth was carefully tailored for its royal audience – King James I, the Scottish monarch who had inherited the English throne just three years earlier. Shakespeare knew his patron’s obsessions: the divine right of kings, the dangers of treason and a personal fascination with witchcraft. The play that would unfold that night would flatter, warn and captivate in equal measure.
As the actors prepared to summon thunder and witches onto the stage, few in the room could have guessed that they were about to witness the birth of one of the greatest tragedies in the English language – a story of vaulting ambition and bloody consequence that still grips audiences four centuries later.
🏰 The Backdrop: England in 1606
When Shakespeare’s players stepped onto the stage at Hampton Court, the court was still haunted by the spectre of treason. Only months earlier, in November 1605, the kingdom had narrowly avoided catastrophe when a band of Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up Parliament and kill King James I in what became known as the Gunpowder Plot. The king had survived, but the shock lingered. England was jittery, suspicious and deeply aware of the fragility of peace.
James himself was still a relatively new monarch on the English throne. In 1603 he had inherited the crown from Elizabeth I, uniting Scotland and England under a single ruler for the first time. His accession had promised stability after the long Tudor age, but it had also brought unease. James was a foreign king to the English, unfamiliar in manner and accent, and he faced the constant challenge of proving his legitimacy.
This was the tense world into which Shakespeare offered his new tragedy. Macbeth was no simple tale of murder and ambition. It was a mirror held up to a kingdom still recovering from conspiracy, where questions of loyalty, kingship and divine authority were painfully fresh.
🎭 Why Macbeth? Politics Meets Theatre
Shakespeare was no fool. He knew that a play performed for the king had to do more than entertain; it had to flatter, reassure and, if possible, speak to the monarch’s deepest concerns. Macbeth was crafted with this purpose in mind, weaving together themes that aligned perfectly with King James I’s interests.
First was the matter of ancestry. James traced his royal line back to Banquo, the noble companion of Macbeth in Scottish legend. In the play, Banquo is portrayed as virtuous and unjustly murdered, while his descendants are prophesied to inherit the throne. For James, this was more than a clever plot point – it was a theatrical confirmation of his right to rule, projected in flickering candlelight before the entire court.
Then came the witches. James had a personal fascination with witchcraft, even publishing his own treatise on the subject, Daemonologie, in 1597. He believed witches had conspired against him, and his fear of the supernatural was well known. By placing three sinister witches at the heart of the story, Shakespeare tapped directly into his king’s obsession,blending entertainment with a subtle nod to James’s authority as the man who could confront and defeat such dark forces.
Finally, the play was a stark warning against regicide. In the wake of the Gunpowder Plot, England needed no reminder of the dangers of treason. Yet Macbeth drove the point home with visceral clarity: the murder of a king unleashes chaos, guilt and ruin, while the rightful line of succession endures. For James, it was a political reassurance staged as gripping drama.
In short, Macbeth was more than a tragedy. It was a play of loyalty and legitimacy – a performance that fused Shakespeare’s genius with the anxieties and ambitions of his age.
⚡ The Performance: Sights, Sounds, Sensations
As the candles dimmed and the first lines echoed through Hampton Court’s Great Hall, the audience would have felt a chill that had little to do with the summer air. Shakespeare’s actors conjured a storm with the crude but effective stagecraft of the day – rolling cannonballs to mimic thunder, rattling sheets of metal for lightning, stamping feet to suggest the earth itself trembling. Out of the shadows emerged the three witches, hissing their riddles and chants. For a court still haunted by whispers of real sorcery and conspiracy, the effect must have been spine-tingling.
The action unfolded with a pace and brutality that set Macbeth apart from Shakespeare’s earlier histories and comedies. The murder of Duncan, though never shown on stage, was made palpable through the imagery of blood-stained hands, daggers that seemed to hover in the air and Macbeth’s tormented soliloquies. The courtiers would have watched in uneasy silence, perhaps casting sidelong glances at James himself during scenes of treason and regicide.
The performance was intimate, too. Unlike the bustling Globe Theatre, where audiences of commoners shouted and jostled in the pit, this was a royal performance in a confined, candlelit space. Every whispered line, every flick of a dagger, every flicker of flame would have carried weight. The courtiers were also participants in a carefully staged ritual of power, loyalty and warning.
