“The jungle programme”, as we call it, is back. “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”, to give it its proper name, is into the final week of its current series on ITV. As a family we have been paying more attention to it than in recent years, partly because many of this year’s… Continue reading Word of the week: dunny
What does a plangonologist collect? The question appeared in Thomas Eaton’s Weekend Quiz in the Guardian a couple of days ago, phrased as follows: “A plangonologist collects what?” You can read the rest of the quiz, and the answers, here. The answer to the question also appears at the end of the next paragraph. I… Continue reading Word of the week: plangonologist
For young athletes it’s the cross-country season. Our daughter started competing at athletics meetings late last year, so we are approaching the first anniversary of her first race. That was on a cold, wet Saturday last December and in a couple of weeks’ time, all being well, she will compete in that same event for… Continue reading Word of the week: spikes
In many words beginning with “un” the first two letters mean “not”, as in the words unhappy, unwell and unambitious. The “un” part rhymes with “fun”. In other cases, the first two letters are part of the longer prefix “uni”, meaning “one”, as in universe, uniform and unicycle. The “un” part rhymes with “June”. You… Continue reading Word of the week: unanimous
At the end of last month punk-poet John Cooper Clarke gave this interview to Tim Adams of the Observer, and answered questions from “readers and famous fans”, as the article says. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time. My own experiences following Dr Clarke for over 40 years can be found in this… Continue reading Word of the week: jodhpurs
Last Friday’s edition of BBC2 quiz show “Mastermind” included the following question: “The name of what form of aerial transport comes from the Greek for spiral and wing?” It was during the final general knowledge round, which you can see at 24:44 on this BBC iPlayer link for the next 26 days. The answer is… Continue reading Word of the week: helicopter
Last weekend my daughter (who celebrated her 12th birthday earlier this month) asked me what a philanthropist was. Before answering the question I asked her where she’d come across the word. It was on a web page about Katie Piper who, sadly, was voted off “Strictly Come Dancing” that evening. We were rooting for her… Continue reading Word of the week: philanthropist
This piece from last week, by Sirena Bergman in The Independent, begins, “Ten years ago I’d never heard the term ‘gaslighting’.” She discusses it in the context of a recent news story regarding two contestants on the most-watched show on UK television, “Strictly Come Dancing”, as you can see by following the link above. The… Continue reading Word of the week: gaslighting
The Hopper Fare was introduced here in London back in 2016. It allowed you to make two bus journeys for the price of one, as long as the second journey started within an hour of the first. This was a simple, easily understood change to the fares system. It saved people money. From what I… Continue reading Word of the week: Hopper
In this piece from February 2016 I summarized the three levels of expertise that apply to practical skills, skills like speaking another language or playing a musical instrument. I categorized these three levels of expertise as “nothing, something and everything”. The first of these applies when you have no familiarity with a task. I offered… Continue reading Word of the week: transpose
The Compartments 