‘Election narrative’, ‘Pepsi’, and ‘Unicorn Frappuccino’: April’s Words in the News

3rd May 2017

Unless you’ve been living in a cave underground (and by now you probably wish you were, right?) you’re aware that Theresa May has called a snap general election, to be held on 8 June. That’s this year. Elections are usually a good source of new words, and this one has… Read More

‘Fake News’ makes the News

26th Apr 2017

If 2016 was the year of post-truth, then perhaps 2017 will be the year of fake news. After all, what other kind of news would we have in a post-truth world? The term fake news, despite the best… Read More

We take a look at the etymology behind the word ‘election’ in the run-up to the UK General Election in June

25th Apr 2017

The words elect and election have their origins in two Latin words: ‘e’ meaning ‘out of’, and ‘lectus’ meaning ‘chosen’. So the successful candidates in Britain’s general election in June will be literally ‘chosen out of’ the people who stand for parliament. This derivation… Read More

It’s Friday and Lucy Mangan’s back with your new and funny word submissions

21st Apr 2017

So, a general election is soon to be upon us, and already it has brought so much joy. Well, some joy. Okay, one tiny scrap of joy; namely, the tweet by James Martin (@pundamentalism) that ran in its exceptionally pleasing entirety – “AprilMay: ‘June’”. Superb… Read More

Two-Letter Words to play on Scrabble Day

13th Apr 2017

Any time you play Scrabble against a serious competitive player you can expect them to offer up words such as xu, and zo with a surprising degree of confidence. These words may be seldom encountered outside the popular board game, but two-letter words are… Read More

Lucy Mangan is back with your new word submissions, perfect for wet and rainy Easter holidays!

4th Apr 2017

I’m away for Easter with my son at the moment and I am delighted to be able at last – courtesy of new and, as you will shortly see, aptly named contributor HADDOCK – to put a name to his preferred activity; he is spending much of his time… Read More

Pi Day, Empire 2.0, and Oxford Comma: March’s Words in the News

3rd Apr 2017

There’s always room for pi, even though it has an infinite number of digits, and March is the month of pi day, at least in the United States. Americans list their dates in the Month, Day, Year format, so the 14th of March is abbreviated 3.14. Geddit? The US has… Read More

‘Smellfie’ , ‘elpistostegalians’ and ‘moaniac’ – Lucy Mangan delves into your head scratching range of word submissions.

15th Mar 2017

I’m not sure that if you are a North American coyote-wolf hybrid coywolf (submitted by AustinAllegro) is the way to go. “Wolfote” might perhaps strike a little more fear in the hearts of your enemies. “Coyote-wolf hybrid” even more. “Woyote” was apparently tried as an early term,… Read More

World Scrabble Champion, Brett Smitheram, shares his top 5 Scrabble tips on Scrabble Day

12th Mar 2017

The name of Alfred Mosher Butts might not mean much to you, but the Architect, born today in 1899 has been the direct cause of family feuds, inspired moments of verbal dexterity and genuine curiosity about language since 1938. Perhaps however if I mix in images of red, pink, blue… Read More