The shifting language of shame
As his tweed jacket flapped open to one side of his stomach, my husband stood up unsteadily and arched his…
The dirty truth about ‘sleaze’
‘Sleaze, sleaze, sleaze!’ exclaimed Sir Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s Questions last week, hoping that a triple serving might stick.…
What’s so great about ‘super’?
‘Wizard,’ said William. ‘Super,’ said Ginger, in William and the Moon Rocket (1954). More recently we have had Alex Salmond,…
How ‘ACAB’ links David Bowie and BLM
A favourite piece of graffiti to spray on the Cenotaph or the plinth of Churchill’s nearby statue is ACAB. It…
The uncomfortable truth about ‘shonky’
A reader sent in a television preview from the Daily Star for Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds in which ‘Brad Pitt leads…
Where did Alex Salmond’s ‘Alba’ party get its name from?
‘What, old monkey-face!’ said my husband with unnecessary lack of gallantry. He was referring to the 18th Duchess of Alba,…
Vibrant
‘Think yourself lucky,’ said my husband when I told him about poor John Stuart Mill’s mother, who had nine children…
‘Sacred space’ has become a crowded marketplace
‘This is the book that horses wish every equestrian would read,’ says the blurb for Sacred Spaces: Communion with the…
The concrete truth about ‘Formica’
If I ever again accompany my husband to a medical conference in Spain, and want to tell my hosts that…
The word ‘like’ is in crisis
‘Blame Kingsley Amis,’ said my husband, with the carelessness of one defying a man out of earshot. The blame, such…
‘Espouse’ has become divorced from its meaning
What do people think espouse means? It looks fairly plain, since spouses are to have and to hold, or indeed…
From bread to Kate Bingham: the evolution of ‘nimble’
‘I’ll stick to being Brazilian,’ said my husband. It was a family joke. Every time a politician on the radio…
The rudeness of calling Jane Austen by her surname
I agree with Charles Moore (The Spectator, 6 February) that it is a shame the Times is dropping its use…
The dark roots of ‘grim’
‘Thus I refute Bishop Berkeley,’ said my husband, multitasking by kicking the stone and slightly misquoting Samuel Johnson at the…
What should you put at the end of an email?
Suzanne Moore, the Telegraphcolumnist, found it ‘deeply annoying’ when perhaps five years ago she noticed people putting ‘Kind regards’ at…
The small world of Polari
In discussing the German low-life cant called Rotwelsch, Mark Glanville (Books, 9 January) referred in passing to Polari, ‘the language…
Boris Johnson’s face can’t be ‘performative’
Veronica brought me a hundred newspapers so that I could check on one word. Well, she didn’t bring a wheelbarrow,…
Why oranges don’t have ‘segments’
In the aisle of Tesco I stood like one thunderstruck. It was not the print of a man’s naked foot…
The word of the year (whether we like it or not)
In 2015 smombie became the Youth Word of the Year in Germany. In January 2016 a survey found that 92…
The unfortunate misuse of ‘fortuitous’
‘Try the sports pages,’ said my husband, stirring in his armchair. I was looking for examples of fortuitousused as though…
The strange language of this year
‘Forget coronavirus,’ said my husband, ‘the word of the year is strange.’ The strange thing is he’s right. This wasn’t…
Do civil servants need to be 'robust' or 'resilient'?
‘Why do they keep saying they need Brazilians?’ asked my husband, coming up for air from a hazy mixture of…
The language of lounging around
At the Austrian embassy in Naples, a German diplomatist asked the great beauty Madame de Ventadour if she had been…
What’s the difference between ‘gifting’ and ‘giving’?
Boris Johnson, the Telegraphsuggested last week, is understood to have a personal interest in rewilding, ‘recently gifting his father beavers…
Alas, ‘alas’ is losing its irony
Boris Johnson looked unhappy, as well he might, standing at his indoor lectern last Saturday to announce the new lockdown:…
