English still retains vestiges of the dual form, such as the both-all distinction and the comparative form of modifiers.
While its original comparative form (‘near’) and superlative form (‘next’) are very common English words today, the root form (‘nigh’) is almost obsolescent. It is useful in verse, e.g.
[QUOTE=Edward Coote Pinkney]
…
But memory, such as mine of her,
So very much endears,
When death is nigh, my latest sigh
Will not be life’s, but hers…
[/QUOTE]
(Although this particular minor poet is largely remembered because he was appreciated by the superlative American writer, Edgar Allan Poe.)
According to moreWords.com there are 14 single-syllable English words ending in “igh” -
dreigh
heigh
high
laigh
neigh
nigh
quaigh
scraigh
sigh
skeigh
skreigh
sleigh
thigh
weigh
ETA Link: List words ending with IGH - full list - More Words
Large English dictionaries often contain Scots words like dreigh or skreigh. Both English and (Lowland) Scots descend from Middle English and are close enough that dialects in Scotland form a continuum between Braid Scots and Standard Scottish English, so the distinction between the Scots and English lexicons may be fuzzy.
The United Kingdom (UK) comprises four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In addition to the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth realms (Canada, Australia, The Bahamas, etc.) and the British Overseas Territories (Gibraltar, the Falklands, Bermuda, etc.), H.M. Queen Elizabeth is the nominal sovereign of the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.
The latter Bailiwick comprises several islands: Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Brechou, Herm, Jethou, etc. The populations of Alderney and Sark are only 1900 and 600 respectively, yet each has its own Parliament. During World War II, the population of Alderney was much higher, despite that its entire population had been evacuated in 1940 – the island held thousands of Jewish slave laborers and other prisoners of the Third Reich.
In the recently-deceased British author P.D. James’s dystopic sf novel The Children of Men, the Isle of Man has been cleared of its residents and is, by 2021, a prison violently run by its own inmates. There are no guards on the island itself, but its coastline is patrolled and escapes are rare.
John Carpenter wrote the film Escape from New York in the mid-1970s as a reaction to the Watergate scandal. After the success of Halloween, he had enough influence to get the film made and shot most of it in St. Louis, Missouri. The film, set in a future where the Isle of Manhattan is a prison violently run by its own inmates, is co-written with Nick Castle, who already collaborated with Carpenter previously by portraying Michael Myers in the 1978 film Halloween.
King of Hearts is a 1966 film in which the inmates of an insane asylum take over a town. I think it’s a good movie, but I forgot it(*), mainly because the co-feature that day – Franco Zeffirelli’s beautiful rendition of Romeo and Juliet – made such a strong impression on a young man.
(* - for nearly a half-century, until just a moment ago!)
In the cast of King of Hearts was 24-year old Geneviève Bujold. Many think she is French. She was born in Montreal.
Geneviève Bujold was briefly cast as Capt. Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, but producers decided after just a few days’ shooting that she was miscast. Kate Mulgrew was brought in to replace Bujold, and her scenes were reshot.
Kate Mulgrew got her big break playing Mary Ryan Fenelli on the soap “Ryan’s Hope.” Her daughter Ryan Fenelli was played by a young Jasmine Bleeth.
The Janeway family of medical celebrities includes the first medical professor at Johns Hopkins, ’ the namesake of Janeway’s Lesions, the New York City Health commissioner, the dean of NYU/Bellevue medical schools, and a contributor to founding of hospials in Iran, Cameroon and Newfoundland.
The Dominion of Newfoundland went bankrupt during the Depression, as a result of massive debts from WWI, the drop in commodity prices world-wide, and bad local governance. It surrendered its right to responsible government and was governed by a Commission appointed by the British government. Commission government lasted for roughly 15 years, until Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949 and regained responsible government as Canada’s tenth province.
Anna Leonowens, whose husband changed his surname from Owens to Leonowens (combining his middle and last names) for unknown reasons, mentions her Newfoundland dog in her memoirs about her time at the Siamese court that inspired several movies and the musical the King and I. Neither the dog nor her daughter (who was in school but occasionally visited) are mentioned in the adaptations.
One SDMB poster lives just a few miles from a rice mill – it looks like a large antique Rube Goldberg machine. The Doper was slightly startled when he noticed a plaque on the machine, naming Louis T. Leonowens Ltd. as its manufacturer.
The useful expression “Summon the fire brigade, the jute mill has exploded” actually once appeared in an English-Hindi language phrase book for British colonial workers assigned to India. Walt Kelly later dropped it into the comic strip “Pogo”.
The Charge of the Light Brigade is considered a prime example of what can go wrong when accurate military intelligence is lacking and orders are unclear.
Although the Brigade was annihilated, it enhanced the British cavalry’s reputation for bravery.
Australian Light Horsemen were considered more light infantry that used horses for transportation. Their famous cavalry-style charge at Beersheeba is dramatized in the (excellent) 1987 film The Lighthorsemen.
Robert E. Lee’s father was “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, so nicknamed for his horsemanship. Lee united with General Francis Marion and General Andrew Pickens in the spring of 1781 to capture numerous British outposts in South Carolina and Georgia including Fort Watson, Fort Motte, Fort Granby, Fort Galphin, Fort Grierson, and Fort Cornwallis, Augusta, Georgia. They conducted a campaign of terror and intimidation against Loyalists in the region, highlighted in Pyle’s Massacre.