Illegitimate
‘The Archbishop of Canterbury has discovered he is the illegitimate son of Sir Winston Churchill’s last private secretary,’ Charles Moore…
The tangled story of dreadlocks, from Milton to YouTube
‘Why are you filming this?’ ‘For everyone’s safety.’ Those are the last words in a 46-second video that was watched…
Dreadlocks
‘Why are you filming this?’ ‘For everyone’s safety.’ Those are the last words in a 46-second video that was watched…
Mind your language: From body fluids to ‘gender fluid’
Benjamin Franklin thought that an excess of electric fluid gave rise to positive electricity, and a deficiency of the fluid…
Gender fluid
Benjamin Franklin thought that an excess of electric fluid gave rise to positive electricity, and a deficiency of the fluid…
Is it a bird? Is it a sofa? The secret history of ‘butterbump’
‘Still I’m called Buttercup —poor little Buttercup,’ sang my husband in an inappropriate and displeasing baritone. Not wishing to encourage…
Butterbump
‘Still I’m called Buttercup —poor little Buttercup,’ sang my husband in an inappropriate and displeasing baritone. Not wishing to encourage…
Why won’t the media call a cock a cock?
On the Radio 4 news at 11 o’clock last Saturday morning there was a joky report about roosters in Brisbane. The…
Cock
On the Radio 4 news at 11 o’clock last Saturday morning there was a joky report about roosters in Brisbane. The…
Save the innocent swastika!
There is a nice row of swastikas at head height in Burlington Gardens, behind the Royal Academy. They are carved…
Swastika
There is a nice row of swastikas at head height in Burlington Gardens, behind the Royal Academy. They are carved…
The murky origins of David Cameron’s new favourite phrase
‘They all laughed at Christopher Columbus,’ sang my husband flatly, ‘when he said the world was round.’ I wasn’t going…
Leap in the dark
‘They all laughed at Christopher Columbus,’ sang my husband flatly, ‘when he said the world was round.’ I wasn’t going…
Britain to have ‘special status’ in the EU? Careful what you wish for…
‘Special status?’ said my husband. ‘You mean like executioners, butchers and undertakers in Japan?’ I hadn’t suggested that, but had…
Special status
‘Special status?’ said my husband. ‘You mean like executioners, butchers and undertakers in Japan?’ I hadn’t suggested that, but had…
Does creaky voice make you a female yuppie – or an updated Vicki Pollard?
My husband, not surprisingly, finds it extremely annoying. It, in this instance, is the use by women of creaky voice.…
Creaky voice
My husband, not surprisingly, finds it extremely annoying. It, in this instance, is the use by women of creaky voice.…
Beware of misusing ‘be aware’
My husband pointed with his stick, which he carries not to steady himself but to cudgel pedestrians out of his…
Beware
My husband pointed with his stick, which he carries not to steady himself but to cudgel pedestrians out of his…
How ‘Not even a thing’ became a thing
Last summer Kim Kardashian, who already had a daughter called North (surname West), announced that she was expecting a boy.…
Not even a thing
Last summer Kim Kardashian, who already had a daughter called North (surname West), announced that she was expecting a boy.…
Are we at peak ‘peak’ yet?
Near Victoria Station in London they began to build a tower-block advertised as ‘The Peak’. I expected it to resemble…
Peak
Near Victoria Station in London they began to build a tower-block advertised as ‘The Peak’. I expected it to resemble…
Mind your language: Box set
There is no chance whatsoever of box set being replaced by the more correct form boxed set. So stop seething…
Box set
There is no chance whatsoever of box set being replaced by the more correct form boxed set. So stop seething…