By the time Macbeth fell and Malcolm reclaimed his throne, the message was clear. Kingship was sacred, rebellion doomed, and order would prevail. Just the reassurance King James wanted to hear. Yet beyond its politics, the play had cast a darker, deeper spell, one that would outlast monarchs and dynasties.
🌒 Legacy and Influence
That August night at Hampton Court was only the beginning of Macbeth’s long life. What began as a performance tailored for a king soon became one of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedies, staged in playhouses, palaces and eventually on screens around the world.
Its themes of ambition, tyranny, and fate proved timeless. Though written to flatter James I, Macbeth transcended its political moment. Audiences saw in it not just a sermon on loyalty but a haunting exploration of the human hunger for power and the ruin it brings. From Cromwell’s England to the Victorian stage, from modern theatres to classrooms today, the “Scottish play” continues to resonate wherever people wrestle with corruption, violence and guilt.
Over the centuries, Macbeth also gathered a reputation as a cursed play. Actors whispered that disasters stalked its productions, from accidents on stage to mysterious deaths in the cast. Some blamed the witches’ spells, said to be real incantations lifted from folk magic. Others thought its violent energy simply courted misfortune. Whatever the truth, the legend only added to the play’s mystique, ensuring that its power to unsettle extended far beyond its script.
In this way, the candlelit performance of August 1606 became more than a royal entertainment. It was the spark that ignited over four hundred years of fascination, fear, and admiration. In short, a tragedy that once summoned, could never be banished back into silence.
🔮 Macbeth‘s enduring spell
Macbeth has never truly left the stage. Its witches still unsettle, its daggers still gleam, and its questions about power and fate are just as urgent today. What began as a carefully crafted performance for King James has become a universal tragedy, performed and reinterpreted for centuries.
Every August, when we look back at this moment in English history, we glimpse not only a king and his court but the birth of a story that still speaks to us across four hundred years, A reminder that unchecked ambition can unravel even the mightiest of crowns. A message still relevant today.
Shakespeare wasn’t just a master of storytelling and poetry – he was also a supreme wordsmith when it came to insults. His plays brim with creative, humorous and razor-sharp put-downs that still sting or make us laugh centuries later. From the jabs of Iago in Othello to the biting wit of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare proves that language can be both elegant and deadly.
The Art of Shakespearean Insults Unlike today, Shakespeare’s insults often use elaborate metaphors, inventive compounds and colourful adjectives. They don’t just offend – they paint a picture. For example:
“Thou pribbling ill-nurtured knave!” (Henry IV, Part 2)
Pribbling implies petty or insignificant, ill-nurtured suggests poor upbringing, and knave is a lowly scoundrel. The insult is layered and theatrical.
“Peace, filthy worm.” (Timon of Athens)
Short, direct, and visually repulsive. Shakespeare could make a simple word like worm feel devastating.
Common Ingredients in Shakespeare’s Insults
Compound adjectives: “Fool-born,” “puny-headed,” or “lumpish”
Animal imagery: “Dog,” “hedgehog,” “toad”
Bodily references: “Pox-marked,” “pox-ridden,” or “beetle-headed”
Misdirection or irony: Using a word with double meaning for both humor and sting
The Fun of Modern Usage Incorporating Shakespearean insults into modern conversation can be both hilarious and classy. Imagine telling someone:
“Thou art as fat as butter!”
“Peace, thou pribbling dizzy-eyed hedge-pig!”
Not only does it elevate your language, but it also gives your insults a literary flair.
