Lucy Mangan is back and looks at the mystery that is ‘covfefe’

There is really only one new contribution to our glorious language this week. The word was with Donald Trump and that word was… covfefe. It appeared in a tweet sent from the leader of the free world’s official Twitter account at just past midnight, which read in… Read More

‘Avocado hand’, ‘cromniomancy’ and ‘negaholism’ – Lucy Mangan takes a look at your recent word submissions

I remember once in the mid-nineties watching an episode of Oprah in which people came on to talk the then nascent mogul through their “bagel injuries”. How could bagels injure you, I wondered. Were they the weapon of choice in America? It seemed unlikely in a country free of gun… Read More

‘Micrub’, ‘Dadvice’ and ‘confuzzling’ – Lucy Mangan takes a look at your recent word submissions

I’ve been pondering stanb’s submission – micrub – for some time now. According to him, it means a brief, affectionate little hug. In which case, of course, it should be “micrug”. Micrub is not a typo, however, because he’s used it repeatedly in his submission. And somehow, it’s right. Read More

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

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

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 efforts of many in both traditional mainstream and… Read More

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

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

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 work. Let… Read More

Two-Letter Words to play on Scrabble Day

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!

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