Why Do We Call It A ‘Square Meal’ — Myths Busted!
The Navy claim it, the Army claim it — are either of them right?
English is a magpie language and has always ‘borrowed’ words or phrases from other languages liberally. An often quoted example of this is the inclusion of words like ‘pyjama’, ‘bungalow’, ‘gymkhana’ and so on, ‘borrowed’ from India during the British involvement in that countries history. But there are three sources of British English phrases which are seen to have had a truly significant impact on the language: They are the Bible, the Navy and the Bard.
The Bible here is the King James Version, the first translation of the whole bible from, in sections, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin. Although there are other translations, this version is regarded as — pun intended — something of a holy grail and there are myriad phrases that have entered everyday speech — apple of my eye, sign of the times, a fly in the ointment, by the skin of your teeth - to name but a few.
The Navy covers both military and merchant marine. A small island nation, the sea was the sole source of foreign trade for centuries and was hugely significant to the British. The devil to pay, a shot across the bow, in the doldrums, these are all naval.
The Bard is William Shakespeare, arguably the most inflential playright and poet in the history of the…