20+ Hilarious Shakespearean Insults
Thou pribbling ill-nurtured knave! (Henry IV, Part 2)
Peace, filthy worm. (Timon of Athens)
You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! (Henry IV, Part 2)
Thou art as fat as butter. (Henry IV, Part 1)
Thou art unfit for any place but hell. (Richard III)
Your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage. (As You Like It)
Thou art a boil, a plague sore. (Timon of Athens)
Thou lumpish hedge-pig! (Henry IV, Part 1)
Thou spongy hasty-witted miscreant! (Henry IV, Part 2)
More of your conversation would infect my brain. (Cymbeline)
I do desire we may be better strangers. (As You Like It)
You have no more brain than I have in mine elbows. (Troilus and Cressida)
Thou art a flesh-monger, a fool and a coward. (Hamlet)
Methink’st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee. (Much Ado About Nothing)
Peace, thou knotty-pated fool! (Romeo and Juliet)
Thou art a very ragged wart. (Henry IV, Part 1)
Thou art as loathsome as a toad. (King Lear)
Your wit’s as thick as Tewkesbury mustard. (Love’s Labour’s Lost)
Thou art a boil, a plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood. (King Lear)
I do wish thou were a fool, that thou mightst be honest. (Twelfth Night)
Thou art a boil, a scurvy, plague-sore, filthy, nasty knave! (Henry IV, Part 1)
Shakespearean Insult Generator – create your own insults!
Instructions: Pick one word from Column A, one from Column B, and one from Column C. Start with “Thou” and string them together. Instant Shakespearean burn!
Column A (Adjective)
Column B (Adjective)
Column C (Noun)
Bawdy
Beetle-headed
Apple-john
Churlish
Clay-brained
Canker-blossom
Clouted
Dizzy-eyed
Hedge-pig
Fawning
Earth-vexing
Knave
Goats-milk
Fat-kidneyed
Maggot-pie
Knotty-pated
Hedge-born
Miscreant
Pribbling
Ill-nurtured
Rampallian
Saucy
Milk-livered
Scullion
Spongy
Pox-marked
Toad
Vain
Tardy-gaited
Varlot
Example insults:
Thou spongy hedge-born toad!
Thou knotty-pated dizzy-eyed scullion!
Thou bawdy fat-kidneyed miscreant!
Shakespeare didn’t just write tragedies, he wrote savage burns. 🔥 Which insult fits your mood today? I invite all you creative people out there to create your own versions and drop me your favourite in the comments.
Think Shakespeare only gave us Romeo & Juliet? Think again! He also coined words we still often use even today. Shakespeare didn’t just transform theatre – he made a huge contribution to the English language. Words like fashionable, lonely, and bedazzled first appeared in his plays. This latest post is a brief exploration of how the Bard’s creativity still shapes our language today.
Everyday Words Invented by Shakespeare
When people think of Shakespeare, they often imagine lofty poetry, grand tragedies or Elizabethan costumes. But did you know he also shaped the English we speak every day? The Bard had a knack for coining new words and phrases when nothing else quite fitted – and many of them stuck.
Here are a few you might use without even realizing their origin:
Eyeball – First appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Before that, people didn’t have a word for the literal ball of the eye.
Lonely – Found in Coriolanus and Twelfth Night, this word helped capture the feeling of isolation that still very much resonates today.
Fashionable – Used in Troilus and Cressida to describe someone stylish or in vogue. Clearly, that one never went out of style. (See what I just did there?)
Swagger – From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where Shakespeare used it to describe a presumptuous strut. It’s been walking confidently ever since.
Bedazzled – First appearing in The Taming of the Shrew, it described someone overcome with wonder. Today, it’s also what you maybe did to your denim jacket.
Of course, Shakespeare didn’t invent every word he’s credited with – some may have existed in speech before he wrote them down. But as his plays were so widely performed and printed, he often gave words their very first spotlight in print.
So next time you use a word like lonely or swagger, you might have the world’s most famous playwright to thank.
👉 Do you have a favourite Shakespearean word or phrase? Drop it in the comments – it would be fun to see which others still resonate with us today.
In the English language there are many ways to express that you do not care about someone or something. A line uttered by Clark Gable in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind was crowned the most iconic line ever by the American Film Institute in 2005.
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” alerts his leading lady, Vivien Leigh, and the audience, to the fact their romance is doomed.
But there are so many more ways to say that we are not interested.
It’s no skin off my nose – this one is a boxing metaphor, as boxers’ noses are generally more damaged than any other body part. It can also have a secondary meaning, namely “I don’t have a problem with this“.
I don’t give a monkey’s – A monkey’s what? You might well ask and it’s a good question. The consensus over Internet is that this expression generally ended in a word not used in polite society to describe a rear end. In time, the phrase was simply shortened to ” not giving a monkey’s.”
