Mind your language
Taxi
Old Quentin Letts was on the wireless the other day asking ‘What’s the point of the London black cab?’ Between…
Pelican pie
Revisers of OED have made a pig’s ear of pelican pie, I fear. I’ve been reading for pleasure Peter Gilliver’s…
Pelican pie
Revisers of OED have made a pig’s ear of pelican pie, I fear. I’ve been reading for pleasure Peter Gilliver’s…
Chrononhotonthologos
When I ran out of space last week, I was about to mention the way in which some people relish…
Chrononhotonthologos
When I ran out of space last week, I was about to mention the way in which some people relish…
Honorificabilitudinity
My husband told me with glee that Nicholas Byfield had a great big stone ‘like flint’ in his bladder, weighing…
Honorificabilitudinity
My husband told me with glee that Nicholas Byfield had a great big stone ‘like flint’ in his bladder, weighing…
Dustcart
Are we seeing the end of dustcarts? I don’t mean that those noisy, noisome vehicles will cease roaring at the…
Dustcart
Are we seeing the end of dustcarts? I don’t mean that those noisy, noisome vehicles will cease roaring at the…
Wow!
Veronica has become quite an addict of Twitter, just as the rest of the young are forsaking it. ‘It’s easy…
Wow!
Veronica has become quite an addict of Twitter, just as the rest of the young are forsaking it. ‘It’s easy…
Definitions
What is a bee? ‘A well-known insect,’ says the Oxford English Dictionary, passing the buck rather. Similarly, an ash is…
Definitions
What is a bee? ‘A well-known insect,’ says the Oxford English Dictionary, passing the buck rather. Similarly, an ash is…
Gig economy
In the same song where the brilliant lyricist Ian Dury gave the world the couplet, ‘I could be a writer…
Gig economy
In the same song where the brilliant lyricist Ian Dury gave the world the couplet, ‘I could be a writer…
Baby with the bathwater
Bustle, an online newspaper ‘for and by women’, has published ‘six common phrases you didn’t know were sexist (that you’ll…
Baby with the bathwater
Bustle, an online newspaper ‘for and by women’, has published ‘six common phrases you didn’t know were sexist (that you’ll…
Referendums
‘One referendum, two referenda,’ chanted my husband. ‘No, no, it’s a gerund. The English plural is referendums,’ interrupted Veronica, red…
Referendums
‘One referendum, two referenda,’ chanted my husband. ‘No, no, it’s a gerund. The English plural is referendums,’ interrupted Veronica, red…
Eight hard words
I was humiliated in trying to make out the meaning of eight hard words. See how you do: claustration, edulcoration,…
Eight hard words
I was humiliated in trying to make out the meaning of eight hard words. See how you do: claustration, edulcoration,…
Little England
In the art of insult, the sting lies in the adjective, no matter how derogatory the noun. So it is…
Little England
In the art of insult, the sting lies in the adjective, no matter how derogatory the noun. So it is…
How’s your father
‘Very funny, I don’t think,’ said my husband when I mentioned Harry Tate, although Tate died in 1940 and even…
Including
Just as, in writing, many people use an exclamation mark to indicate that they have made a joke, so there…
