Now, I’m a bit of a nerd and also a geek (I’m told there is a discernable difference). As such, I spend a lot of time hanging around in the corners of the internet where the spelling and grammar employed would be sufficient to make one’s eyes bleed. In these online dens of linguistic depravity, [...]
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Now, when I was a smallish lad, the common form of spelling for this particular item was ballock. It may have been the region in which I was brought up but over the years, the spelling has been replaced in popularity by bollock. I could find no etymology for the word but recorded use dates [...] .flickr-photo { } .flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } [...] .flickr-photo { } .flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } [...] An interesting and contetious word. Representing the eighth letter of the English alphabet and pronounced ay-ch, there is much debate as to how it should be correctly pronounced. As it comes via Old French (roughly: aish), I can see no reason why anyone should pronounce it h-ay-ch. Many people still persist in pronouncing it with [...] My esteemed Scandinavian friend and colleague called me the other day, wondering why the words of the day were always “spiffing” and copacetic”. I was obliged to point out that they actually formed part of the blog title and that she’d been mistaken. To redress the balance, I promised to make them the Words du [...] The sharp-eyed and quick-witted among the readers of this blog thingy will have noticed the word in the blog description. Yes, you two – stop smirking and stand still. Copacetic (coe-per-set-ik) is a word derived from our chums in the US and means “everything is going well” or “things are just dandy”. [...] Another one you’ve probably heard of. Chutzpah is quite tricky to pronounce but here goes: ch-oot-spa. You need to imagine the ‘ch’ part spoken at the back of the throat, as if you were trying to clear a small flying insect that you’d inadvertantly inhaled. Or, if you are Dutch, Flemish or Welsh, it’ll be [...] I know what you’re thinking – this is an easy one! Yes, it probably is if you don’t use the internet a lot. Let me explain further: A Troll: A small, gnarled creature living under a bridge in fairy tales – famous for eating billy goats gruff. That’s the usual definition. Internet Troll: A person [...] Another word with a great sound. Spelunking (pronounced, well, spelunking) has passed into general use but was relatively unknown outside the USA until perhaps the 80′s or 90′s. It refers to caving or potholing, where groups of foolhardy people take it upon themselves to tool up and crawl into caves for reasons best known to [...] |
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