Hey everyone ( Read more... )

Research: History of hello (and related cognates), salutations, greetings, historical meeting protocol, history of hail/ave/ahoy, etc. I have found a great deal on why we currently use hello, but not what was used previously as a greeting beyond good day/morning/evening/afternoon ( Read more... )

I'm writing a story that takes place in France in the late 30s/early 40s. One character is the sorta stereotypically "nerdy" kid. I know that the word "nerd" didn't become a slang term until the 50s, so I need the equivalent of it. The character himself is English, so I'm not looking for American slang ( Read more... )

I am working on a story set in WWII Britain, specifically involving the RAF. There is one character who flips off another. I have already done research into the proper offense gesture, but I have been unable to find whether the verb "to flip off" was in use at this time ( Read more... )

"There's nothing surer; the rich get rich and the poor get poorer."
A compiled reference and fact guide to writing fic for the 1920s.

[US-oriented] Find the follow-up guide some people asked for on the 1930s here!

( The Roaring Twenties )

This really is a Little Detail, but it's bugging me and I would love to know the answer.

Setting of story: 1880s Victorian London

So I'm writing a fanfic for a Victorian novel and I have one character saying the line: "I should be amazed if he has not dismissed my friendship by the morrow".The problem is I'm not sure if "to-morrow" would be more ( Read more... )

I'm writing a story set in a slightly steampunked American Civil War. Most of the technological deviations have not yet happened, and history is pretty much the same until 1862. The character, who has just joined the Union Army, is listing derogatory slang terms for Yankee. I have scoured the internet and I keep coming up with the same three ( Read more... )

So the time has come when someone needs to write a Shakespearean adaptation of Cee-Lo Green's "F*ck You ( Read more... )

Title's not great, but I need to explain what I mean. I'm writing a (crack) fic where King Arthur is resurrected about once every hundred years up to the 2020's -ish. Assuming he starts off in England in about 1000AD speaking Old English, at what point will he stop being able to understand spoken English? Please note that each time he is ( Read more... )

I thought this link to an advert for a new resource might be helpful to writers aiming either for period flavour in language, or to avoid anachronisms. It includes dates of first recorded use. Even at the intro offer price it's too much for most of us but those who work at institutions with libraries could put it on the wish list...