TIERRA Nº 3 | OCTUBRE 2015 INTERNACIONAL the English corner Something Completely Different After this summer period break, I would like to start to write about and share something completely different and, perhaps, new to you. Barely do we know and ask to ourselves the origin or why we are using certain words, of course, always in the military scope; I can’t help being an eponym freak and I literally eat up books on this topic. An eponym is a word based on a person’s name as this last did something relevant and people started to use it routinely. We can find eponyms then all around us and, sometimes, if we are a bit inquisitive (eponym), we will be surprised why we use them. One of my bed-side table authors is Harry Oliver, an expert on this issue and whose books you should not miss (Bees’ Knees and Barmy Armies, March Hares and Monkey’s Uncles and many more); you will 58 not waste your time if you have a taste for enquiring into the etymology of words. When I started to work for the Armed Forces, it was in an Artillery Group; I knew nothing about military and as soon as I commenced to learn some basic words, I thought this world had a lot to offer me by means of vocabulary. I hope to have passed muster!!! First, it was the ranks and branches; after, the organization itself and last, materiel and vehicles; by cramming and devoting some time to reading, I do think I got the knack. Some of the words I learned turned out to be quite odd so I decided to make enquiries about them. One of the first, if not the very first, shrapnel, took its name Texto: Myriam Urbano
TIERRA EDICIÓN DIGITAL Nº 3
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