Mind your language
Twitter speak
‘Tweeting’s like text messaging, isn’t it?’ said my husband confidently, though not, as usual, from any knowledge of the matter.…
Credible
In a wonderfully dry manual of theology on my husband’s bookshelves, written in Latin and printed in Naples in the…
Credible
In a wonderfully dry manual of theology on my husband’s bookshelves, written in Latin and printed in Naples in the…
Migrant
Al Jazeera, the Qatari broadcaster, is going to use refugee instead of migrant in its English output. ‘The umbrella term…
Migrant
Al Jazeera, the Qatari broadcaster, is going to use refugee instead of migrant in its English output. ‘The umbrella term…
Names
We reached peak Charlie in 2012, when 5,571 baby boys were given the name. There were only 4,642 last year.…
Names
We reached peak Charlie in 2012, when 5,571 baby boys were given the name. There were only 4,642 last year.…
Asexual
There was a time when my husband, who often addresses the television, would habitually react to Edward Heath’s appearance on…
Asexual
There was a time when my husband, who often addresses the television, would habitually react to Edward Heath’s appearance on…
Taleban
Toxic virus or Taleban: it’s funny how the mild-mannered Liz Kendall has attracted for her Blairite associations the most violently…
Taleban
Toxic virus or Taleban: it’s funny how the mild-mannered Liz Kendall has attracted for her Blairite associations the most violently…
Big ask
‘That’s unnecessarily crude,’ said my husband, turning momentarily from the television and improving the shining minute by setting the whisky…
Big ask
‘That’s unnecessarily crude,’ said my husband, turning momentarily from the television and improving the shining minute by setting the whisky…
I love it that you…
I had never heard the Country (Red Dirt) singer Wade Bowen before, although his latest album Hold my Beer (Vol 1)…
I love it that you…
I had never heard the Country (Red Dirt) singer Wade Bowen before, although his latest album Hold my Beer (Vol 1)…
Charon
‘What about the moon Tracey?’ asked my husband facetiously when an astronomer on the wireless, talking of Pluto’s moon Charon,…
Charon
‘What about the moon Tracey?’ asked my husband facetiously when an astronomer on the wireless, talking of Pluto’s moon Charon,…
Bugs
If my husband were an insect it might well be a bug — a squat creature imbibing nutriment in liquid form.…
Bugs
If my husband were an insect it might well be a bug — a squat creature imbibing nutriment in liquid form.…
Matajudíos
A village has changed its name because it seemed offensive. But I think the villagers were under a misapprehension. The…
Matajudíos
A village has changed its name because it seemed offensive. But I think the villagers were under a misapprehension. The…
Due diligence
No doubt you, too, have had the feeling, upon glancing at an article in a paper picked up in a…
Due diligence
No doubt you, too, have had the feeling, upon glancing at an article in a paper picked up in a…
On the cusp
‘A stalker who dressed a pillow “mannequin” in his ex’s nurse’s uniform, then sent her a picture, has been told…
On the cusp
‘A stalker who dressed a pillow “mannequin” in his ex’s nurse’s uniform, then sent her a picture, has been told…
