Language Lovers

Lucy Mangan’s springtime submissions: ‘babywearing’, ‘hormy’ and ‘studdle’

Welcome to the primaveral blog post! Blog post and welcome supplied by me, ‘primaveral’ – meaning ‘occurring or pertaining to early spring’ – supplied by Daved_Wachman, though I’m sure he would welcome you also if he were here. Sticking with the theme of new life and regeneration, tikitaka gives… Read More

Etymology Corner – Easter Words

Happy Easter! Etymology Corner has been a regular feature of the collinsdictionary.com email for many months, but we’ve decided to promote it to the blog so more people can appreciate its wit and wisdom! It is written by Ian Brookes, Editorial Consultant for Collins Dictionary. Come back on the… Read More

‘Eclipse glasses’, ‘net neutrality’, and ‘tankie’: March’s Words in the News

Like February, March is another month with annual events which dominate internet searches. Earlier this month there was a lot of googling of corned beef and Irish soda bread, which shows how seriously we all take St Patrick’s Day. Meanwhile, Budget day ensured that The Budget was high-profile on search… Read More

‘Sadboy’, ‘angsta’, ‘pogonophile’ and ‘aweld’ – Lucy Mangan’s back with your new word submissions

RobertG submits, possibly aptly, “word gap” for our consideration. It refers to the difference between the number of words some less fortunate children hear at home (about 600 an hour) and the number heard by those higher up the socioeconomic scale (up to 2,100 an hour) – which amounts to… Read More

Author Carmel Harrington on hilarious Irish words

Still reeling after St Patrick’s Day this week? HarperImpulse’s Carmel Harrington tells us about her favourite Irish words, along with some hilarious situations in which you might find them necessary… Our language in Ireland is wonderful, unique and lyrical. To ears not accustomed to our speech pattern, it… Read More

Everyone’s a little bit Irish: Irish words in the English Language

St Patrick’s Day is here again, and you know what that means. Throughout the United States, people will be dressing in green, pinching those who don’t dress in green (bizarre but true), wearing green plastic derby hats, drinking green beer, and putting on very bad Irish accents. Of course St… Read More

How is Mother’s Day celebrated around the world?

In our first Mothering Sunday article, we looked at the difference between British and American ‘Mother’s Day’. Let’s find out some other ways people around the world celebrate their mums. In Bolivia, Mother’s Day is celebrated on 27th May every year. Called El Día de… Read More

Happy Mother’s Day… or Mothering Sunday?

Mother’s Day and Mothering Sunday are commonly thought of as being the same thing. How often around this time of year do you hear an English person ask, with more than a hint of panic, when Mother’s Day is? But it’s not Mother’s Day they’re actually asking about. It’s Mothering… Read More

Lucy Mangan talks gender jargon for International Women’s Day

Happy International Women’s Day (on Sunday)! Or Happy International Wimmin’s Day, if you are either a) one of the tiny minority of radical second wave feminists who adopted the aberrant spelling as a means of protesting against the word’s apparent derivation from ‘men’, thus mimicking and enshrining women’s supposed derivation… Read More