I don’t give a tinker’s cuss – A tinker was a word to describe an itinerant craftsman who mended pots and kettles for a living, with a very lowly status in society. Beggars and gypsies were also called tinkers. So the curse or swear word of an uneducated tinker was not seen as anything valuable. This one is pretty old-fashioned, illustrates the snobbery of past times and thankfully, has more or less dropped out of use.
There are several other objects we do not give when we don’t care.
We don’t give a hoot, a fig, a sod or a toss….and the toss maybe isn’t what you think, the saying originated as the toss of a two-pence coin.
If you want to say you don’t care in a way that cannot be misinterpreted you have the option of not giving a sh**, a f*** or even a flying f***. As these are not polite expressions, they are not recommended.
A Christmas pudding is a British emblem of Yuletide. Love it or loathe it, no traditional British Christmas meal is complete without one. Similar to Brussel sprouts, (which tend to be more loathed than loved but also still make an appearance) our Christmas dessert, in my humble opinion, is part and parcel of the Christmas festivities.
Our beloved Christmas pudding has history – it’s been around for longer than you might think.
Who made the first Christmas pudding?
Sadly, we do not know the name of the person who invented our pudding. But we do know thatits forerunner, a type of pottage, a mixture of beef, suet, dried fruit and spices existed in England in the Middle Ages. Pottage was the name for a soupy kind of stew, generally eaten by peasants, and comprised of ingredients that were readily available to them – mainly vegetables and pulses. If the nobility chose to eat pottage, then more expensive items such as spices and meat would be included.
Many pottages later, around the end of the Tudor era, our pudding gained a more solid form, and a new name, plum pudding, but beef still figured amongst its ingredients. It was also a possibility that there were actually no plums in the pudding, plum being used to refer to various different fruits. At the same time the humble pottage was also still in existence and no doubt the size of your wallet would decide which version you chose.
A Christmas pudding hanging on a hook to dry. Photographed by DO’Neil.
In the 18th century, pudding cloths arrived, supplanting the animal intestines that had been used before ( yes, better not to think about it…). The mixture would be left in a muslin cloth for some time, followed by a lengthy cooking process. This is when plum pudding began to acquire the spherical shape that we know so well today. It was generally eaten alongside beef, if you were well-heeled enough to afford it, of course.
The golden age of Christmas pudding
Fast-forwarding to the Victorian era, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were known to enjoy lavish meals at Christmas, (see: https://wordpress.com/post/english-stuff.com/1197 ) with plum pudding often on the menu. Charles Dickens also promoted the idea of a Christmas pudding as a special delicacy at the end of A Christmas Carol when Mrs. Cratchit presents a sweet, round pudding, blazing in ignited brandy.
Two years after the publication of A Christmas Carol, our dish appeared as an official “Christmas pudding” in Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery for Private Families, a bestseller in 1845. This was Christmas pudding as we would recognise it – that is, a round sweet pudding, with no beef, but plenty of fruit and spices. The pudding mixture could be moulded to give it a more ornate shape. It was however, still served alongside the meat course.
During the twentieth century, this sweet dish became exactly that – the dessert we instantly recognise, served with cream, custard or brandy butter. Supermarkets began to stock a convenient packaged version, which only needs to be heated and served.
But times continue to change. Nowadays many older Brits, (but certainly not all), are still attached to Christmas pudding, maybe because it has been part of our lives for so long. However, the younger generation, it seems, are not particularly supportive of the Christmas pud, probably as it usually follows a very rich and heavy first and second course. The Royal Mint in a 2024 survey found that a whopping 59% of the British population said they did not consider the Christmas pudding to be essential to the festivities. What do you think?
Christmas pudding has been with us in various guises for hundred of years. It is still cherished by some. But do you think Christmas pudding will survive in the future? Do youlove it or loathe it? Let me know!
English Stuff is a blog about the English language, culture and history, and we often feature posts about idioms in English – idioms being those linguistic gems of expressions that frequently don’t have a direct translation into another language, and they are often rooted in an interesting origin or piece of unusual history.
But today we’re going to turn it around and look at idiomatic expressions from other countries that would make no sense at all if they were translated into English.
