Colin Gorrie (@colingorrie) / X

Colin Gorrie

5,945 posts

Colin Gorrie

@colingorrie

English is weirder than you think. Linguistics PhD. I read Old English for fun. Etymology, history, and the stories behind your words. Dead Language Society.

DeadLanguageSociety.com

Joined February 2011

Pinned
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Dec 13, 2024
English spelling is a cruel joke Why does ‘gh’ stay silent in “daughter” but sound like an ‘f’ in “laughter”? The thing is, English spelling is actually 100% logical — for the Middle Ages Here’s how the 'gh' sound disappeared from English, and left chaos in its wake…🧵
1.5M
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Jan 10, 2025
English and Latin have a hidden connection that no one notices. If a word begins with ‘f’ in English, it begins with ‘p’ in Latin. Take the word “father.” The Latin for father is “pater” — with a ‘p.’ And that’s just the beginning. It’s crazy, but here’s how it works… 🧵
1.1M
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Jan 14, 2025
Long before Lord of the Rings, people told stories about elves. But these elves weren't the beautiful forest-dwellers of modern fantasy — they were something far more ancient and strange. And they could be deadly. Here's what elves were really like in the medieval mind… 🧵
786K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Jan 7, 2025
In 410 AD, the Goths sacked Rome History remembers them as barbarians who destroyed the greatest empire on earth But they weren't barbarians — they were Rome's own soldiers, betrayed by their masters And they would continue Rome’s legacy This is the true story of the Goths 🧵
939K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Dec 27, 2024
“Hello” is one of the most basic words in the English language. But we have no records of it existing before 1826 — so how did “hello” become the default greeting in English? As it turns out, it’s all thanks to one man…
948K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Dec 24, 2024
Ever wonder why we call Christmas “Yuletide”? This ancient word comes from a time when winter nights belonged to ghosts, sacred drinking, and all-night goddess worship. And yet traces of the old Yule remain in modern Christmas. Here's the story the carols don't tell you...
563K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Mar 21, 2025
Hidden in English place names is a secret code of invasion and conquest. Vikings, Romans, Saxons, and Normans all stamped their languages onto the landscape. Here's how to decode any English place name — and instantly know who conquered that spot 1,000+ years ago... 🧵
333K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Apr 4, 2025
English spelling is full of silent letters. Most are there for good reason — they were once pronounced. But some were added to make English look fancier — and others are actually 100% mistakes. Here's the strange history of the letters we write but never say... 🧵
390K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Jan 24, 2025
Tomorrow is Burns Night, when Scotland honours its greatest poet. But Robert Burns wasn't just writing poems — he was reviving the Scots language. Scots was once spoken by kings — but it was cast aside. Here's the untold tale of English's closest cousin, and how it survived 🧵
305K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Dec 20, 2024
Shakespeare is NOT Old English He might sound fancy, but his language is remarkably modern To see why, just look at the Lord’s Prayer Its evolution tells the story of the English language — and why you’re more like Shakespeare than you think…
438K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Apr 29, 2025
Think Americans butchered English? Think again. Many “Americanisms” that sound wrong to British ears are actually ghosts of older English. Forms Shakespeare himself might recognize. Here’s the story of the English that died in England — but lives on in America 🧵
162K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Apr 11, 2025
The King James Bible isn't just a religious text. It's the most influential work in the history of the English language — giving us more phrases than all of Shakespeare put together. And it contains a hidden linguistic mystery most people never notice... 🧵
135K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Dec 17, 2024
The word “Hell” conjures images of fire and torment. But it once meant something completely different — Hell was a mysterious place of secrets, where the living sought knowledge from the dead Here's how Hell became the place we know (and fear) today… 🧵
406K
Colin Gorrie
@colingorrie
Mar 11, 2025
Why do dragons guard gold? It's not random — it's an ancient economic metaphor. In warrior societies, wealth needed to flow freely — binding kings to warriors. Dragons are a symbol of the system breaking down. Here is the hidden symbolism of the dragon's hoard... 🧵
159K