Flea market comes from the French marché aux puces, a name originally given to a market in Paris which specialised in shabby second-hand goods of the kind that might contain fleas. The earliest English use that the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary has found dates from 1922.
Cowed into submission
Avicenna - one of the great physicians in Islam who wrote The Canon of Medicine, which set the standards for medicine in Europe and the Islamic world — also dabbled in psychiatry. One anecdote concerned a malnourished prince of Persia who was depressed, refused to eat and suffered from the delusion that he was a cow. The prince would moo like a cow, and cried: "Kill me so that a good stew may be made of my flesh." Avicenna began treating him and told him to be happy as the butcher was coming to slaughter him, and the sick man rejoiced. When Avicenna approached the prince with a knife in his hand, he asked: "Where is the cow so I may kill it." The patient then mooed like a cow to indicate where he was and laid on the ground for slaughter. Avicenna then said: "The cow is too lean and not ready to be killed. It must be fed properly and I will kill it when it becomes healthy and fat." The patient was then offered food which he ate eagerly and gradually "gained strength, got rid of his delusion, and was completely cured."
Pet names…
A reader writes: "My daughter in Australia has 2 hens — Amelia (egghart) and Attila (the hen)."
Another reader writes: 'I have heard of a cat with the composer's full name of Clawed Depussy."
