Sometimes words are invented just because people wish there were such words – and (I suppose) wish that what they name actually existed. This appears to be the case when it comes to two new words ‘hopium’ and ‘copium’.

Both are in the Collins Dictionary – so these words must have appeared in print often enough to catch the eye of the lexicographers. The Collins people say that ‘hopium’ means, ‘a substance said to have been ingested by those who maintain an unrealistically optimistic outlook’. The dictionary adds that ‘hopium’ is a humorous blend of ‘hope’ and ‘opium’. Then there’s the related word ‘copium’. This one is in the Merriam-Webster as well as the Collins, and has a related meaning. ‘Copium’ we are told, means, ‘a substance said to have been ingested by those who remain unduly optimistic in the face of defeat or disappointment’.

In other words, they are coping far too well. These are the people whose coping mechanism is firing on all cylinders. Coping mechanism, by the way, is a complex noun that is in the great Oxford English Dictionary recorded from as long ago as 1941. This imaginary preparation ‘copium’ if it were available at the local chemist (and listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) would be genuinely useful. Ah, well, we can hope – or, at least, those of us taking the ‘hopium’ can!

Have you ever wondered why Wikipedia is called Wikipedia (and, yes, I know you consult it more often than you would ever admit!) It turns out that this odd prefix ‘wiki-’ comes from the Hawaiian language. In the early days of the worldwide web various nicknames for it were invented. I remember ‘Wibbly Wobbly Web’ (which died from a surplice of syllables). Another was the ‘Wiki Wiki Web’. This is the bit that comes from Hawaiian (one of the family of Polynesian languages). In Hawaiian ‘wiki’ means fast, and ‘wikiwiki’ means ‘very fast’. Which is certainly how the web struck us when we first started using it. And because enough people knew the ‘wiki wiki web’ nickname that ‘wiki-’ prefix was chosen for websites that allow visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections (Merriam-Webster). Hence, Wikipedia. (Another nagging little puzzle solved.)

Only since the horrible Bondi massacre have I come across the expression ‘long arms’. We are told that the radical Islamist terrorists that day were using ‘long arms’ while police only had ‘sidearms’ or ‘handguns’. Such weapons have not (I think) been called the opposite (which would be ‘short arms’) but rather have usually been labelled ‘small arms’ or ‘sidearms’. To my surprise I discovered that ‘long arms’ goes as far back as 1623 in English. And even before that there is a history of similar expressions in Latin and French. What surprised me is that this expression existed before firearms were invented. The original definition was ‘Weapons having a relatively great length, reach, or range’. In other words, the ‘long’ part of this term might refer not to the length of the weapon, but to its range. Under that principle, I suppose the English longbows that defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 might have counted as ‘long arms’. But the Oxford goes on in its definition of ‘long arms’ to write that the expression especially applies to ‘firearms with long barrels, such as muskets or (later chiefly) rifles’.

Given the great age of the expression it is, perhaps, surprising that it has not been used more widely. But I suspect it will be from now on (at least in in Australia). We have been told that New South Wales Police will be issued with ‘long arms’ when providing protection at major public events. So, horrible as it may seem, ‘long arms’ has become part of the Australian language.