Origins
Ireland was traditionally an agricultural and farming community so perhaps this is where the word ‘grind’ started. Grinding stones were used to produce flour by hand in ancient agriculture and evolved along with the development of different kinds of mills. From hand quern mills to grist mills powered by water, wind or steam, grinding stones remained an essential tool until the end of the 19th century, when roller mills using metal rolls to grind grain were developed. The term ‘keep your nose to the grindstone’ was commonly used to mean ‘apply yourself conscientiously to your work’.‘To grind’ in education generally means to ‘instill or teach by persistent repetition’. Charles Dickens referred to Mr Gradgrind in his novel Hard Times.
Read more about this topic: Grinds
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)