Lucy Mangan considers all the latest words submitted to the Collins Dictionary

7th Nov 2013

Let us attempt to declutter the dismal organ that passes for my brain by beginning with DebraSmith75’s ‘recognotice’, which she defines as “to identify and observe a thing; to pay special attention to obvious issues.” I have been sitting here for – well, I… Read More

Lucy Mangan has a bag full of new words – see which ones she has pulled out!

22nd Oct 2013

MiniNinja has sent me ‘duffin’. Not a duffin, alas, but I’ll take an addition to my word store in lieu of my store cupboard if I must. The duffin – combining as it does the best of the doughnut and the muffin – is… Read More

Lucy Mangan discusses fame, scooters, and all things giraffey in her new blog

8th Oct 2013

I once had a friend who, when someone asked her whether she would like to be famous, replied ‘I’d like to be famous enough to be on Desert Island Discs.’ I like that. I like having friends who even when they are dreaming big, dream small. It’s very restful. But… Read More

Have you read Lucy Mangan’s new CollinsDictionary.com blog yet? We suggest that you frinkley do!

27th Sep 2013

Tommy hit a rich and pleasing seam in the word mines this week. The first nugget of nomenclatural novelty, brought out into the light in his grimy hands, is ‘wandalism’. At first I assumed this meant damage to property caused by a large woman… Read More

Neanderthal inspired internet usage, the trials and tribulations of making phone calls in Norfolk, and trsgic misspellings – all brought to you by Lucy Mangan

10th Sep 2013

I had heard of ‘data scraping’ – moneill’s submission this week – before but, as with most things internet, didn’t really know what it meant. It gave me the image of the World Wide Web being pegged out like a giant cow hide and… Read More

Lucy Mangan has been confronting her fears in this week’s blog – just don’t ask her for a meeting about it!

27th Aug 2013

In light of the thrice-weekly horror currently being visited upon the nation by newly fungal-faced Jeremy Paxman’s appearances on Newsnight, it behoves us all to thank am_soara for his or her timely submission of ‘pogonophobia’, or ‘fear of beards’. It will give all the… Read More

Lucy Mangan takes on London’s sewer system and confronts her frustration with hobbits

15th Aug 2013

Isn’t it always the way? You wait years for one ‘fatberg’ to come along and then two arrive at once. No sooner had I underlined tikitaka’s contribution for possible inclusion in this week’s post (defined by him/her as ‘a large deposit of sewage underground’)… Read More

Lucy Mangan ponders the worlds of comics, aggresive leapfrogging and erotic-fiction induced pregnancies

18th Jul 2013

D’you know what I love? I love being led to an entirely new (to me) seam of words buried deep in the morphological mines just waiting to be chipped out and carried up to the surface so that I can marvel at them in the bright light of a newly-knowledgeable… Read More

More new words to willantly commonise, brought to you by Lucy Mangan

1st Jul 2013

I think I’d like to commonise ‘commonise’, a submission from slartibartfast. Why? Well, partly because you already pretty much understand what I’m talking about, don’t you? Making something common to two or more parties – spreading the word in but a single word. It… Read More