Blog - Emma Wilkin

Depending on your literary leanings, you might think that hapax legomenon sounds like one of the Unforgivable Curses from Harry Potter or Slartibartfast’s lesser-known brother who didn’t get to design any fjords.

When I came up with this idea, I thought it would probably be an easy answer.

Have a look at the two bits of writing above.

I was watching a detective-y murder-y mystery show the other day.

If you’ve ever wondered why ‘though’ and ‘cough’ are spelled the same but pronounced completely differently, you’re not alone.

Now, I’m a fully paid-up member of the (sadly, still only theoretical) grammar pedantry brigade.

A very long time ago (2015, to be specific), I had a holiday in Iceland.

There are lots of lovely foreign words which don’t have an English equivalent (I already wrote a post about this – my favourite is baggerspion, which is the desire to peek into a boarded-up building site).

A (late, sorry) happy new year.

Despite the fact that I’ve had more Christmases on this planet than I care to admit (at least 29), I’ve never really thought about why Boxing Day is called Boxing Day.

I spend a lot of my time editing enormo legal books packed with esoteric jargon (lucky me!)

The names of the days of the week are a motley crew – they come from lots of different religions and mythologies.

You’re almost certainly familiar with the word ‘canine’ which describes things dogs are and do (kinda).

Phwoarr Possibly surprisingly for a blog about words, this post is actually about a person.

The word ‘OK’, or ‘okay’ which is my usual spelling, might feel fairly modern.

If you’re a regular reader (AKA my mum), then you might remember words of the week maverick, bowdlerise and dunce, all of which are eponyms, or named after people.

Nouns.

Nope, this isn’t a Tinder profile (if only the quality of available man was that good).

It’s that time of year again.

Words aren’t set in stone (well, except for the ten commandments, BOOM BOOM).