Why Do We Burn the 'MIDNIGHT OIL'?
About this video
Before electricity, working late had a literal price: lamp oil. The phrase began as 17th-century poetry about scholars who paid it. In this video: • What night work cost when light wasn't free • The poet who coined it (and the older 'smell of the lamp') • Oil, candles and the economics of study • Why the phrase outlived the technology #english #idioms #etymology #history #esl
From the video
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