I have happened upon a number of interesting word-related thingies over the past week or so. As it’s been a while since I posted anything, I’ll share them with you here.
New words(?)
Merriam-Webster, regarded by many as the US dictionary has published its new edition, and has added some 100 new words. Naturally, some of these [...]

Are you all sitting cumftibold two-square on your botty? Then I’ll begin…
I have fond memories of watching (and listening) to the work of Mr Stanley Unwin. He was a very interesting entertainer, even though he only did one thing, which was to talk nonsense. So, although it’s not strictly a ‘word’ du jour, I thought [...]

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, [...]

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Sitting at the doctor’s desk while he or she nods meaningfully and makes copious notes on your life-threatening bunion or cold sore. What you may not be aware of is that these Hippocratic heroes and heroines are human. They are given to suffering from having a very bad day [...]

A couple of tricky fellows for you today – and ones that are often misspelled into the bargain. It’s two-for-one day at Word du Jour!
First up is one thing we can thank the artistes Bobby Brown and Britney Spears for (and if there are any others, it can’t be a very long list) their singing [...]

In a slight departure from the norm, I’m going to write about a language – one that isn’t English. There are those who would tell you that Welsh as a language is dead and not relevant any more but I don’t think so. They have television, radio, books and newspapers in the language and from [...]

Ah, the irresistible urge of a cheap sexual innuendo! My somewhat lax attempts at researching the origins of this particular form drew a big fat zero. My guess would be the music hall, vaudeville and burlesque shows of England and the US (back in the time when we shared a similar sense of humour). The [...]

Tee hee – I’m misleading the youth of today into coming to my blog. Aren’t I clever? Well, no, not really. I will of course be mentioning the hippy drug du choix but only in passing – the real weirdness lies further ahead.
LSD (the drug) was one of four things the Swiss have given the [...]

A shorter description today but I think an interesting one. The word shibboleth is of Hebrew origin and means “stream” or (more usually) “a plant containing grain”, such as corn or wheat. The word was originally very powerful, as it was used – according to a biblical story – by one Jephthah (catchy name) who [...]

.flickr-photo { } .flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Has Tom lost his mind? Surely everyone knows what a Trojan is? Yeah, maybe – maybe not. I’m going to tell you anyway. To get the obvious out of the way, a Trojan [...]