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…
I invented ‘virtue signalling’. Now it’s taking over the world
I invented the term ‘virtue signalling’ in The Spectator. Now it seems to be taking over the world
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…
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…
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…
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…
‘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…
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…
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…
The Spanish village that thought it was called ‘Kill Jews’
A village has changed its name because it seemed offensive. But I think the villagers were under a misapprehension. The…
How a prayer became business speak
No doubt you, too, have had the feeling, upon glancing at an article in a paper picked up in a…
Woe betide you if you try to speak French in Flanders
Usually, one of the first indications that you’ve entered a bilingual country is that the road signs are in two…
In defence of Michael Gove’s grammar guide
Few things are more likely to provoke the disapproval of the bien-pensant left than criticising someone’s grammar. The very idea…
Elisa Segrave’s diary: A prison visit to a friend
Off to prison to visit a writer friend, first jailed led some years ago for trying to find a hit…
Trigger warning: this is an article about the word ‘trigger’
A notion is going about that, just as readers of film reviews receive spoiler alerts, so readers of anything should…
The rise and rise of the brain fade
‘Aa-aah,’ groaned my husband, ‘we fade to grey.’ He had never been much of a Young Romantic, even when Visage…
The real contest at Eurovision: worst lyric
Like a reluctantly remembered nightmare, last week’s Eurovision Song Contest already seems very distant. But, in the manner of the…
That irritating use of ‘progressive’ is more than a century old
I was interested by the widespread annoyance at the use of progressive by the lefty parties before the election. Irritation…
Why do politicians go potty for ‘passion’?
‘I long for spontaneous passion but I will never get it with my husband because I think he has Asperger…
The new Fowler still won’t grasp the nettle on ‘they’
I’ve been having a lovely time splashing about in the new Fowler. It has been revised by Jeremy Butterfield, an…
Where ‘poop’ came from
Danny Alexander recounted in the Diary last week his daughter’s efforts in making unicorn poop. This is something of a…
The lost words of John Aubrey, from apricate to scobberlotcher
Hilary Spurling found a certain blunting of the irregularities of John Aubrey’s language in Ruth Scurr’s vicarious autobiography of the…
Are you negatively impacted by business-speak? It’s time to escalate
Maureen Finucane of Richmond, Surrey, wonders whether there is any branch of public service not infected by Orwellian Newspeak. In…
How long is it since anniversaries stopped being measured in years?
‘You must promise to be with us for our silver wedding D.V. which will be in four years,’ wrote Queen…
