Etymology
Why does everything now pivot?
‘As the door turneth upon his hinges,’ says the Book of Proverbs, ‘so doth the slothful upon his bed.’ But…
Is a ‘link-up’ a modern ‘flash mob’?
The public disturbances in Clapham, achieved by social media link-ups, have their precedents. ‘You can imagine what an exhilarating week…
What makes a politician a ‘grandee’?
To me, grandee goes together with Tory. So it was a surprise to find Lord Mandelson called a Labour grandee…
‘Both things can be true’: The creep of an annoying cliché
‘It’s lunchtime and it’s raining. Both things can be true at the same time,’ said my husband, putting on the…
Me, myself and the i
Misuse of myself ‘should be a capital offence’, suggests Oliver Duff, the editor of the i Paper. ‘As reflexive pronouns,…
Do only bitches bitch?
‘How many letters?’ asked my husband, as though it were a crossword we were doing together. ‘Five,’ I replied. ‘Begins…
Are you ‘marred’ or ‘mired’ in scandal?
My husband made a noise which he thinks is like a klaxon but sounds as if he is choking on…
If you’re ‘reaching out’, you sound deranged
‘Why doesn’t anyone do what you ask them to?’ enquired my husband, who is something of an expert on the…
How binding are Rachel Reeves’s ‘pledges’?
‘Pop goes the weasel!’ my husband exclaimed, expertly muddying the waters. We had just been listening to another news bulletin…
What’s so fresh about ‘fresh hell’?
‘What fresh hell can this be?’ Dorothy Parker would ask if the doorbell rang. Now fresh hell has been freshly…
What makes a ‘survivor’?
Are you a survivor? We are not, luckily, all Gloria Gaynors. She declared in 1979: ‘I’ve got all my life…
