Mind your language
What does Meghan mean by ‘intentional living’?
‘What are your intentions towards my daughter?’ said my husband, screwing an imaginary monocle into his eye. We had been…
Geoffrey Madan and the joy of ‘unusual articles’
In 1924 Geoffrey Madan retired, aged 29, and devoted himself to books. ‘A genius for friendship, selfless devotion to progressive…
RFK Jr and the curious birth of ‘brainchild’
‘No, RFK didn’t have a tapeworm eating his brain,’ declared my husband in the rare tone he adopts when he…
Does Rachel Reeves know what ‘kickstart’ means?
To ‘kickstart economic growth’ is the first (‘number one’) of Labour’s five ‘missions’ to rebuild Britain. That is what the…
‘Loved ones’ are everywhere at this time of year
‘My heart will melt in your mouth,’ said my husband gallantly, unwrapping some leeks from a copy of the Sun…
Does Keir Starmer know what a ‘drag anchor’ does?
The language of sailing ships is as treacherous as a lee shore. Words seldom mean what they suggest or are…
The Twelve Hates of Christmas
I have set my husband a Christmas game. He wins a small chocolate sprout each time he spots a word…
Is being ‘infamous’ a bad thing?
John Prescott, so Dominic Sandbrook observed last week, ‘infamously exchanged punches with a protestor in full view of the cameras’.…
Is ‘Chinatown’ offensive?
I’ve heard people using back-to-back housing to mean terraces separated by back yards. But strictly, back-to-back houses are built against…
Does ‘tummy’ turn your stomach?
‘How old does he think you are?’ asked my husband when I told him my GP had asked me if…
Do you ‘cock a snook’ – or snoot?
‘This is interesting, darling,’ my husband called out from beside his whisky while I was doing the washing-up. The interesting…
Is it ever ok to call women ‘birds’?
Towards the end of the 1980s, Jeffrey Bernard, late of this magazine, sometimes used to wear grey shoes with jeans…
The meaning of ‘moot’? It’s debatable
In Florence there was a stone on which Dante sat in the evenings, pondering and talking to acquaintances. One asked…