France
La France Photo courtesy of Openverse.
Idiom – pédaler dans le choucroute
Literal translation – to pedal in sauerkarat. ( If you don’t already know, sauerkraut is a fermented cabbage dish eaten on the continent, and would definitely be a slippery, hazardous surface to travel on )
Real meaning – to go round in circles and get nowhere
If it existed in English – I explained it to him several times, but I was pedalling in sauerkraut.
Idiom – avoir la patate
Literal translation – to have the potato
Real meaning – to be full of beans (obviously English kids are fed baked beans whilst French kids enjoy gourmet carbohydrate)
If it existed in English – I can’t control these kids, they’re full of potato today.
Idiom – Poner un lapin
Literal translation – to put up a rabbit
Real meaning – to stand someone up
If it existed in English – She was supposed to meet me for dinner, but she put up a rabbit and never showed up.
Germany
The Bundesflagge! Photo Courtesy of Openverse.
Idiom – tomaten auf den augen haben
Literal Translation – to have tomatoes on your eyes
Real meaning – to be unaware of what’s happening around you
If it existed in English – She walked straight into a tree as she had tomatoes on her eyes.
Idiom – Wie eine beleidigte Leberwurst
Literal Translation – Like an offended liverwurst
Real meaning– someone who is offended very easily
If it existed in English – He acted like an offended liverwurst when I asked for his name.
Idiom – Es ist mir Wurst
Literal meaning – It’s sausage to me.
Real meaning – I don’t care one way or the other
If it existed in English – I’m not worrying about it, it’s all sausage to me.
Spain
¡Viva España! Photo courtesy of RawPixel via Openverse.
Idiom – se me ha ido la olla
Literal Translation – my pan has gone
Real meaning – to lose your marbles
If it existed in English – I was so exhausted that my pan went.
Idiom – vete a freír espárragos
Literal Translation – go away and fry asparagus
Real meaning – Get lost
If it existed in English – He spoke to me rudely so I sent him away to fry asparagus.
Idiom – tela marinera
Literal Translation – material for sails
Real meaning – this is very complicated
If it existed in English – Solving this problem is a nightmare, like material for sails.
These are a tiny, hand-picked selection of the immense amount of idioms out there,and they exist in practically every language. Idioms may have different literal translations but we can all relate to the concepts they express. Idioms are an illiustation of how we feel about situations in life, no matter where we are or which language we speak.
You may think that this post is somewhat late – surely carnivals take place in February around the time of Pancake Tuesday and Mardi Gras, don’t they ? Well, yes and no.
Carnival celebrations are huge in the Canary Islands, and Lanzarote very much adheres to this rule. Carnival is not programmed on fixed dates, but this year carnaval season began on 1st February, with festivities, concerts and events in the capital city of Arrecife….and will conclude a whole 6 weeks later (yes, 6 weeks.!!) on 10th March, ending with a week of parades and activities in the neighbouring island of La Graciosa, just north of Lanzarote.
Carnaval arrives in the small island of La Graciosa, north of Lanzarote, 2023
Parades, concerts,music and pageants
The local streets are buzzing with activity at this time of year, and residents and tourists alike join in the noisy celebrations. There are elaborate costumes, floats and live music, ranging from the more traditional Canarian music to the latest hits. For many of the locals carnaval is a bigger event than Christmas and many bystanders will be dressed in costumes simply to watch the culmination of events as the carnival procession passes by.
But there is more to all this than just music and dancing. Some carnival traditions are intertwined with social history in Lanzarote.
A bit of history from local towns
Arrecife
Los Buches de Arrecife, a long standing tradition. Photo – Ramón Pérez Niz.
In Arrecife, from the beginning of the 19th century, the bucheros, masked and dressed in old-fashioned peasant clothing, and masked, would playfully threaten the passersby with their “weapons”, (buches) which were fashioned from the inflated bladders of large fish……hmm, maybe not the most attractive thought. In the past, the bucheros would refuse to work on the ships in Arrecife during carnival season and were fed by the locals who would welcome them into their houses.
