Mind your language
Should we just stop using ‘fulsome’?
It’s funny that two much misused words end in —some: fulsome and noisome. Noisome is the less often used at…
Whipsmart: a new cliché that’s beginning to smart
A friend of my husband’s asked me to explain why the usually impeccable critic Francine Stock had recently used the…
Whipsmart: a new cliché that’s beginning to smart
A friend of my husband’s asked me to explain why the usually impeccable critic Francine Stock had recently used the…
Can politicians say ‘crusade’ again? David Cameron thinks so
One thing grabbed my attention from David Cameron’s speech, long ago in the middle of last week. ‘We need a…
Can politicians say ‘crusade’ again? David Cameron thinks so
One thing grabbed my attention from David Cameron’s speech, long ago in the middle of last week. ‘We need a…
The weird truth about the word ‘normal’
‘Is Nicky Morgan too “normal” to be the next prime minister?’ asked someone in the Daily Telegraph. That would make…
The weird truth about the word ‘normal’
‘Is Nicky Morgan too “normal” to be the next prime minister?’ asked someone in the Daily Telegraph. That would make…
I was wrong to criticise using ‘critique’ as a verb
I lost my husband on the way from Malabar. He is easily lost. We had been talking about the verb…
Critique
I lost my husband on the way from Malabar. He is easily lost. We had been talking about the verb…
The remarkable discovery of Roger Fuckebythenavele
A great discovery has been made by Dr Paul Booth, a fellow of Keele University. It is a 14th-century example…
Fuckebythenavele
A great discovery has been made by Dr Paul Booth, a fellow of Keele University. It is a 14th-century example…
A lesson in graceful Twitter style – from a resigning shadow minister
‘Tweeting’s like text messaging, isn’t it?’ said my husband confidently, though not, as usual, from any knowledge of the matter.…
Twitter speak
‘Tweeting’s like text messaging, isn’t it?’ said my husband confidently, though not, as usual, from any knowledge of the matter.…
Why would Jeremy Corbyn want to be credible when he can be incredible?
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…
Think ‘migrant’ is an insult? ‘Refugee’ can be too
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…
Saints still beat Game of Thrones for baby-naming – but maybe not Mohammed
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’ used to mean something even creepier than ‘Edward Heath’
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…
Why Liz Kendall isn't close to qualifying as 'Taliban New Labour'
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…
Where ‘big ask’ came from, and why it still sounds barbaric
‘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…
