lucy mangan

‘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

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

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

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

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, but I… Read More

‘Kalette’, ‘mammophant’ and ‘nooch’ – Lucy Mangan takes a look at your latest word contributions

Let’s start with the good news, shall we? It won’t take long. Mammoths are back! Nearly! Sort of. Sort of nearly. No, not nearly. But maybe, one day, almost as many years from now as they have currently been absent. Let us not concern ourselves with details. The important thing… Read More

Lucy Mangan’s back with your latest word submissions, from ‘cagophilist’ to ‘epicoolsome’

Sometimes I feel very blessed to have this job, with the glimpses into the secret pockets of people’s souls that it affords me. Sifting through submissions can be revelatory on many levels. Take, for example, cagophilist meaning – though there seems to be no etymological basis for it –… Read More

Lucy Mangan checks out your recent word submissions, from ‘Manfant’ to ‘funsultant’.

The Trumpocene era begins. As the unnatural orange rays of a new dawn start to glow on the horizon, it has given us several gifts already. First, the word manfant, a combination of “man” and “infant”, deployed by many people to describe a president elect who is a combination… Read More

‘Beagled’, ‘stagmin’ and ‘judgementality’ – Lucy Mangan’s back with your new word submissions

Sometimes you can feel contributors’ pain in their submissions. This week my heart goes out to Wilhelm81 and Scania143ab, who have sent in stagmin and beagled respectively. Stagmin is the admin associated with organising a stag weekend. I have visions of Wilhelm going quietly demented at the kitchen… Read More

‘Crafternoon’, ‘shrinkflation’ and ‘Trumpocene’ – Lucy Mangan’s back with your new word submissions

So, here we are in the very first days of the Trumpocene era. Submitted by AustinAllegro, there are currently many ways to define it, most of which share a certain apocalyptic quality we need not dwell on here. I note with interest and a little gratitude that thomas_dreiling has… Read More