-
Cuppa and other words first used by P.G. Wodehouse
When you think of P.G. Wodehouse, you think of pigs, aunts, potty earls and dapper younger brothers, unflappable omniscient butlers, goofy young men and irresistible young women – and a language that’s absolutely unique, peppered with words and phrases as funny and bizarre as the situations the characters get into. Wodehouse uses words and expressions […]
-
How words get into the Oxford English Dictionary
I have seen the word “linguaphile” (meaning word lover or language lover) on Dictionary.com and the Free Dictionary, but it’s not there in the Oxford English Dictionary. It no longer tries to be comprehensive. “The language is expanding so fast this may be an impossible mission,” said Edmund Weiner, deputy chief editor of the Oxford […]
-
Avatar No 1 on the Net: Indian words in English
Viagra sounds like the Sanskrit word for tiger — “vyaghra”. Henry Hitchens points that out in his delightful book, The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes the similarity but doubts any connection between the two words. The “vi” of Viagra possibly comes from virile and virility, it […]
arthur burnell, avatar, bangle, bazaar, bollywood, bungalow, catamaran, cheroot, cot, curry, dinghy, dungaree, english, guru, henry hitchens, henry yule, hobson-jobson, indian, internet, karma, mogul, OED, oxford english dictionary, pariah, pundit, raja, richard hakluyt, sanskrit, secret life of words, thug, viagra, vyaghra, william jones
Read to discover
Readiscovery 