Author: Ryan Starkey
The Evolution of Father Christmas
Who is Father Christmas? Father Christmas is the name given to the personification of Christmas in England. He is also increasingly called “Santa” (the American word), but the two were once very different figures with separate origins. Father Christmas is a much older tradition and, like many Christmas traditions, may have roots in the ancient […]
5 Ways that Being a Westerner in Vietnam is Like Being a Celebrity.
Sometimes people in Vietnam treat westerners very differently, especially in the countryside where they don’t see many foreigners. And sometimes all the special treatment makes you feel like you’re famous or something!Here’s a comic to explain what I mean:
Pros and Cons of Living in Vietnam (Part 1 and 2)
So I’ve lived in Hanoi, Vietnam for a (non-continuous) total of about 17 months, and I’ve learned to love many things. But there will always be aspects of living in a foreign country that are… harder to love.Here is a list of both the good and bad parts of living here:
A Guide to Motorbiking in Vietnam
Post the weirdest thing you’ve seen on a motorbike below.10 internet points to whoever posts the weirdest one!
Vietnamese Animal Names
Since moving back to Hanoi, I have decided to try to learn the Vietnamese language, which is both fascinating and challenging.I’ve noticed that the Vietnamese have a wonderful way of naming certain animals, so I thought it would be fun to share some examples with you, with a little image of how they literally translate […]
The ABCD Family Tree
I’ve created an infographic showing the relationship between different scripts used in languages across the world.These 57 different scripts are all thought to have ultimately evolved from the hieroglyphs the Egyptians used over 5000 years ago. I have tried to display the relationships between scripts by showing how 4 symbols in Hieroglyphs,evolved into letters used […]
Where is the North of England?
I’ve been seeing a lot of confused people on the internet recently, with strange ideas about where the North of England is. As a Northerner myself, I feel it is my duty to set the record straight.
Nine Names for British Bread-Lumps
Bread-lumps of Britain! In the UK, and especially England, we have an incredible variety of names for the humble medium-sized-bread-lump.While roll, bun, and bap are the 3 most common, there are many rarer and weirdly specific words found in different regions. In Coventry or the Wirral Peninsula, they call it a “batch”. In South Yorkshire […]
6 Ways to divide England linguistically
Author Note: This is one of the first images I ever made, I have since remade all of these maps (and many more) with far more accuracy and precision. This still works as a meme, but I am not at all happy with it as an informative map. Check out this website for all my […]