I love how the word 'atone' wears its heart on its sleeve. It began as 'at one', because to atone is to bring back unity. Atonement is really 'at-one-ment'.

In the same way, 'alone' began as 'all one'.

I can give you one of my favourite words from Scots: 'flenched', used for weather that promises to improve but never actually does.

...and I'd be delighted to do personal dedications should anyone fancy one.

Etymology of the day: the name of the Canary Islands didn’t begin with the canary bird. Instead it’s thought that the Latin ‘canaria insula’ described the ‘island of dogs’, because one of the islands had a large population of wild dogs. Which would mean that the archipelago’s

In Old English, the ampersand, '&', was considered the 27th letter of the alphabet. Children reciting the alphabet in school would chant 'per se', Latin for 'by itself', after letters that were words in themselves: 'A per se A, I per se I', etc, and also '& per se &'. This 'and

81% of guide dog owners have experienced an access refusal in the past. This should not be the reality for guide dog owners. Can you help us get to 60,000 signatures on our Open Doors petition before we hand it in to Downing Street next week?

Sign here 👉 bit.ly/3U0BaB9

Etymology of the day is ‘bumf’: a shortening of ‘bumfodder’, 19th-century slang for toilet paper. It was later applied to any throwaway material or paperwork.

Word fact of the day (with apologies to those who knew it already): the terms 'upper case' and 'lower case' began with the two type cases or trays that were used in the printing trade to hold the movable type. Each was positioned on an angled stand, and the case containing the

Congratulations to you both Greg Jenner Dr Campbell Price!

An interesting article about endangered languages, their value, and the efforts to document them.

theguardian.com/science/2024/a…

This was discombobulatingly fun. And just a reminder: this is a comedy podcast!

Word of the day is ‘fling-brand’ (17th century): one who takes pleasure in breeding dissent and argument, purely for the sake of it.

Some (very nearly) final dates for my one-woman wordy show. I’d love to give it a proper send-off if you’ll join me.

On Thursday I launch my funny new children’s book series, TOTALLY CHAOTIC HISTORY. Book 1 is all about Ancient Egypt, cowritten with expert Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price - it’s only £6.49 at Waterstones, full of amazing facts, and hilarious illustrations by Rikin Parekh🇪🇺💙☮️

For kids 8-12 👍

This is a lovely tribute to our guide dogs, the love they bring, and the incredible work they do.

Tsundoku, from Japanese, is the act of buying yet another book that you fully intend to read, but never quite get round to.

That’s confelicity.

Etymology of the day is an important one. The root of ‘compassion’ is a Latin word meaning ‘suffer with’.