I had an e-mail in from James, who asked, "Why do we talk of being "at loggerheads" with someone?" It's a very good question. If you looking "loggerhead" up in the dictionary, you'll find lots of definitions. It can be a species of turtle, a moth, a duck and even a place name. And originally, "loggerhead" became the term for an iron implement. It had a really long handle and a ball or a bulb at the end, which would be heated above a fire and it would be used for stirring liquids. So quite haedy alcoholic mixtures, such as flip, which was a mixture of beer which was sweetened with sugar and often lots of spirits added in as well. And if you can imagine it, aones you've had one or two drinks, these hot pokers in their hands would have been quite treacherous weapons. You can imagine perhaps them wielding them after a fight and they would literally be "at loggerheads" with each other. I hope that answers James's question. "At loggerhead" probably goes back to those very frightening pokers.
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