In graffiti form it is sometimes rendered 1312, from the place of the letters in the alphabet
By Dot Wordsworth
Only in 1993 did the Oxford English Dictionary catch up with a newer meaning of vibrant that suggested ‘vitality or the exotic’
By Dot Wordsworth
Artichoke came into English in the 16th century from words already obscure in their derivation
By Dot Wordsworth
Mica was an electrical insulator — the original purpose of Formica
By Dot Wordsworth
Ovid and Lucan used decumanus, he found, of a wave, but not absolutely, as a noun
By Dot Wordsworth
An airplane crashing into your house would be fortuitous, but not, from most points of view, fortunate
By Dot Wordsworth
In 1899, the music-hall song ‘What ho! She bumps!’, with words by Harry Castling, was a hit
By Dot Wordsworth
There is no vaccine against a word, but I hope coronavirus will be in less demand in 2021
By Dot Wordsworth
We have become distanced strangers fearful of a handshake or a kiss
By Dot Wordsworth
‘Shock’, from the French ‘choque’, began as the word for a collision of armies
By Dot Wordsworth
Living with is a phrasal verb first applied, in the 17th century, to spouses
By Dot Wordsworth
In recent years the distinction between may and might in the present tense has collapsed
By Dot Wordsworth
The first usage of the term dates back to the New York Times in 1971
By Dot Wordsworth
Only now I discover my assumptions about that phrase were wrong
By Dot Wordsworth