Despite opposition from the Church and the prohibitionof the bucheros dating from the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s until the 1960s, the bucheros are still “attacking” the carnival goers today…. albeit in a revamped costume seen above in the photo (and no longer using authentic fish bladders, you may be relieved to learn.)
Teguise
Los diabletes de Teguise – the little devils from the town of Teguise, the old capital of Lanzarote.
The use of devil images is widespread througout carnivals globally, and is often a mischevious figure attempting to cause mayhem. The diabletes (little devils) of Teguise are no exception, chasing and frightening the younger inhabitants.
Their distinctive costumes with their red and green diamonds, and their colourful masks, denote both their impish nature and also symbolise fertility/virility.
Carnaval in Lanzarote offers not only a great opportunity to enjoy the vibrant celebrations, but also a unique insight into the rich cultural heritage of this spectacular island.
Have you got Christmas on your mind? Thinking about food, gifts, entertainment? A thousand other details? The UK goes into overdrive about Christmas from the beginning of November, and some people are pretty fed up with Christmasness (yes, I know it’s not really a word) by the time 25th December finally rolls around. I sometimes felt like this when I still lived in England.
Although I’ve lived in Spain for several years, I’ll be celebrating Christmas for the first time in Lanzarote this year. While Christmas in Spain has lots of similarities with Britain – it’s family time, we eat lots of special foodstuffs and give each other presents, the monarch makes a speech – there are some differences too. And some of them may surprise you.
The run-up to Christmas
Spain has Christmas ads and commercials, but not to the same extent as the U.K. where everyone is bombarded with a huge retail campaign from 1st November onwards, and it is also not uncommon to see Christmas items on sale well before the winter months.
Over the years I have lived in Spain, the yuletide preparations have slowly increased in volume and the Christmas promotions have started a little earlier each year – but still not to the extent reached in Britain.
Christmas shopping in Arrecife, Lanzarote’s capital, early December 2023 -no crowds!
Life is not perfect here in Lanzarote, or anywhere else. But the laid-back island vibe helps to keep everyone relatively sane. And the mild winter climate and sunshine help, of course….were it not for the festive decorations. it would be hard to believe that it really is Christmas.
Christmas Eve/ Nochebuena
British Christmas fare
So you may already know that we have our family Christmas dinner in the evening in Spain, on Christmas Eve. And we don’t have a set meal, like in England, where a traditional Christmas dinner consists of a roast turkey, with all the trimmings, although it’s also true that nowadays more and more people are choosing an alternative menu which caters more to their taste.
Spain is a diverse country, with a rich gastronomy that varies from province to province. This is why the Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) menu tends to differ everywhere in Spain.
Roast turkey might be on the menu, particularly in the Balearic Islands or in Galicia, in the northwest of the country. But the main dish could be any type of roast meat (lamb and pork are popular choices) or fish or even shellfish, taking advantage of the availability of local delicacies.
A delicious salmon dish
In the Canary Islands, fish is often the star of the show, as the Canaries have access to a wide variety of delicious fish from the Atlantic – for example, cherne (wreckfish) or bocanegra (scorpionfish). Many species of tasty locally sourced fish are available, which are not generally found in other parts of Spain.
Slicing the ham takes a certain skill
And there’s always a wide range of tapas provided as extra nibbles. In the colder parts of Spain in the north (not talking Canaries here, obviously) broths and soups are often on the menu to start off the feast.
Other extras might include jamón iberico (cured ham), cheeses, small pastries, prawns and other types of seafood. In the Canaries papas arrugadas (wrinkled and salted boiled potatoes) with delicious sauces (mojos) are also likely to make an appearance.
In Spain we have many sweet treats during Christmas time, but one of the most traditional is turrón – a type of nougat made from honey and nuts which was popular from the Islamic conquest of Spain in 711. There were originally just two varieties
Turrón de Alicante – a rigid block of around 50% almonds plus honey and sugar.
Turrón de Jijona – this is nougat with a soft consistency, made from toasted crushed almonds and mixed with honey and egg whites.
In the photo above you can see turrón de Alicante third from the left on the second row. Turrón de Jijona is second from the left, first row.
Nowadays, apart from the original turrones, there are also many other varieties with a huge range of different flavours. The photo shows chocolate praline, glazed fruit, chocolate truffle and walnut, and rum and raisin, amongst others. Unfortunately these treats are probably not for anyone strictly watching their calorie intake.
