'Twocker' was today's unknown word in OED online's random word-feature. This word is British slang for a car thief, especially 'one who steals for the purpose of joy-riding'. I just love the wackiness of the spelling and the way it sounds! 

I just learnt that there is - wonderfully enough - a word in Irish that means 'abounding in blackberries'. After the month I spent in Ireland I can easily understand this - the word perfectly describes the peninsula of Carraroe outside of Galway at least, where I spent most of my time. There were blackberry brambles all over the place, along the ( Read more... )

This one is for
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I was looking up gnomic in the OED just now. The main meaning of this word is as follows:

Of the nature of, or consisting of, gnomes or general maxims.

Sadly, a gnome in this context is 'a proverb, maxim, aphorism, or apophthegm [!]' and not a goblin- or a dwarf-type of creature.

The Oxford English Dictionary's random word feature gave me spiritualism today. The first sense they give for this word is a rare one that I had never heard before:

Spiritualism: 'The exercise of the mental or intellectual faculties, or their predominance over body.'

The older I get, the less I am able to believe that there is anything in this ( Read more... )

I seem to be easy to please today: I'm strangely happy to learn that pebbly is in fact a word, as confirmed by the OED. There is just something wonderfully pebbly about the sound of it!

If people have to make advertisements in English in Norway, couldn't they at least have someone proof-read the text before they put the advertisements up on huge boards all over the city?


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I just realised that the word stubbornness is actually very-very cool, since it is spelled with as much as three pairs of similar consonants!! 

Tongue twisters are funny. Here's a great English one. I just love the sound of it!

How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?
~~repeat ad infinitum~~

I'm going slightly mad from it, though. I just cannot get the wood chuck and it's wood-chucking abilities out of my mind - it's spinning around and around and around...

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