Thinking about the ongoing conflict. And some unusual words.

Another grey day this morning as another week gets under way. 

As the conflict continues / escalates in the Middle East, our prime minister has agreed that UK military bases over there can be used by the US to attack Iranian missile sites. This despite saying the Uk is not getting involved in the conflict. It sounds rather like involvement to me. And it seems to be being interpreted that way as a drone attack struck an RAF base in Cyprus. 

Britons living and working in the Middle East are being evacuated. Yvette Cooper says it’s being organised.

Meanwhile President Trump has said that the possibility of American troops in Iran is not entirely off the table.

“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground – like every president says ‘there will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Donald Trump told the Washington Post. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary.’” 

I had to look up “the yips”, a new expression to me. The internet tells me this:

The yips are a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills in experienced performers such as athletes. Symptoms of the yips are losing fine motor skills and psychological issues that impact the muscle memory and decision-making, leaving them unable to perform basic skills.

The exact cause of the yips is still not fully understood.”

What a strange expression for Mr Trump to use! 

I doubt that the American public want their boys to be boots on the ground.

I also read that the Pentagon is “lethalitymaxxing”. Investigating that I discovered the following definition: 

“Maxxing, a suffix that means optimizing for whatever word you slap “-maxx” onto, e.g., “looksmaxxing” for improving one’s physical appearance, “jestermaxxing“ for acting silly to get laughs, or “lethalitymaxxing” if you’re an official US Department of Defense X account.”

Interesting times give interesting words.

Names are also interesting. I came across an article written by someone called Micklewright. Now, I know that the name Cartwright has its origin in someone who made carts, as does Wainwright, wain being another word for cart or wagon. So what does a micklewright make. One definition says mickle means great or large. Another source says that mickle is an old Irish word for a coin. Does a micklewright make coins?

Then there is the expression “many a mickle makes a muckle”. A muckle is an old cockney term for a bundle. So maybe “many a mickle makes a muckle” is an odd version of that other expression, “look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”.

And since mickle is an Irish word for a coin, it links us to taking the mick, to tease or make a fool of someone. One source says that 'to take the mick' is from that same Irish word 'mickle' - to take the 'mickle'/ to take the 'penny' (i.e. to fool or deceive someone of their money).

Then here’s the name Micklethwaite. As a surname it comes, of course from a place name and there are a number of Micklethwaites around the country. One of those Micklethwaites originated as a Viking settlement in the 10th century, and according to the Domesday Book was called ‘Muceltoit’ (which is Norse for ‘great clearing’). Which brings us back to “mickle” meaning great or large. 

That’s enough ramblings for today.

Life goes on, stay safe and well, everyone!