The royal speech
And finally, a nod to the King’s speech, just like the UK. The only difference is that it’s always scheduled for 9pm on the evening of Nochebuena, at the same time as the family gathering… (oh, and it’s in Spanish, which you may have already guessed…)
Christmas Day/Día de Navidad
Christmas Day has a bit of a Boxing Day vibe, as everyone is recovering from the festivities the night before. But it’s still a bank holiday and an important day in the calendar.
A lot of Spanish people will go out for a special lunch to celebrate, and there are always eateries in holiday destinations which offer English Christmas dinners – although I would advise you to also sample some of the incredible gastronomy Spain has to offer.
The old Spanish tradition of receiving presents from the Three Kings on Epiphany, January 6th, is still going strong. However, with globalisation, and the practicality of children being able to enjoy their presents for the remainder of the Christmas holidays, gifts are given more and more on 25th December, although a lot of lucky Spanish kids will also receive another gift on January 6th from the Three Kings. We know these regal giftbearers as the Three Wise Men.
This post may have arrived just after Christmas Day, but wishing all our readers the very best for the rest of Christmas season.
Do you know of any more Christmas traditions in other countries which are totally different to Britain?
A simile is a phrase where we compare characteristics of one object to another, usually with the words like or as. For example:
You look as white as a sheet/ghost, what’s the matter?”
“He was so hungry that he ate the sandwich as quick as a flash.“
In these two sentences, the comparison is easy to understand – a sheet or a ghost is usually white, and a flash is swift. But some of these sayings do not always sound logical. Here are a few more that may need further clarification.
As bold as brass
Why do we use an alloy of copper and zinc, a.k.a brass, to say someone is bold? There’s a theory that attributes this phrase to Brass Crosby, who became the Mayor of London in 1770 and clashed with the establishment who were attempting to ban written reports on what had been said in Parliament. Crosby was unsuccessful in defending a printer who had published a parliamentary session and his bold actions caused him to be summoned before Parliament, and imprisoned for a time in the Tower of London. The public was outraged and Mr Crosby was released 6 weeks later. Since then proceedings in parliament have been reported without restrictions.
Although this is a remarkable story, and with apologies to Mr Crosby, it appears that as bold as brass was used before the 1770s. Brass comes from the same root as the word brazen meaning full of confidence and with little shame. However, the word bold is associated with a positive idea of bravery, while brazen usually transmits the idea of disrespect and shamelessness.
While it is undoubtedly advisable to keep your whistle free of bacteria, the original saying was actually as clear as a whistle. Over time the word clear became clean, and there we have it.
As fit as a fiddle
This simile was first used in the 1600s and that’s where we need to go to find out why we use this strange combination. In the 17th century, the word fit meant convenient or suitable, and it is used in this sense when we say fit for a king.
During the 20th century, we began to use the word fit as a way to describe our state of health and the simile has taken on this new meaning. But why a fiddle? Well, a fiddle (or a violin, the more formal term) was a common musical instrument 400 years ago and appropriate ( i.e. fit)for creating enjoyable music.
Of course, when we use this simile today, it’s to indicate someone is in great physical shape.
As easy as pie
I’ve made a pie or two, with varying degrees of success, and I wouldn’t say they are the easiest thing to make. However, the simile refers to the eating of pie, not the creation of it. I think we probably all agree that enjoying the pie afterwards is not a difficult task.
As mad as a hatter
A lot of people relate this simile to the Mad Hatter character in TheAdventures of Alice in Wonderlandby Lewis Carroll. But did you know that despite his fame as the Mad Hatter, the author only ever referred to the Hatter? There is little doubt that the Hatter’s behaviour was crazy, along with a series of other unhinged characters, such as the March Hare – also the owner of a simile – as mad as a March hare. This one came from the antics of hares during their mating season in March.
But back to the madness of hatters. It was well known in 1865 that hatters’ exposure to mercury, a component used in the manufacturing of hats, caused excitability and hallucinations, resulting in crazy behaviour. This type of mercury poisoning is formally known as erithismus mercurialis.
english-stuff.com 
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