Grocer

  

A grocer is a person who sells food and small household goods.  Grocers were common in my youth and one could be found on every block of shops.  Nowadays the supermarket rules and grocers are almost non-existent.  Even the smallest block of shops has its mini-supermarket.  Instead of the grocer, one might find the smaller rows of local shops include a newsagent or an off-licence which also sells a few groceries. 

The title grocer comes from the word gross, meaning a large quantity (or, more specifically 144) and the original grocers were wholesalers rather than retailers.

Ephemeromorph

The term ephemeromorph is used in biology to describe the lowest forms of life imaginable, so low they cannot even be classified as vegetable or animal.  I think it would make a wonderful insult and there are a few people who I think I could put in that category….   

Doiley

   There aren't many words in the Englsih language with so many alternative spellings as doiley - an ornamental mat, crocheted or done with openwork and designed to sit under things like sugar bowls on the tea table.  Nowadays paper doileys are quite popular but in my grandmother's day it was a common practice for young girls to make large numbers of doileys. They were crocheted or sometimes knitted from cotton or linen thread. Openwork allowed the surface of the underlying object to show through. Many patterns for crocheting or knitting doilies were published by thread manufacturers in the first part of the 20th century.

Although it may to some extent interfere with the original use, some doilies have raised designs, such as rose petals or ruffles, rather than being flat.  One of the one I inherited has raised flowers on it and is quite useless for putting things on.  (I'd show you a photo but it's buried deep in the linen chest).

In addition to their decorative function doileys have the practical role of protecting fine-wood furniture from the scratches caused by crockery or decorative objects.

The name originated with a 17th Century London draper called Doiley (or Doyley!) and was given at that time to 'genteel affordable woolens' such as were sold in his shop.

The mills of God grind slow...

"The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small" (sometimes quoted as "The mills of God grind slow, but they grind exceeding small") is a well known English proverb.

Its meaning is that divine retribution is slow but certain.  

Its origins are less well known. I had always assumed it arose from The Bible or some early holy text.  But it comes from "Retribution", a short poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882):

“Though the mills of God grind slowly;

Yet they grind exceeding small;

Though with patience he stands waiting,

With exactness grinds he all.”

Longfellow derived this from the poetical works of 17^th century German poet, Friedrich von Logau.  

 Von Logau, in turn, was translating a hexameter from Adversus Mathematicos (Against the Mathematicians) by a Greek sceptic physician and philosopher, Sextus Empiricus (c. 160-210 AD). 

As if that were not labyrinthine enough, Sextus Empiricus was himself quoting an unknown poet! So we haven't a clue where it first came from!

Cag

To cag is to insult or to offend.  The word is an old dialect one but appears in the Oxford English Dictionary.  Sadly, not there is the noun cagamosis which is a word that was once around and which meant an unhappy or unpleasant marriage. I’m glad I’m not in a cagamosis.