We take a look at the etymology behind the word ‘sedentary’

Sedentary Scientists have recently warned that a sedentary lifestyle may be as dangerous to our health as smoking. As Collins Cobuild Dictionary explains, someone who has a sedentary lifestyle or job sits down a lot of the time and does not take much exercise. The origin of the word… Read More

From ‘pregret’ to ‘verklempt’, Lucy Mangan takes a look at your latest word submissions

Our increasingly turbulent times are again reflected in readers’ latest submissions. Since we last spoke, there have been more terrorist attacks around the world, more police shootings in the US, continuing post-Brexit shenanigans this side of the pond and the nomination of an orange madman as the Republican presidential candidate. Read More

We take a look at the etymology behind the word ‘genius’

GeniusThe arrival on our television screens of the show Child Genius prompts this month’s Etymology Corner to look into why we refer to people who possess uncanny mental ability as ‘geniuses’. The idea of a ‘genius’ originated in ancient Rome. The Romans believed that all people had… Read More

From ‘bregret’ to ‘haven assets’, Lucy Mangan takes a look at your recent word submissions

Brokay. Let’s brget it all brout of the way brnow, yes, and brmove onto other things. There’s Bregret (from contributor MelonyLiar) amongst those who voted to leave the EU but woke up on June 24 to find that what they (Bregrexiteers, from AustinAllegro) intended as a cathartic protest had… Read More

We take a look at the etymology behind the word ‘July’ #pinchpunch

July The names we use for the months of the year are taken from their ancient Roman titles. The Roman calendar originally started in March, which explains why the names of September, October, November, and December come from the Latin words for ‘seven’, ‘eight’, ‘nine’, and ‘ten’ – even though… Read More

Lost in Translation?

A perennial favourite topic among word bloggers is the host of fascinating foreign words that have no direct translation in English. This topic has been covered in posts like this one. And this one. And even this newspaper article. What makes these words so interesting seems to… Read More

Potato/Potahto: a look at English across the pond

As the home language of an erstwhile globe-spanning empire, English has been exported nearly everywhere, and as the de facto official language of the most successful of the former British colonies, it continues to exert more influence around the world than any other tongue ever has. Traditionally, a friendly rivalry… Read More

Brexit v Bremain: the Language of the EU Ref

Before Brexit, there was Grexit. But while Brexit (from “Britain” or “British” and “exit”) refers to Britain’s potential departure from the European Union, Grexit only hypothesized Greece’s exit from the eurozone. Almost as soon as Britain joined the EU (then the European Economic Community) in 1973, there have… Read More

From ‘boggle’ to ‘Michilimackinac’, Lucy Mangan takes a look at your recent word submissions

I am writing this as a flotilla of boats full of men making rude gestures and shouting impenetrable insults at each other (“That dinghy is from Goldman Sachs!” being one we shall have to unpick at leisure once we reach calmer waters) in what they claim is an effort to… Read More