And that's so beautiful that nobody will ever better it; even though, to modern ears, it sounds like an invitation from a woman with a raclette*. a b "New words make new Collins dictionary". Hurriyet Daily News. Istanbul. 23 October 2014 . Retrieved 18 January 2015. a b c Paton, Aubrey (12 October 2012). "How to be a clever clogs". Times Live. Times Media Group . Retrieved 18 January 2015. A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions was published on 3 November 2016.

Illustrious and illustration both come from the Latin illustratus which meant lit up. In English the word illustration came first, and it meant to teach by means of examples, shedding light upon an abstract subject. As James says: There can be few better recommendations for any book than that you continuously feel the need to read excepts out to those around you, no matter what they are doing (or what else they are trying to read themselves). "Oh, this one is great."; "Just this one and I'll stop."; "Ah, wait, this one is really good too."I did the same myself, at length. Whatever, I was talking about the book. Yes, the book, great one. Great little-big- book that you should try. Look:The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language is Forsyth's second book and contains "weird words for familiar situations." [3] [27] Many of these words are no longer in use, such as snollygoster, durgeon and frumples. [18] To avoid having his list of words "form what is technically known as a dictionary," [18] Forsyth arranges The Horologicon or Book of Hours [28] according to the hours in a day: [17] [18] [28] [29] [30] from dawn, through breakfast, commuting, office life, shopping, going out drinking and stumbling home. [18] Forsyth believes some of these words should be revived: "Never mind the puzzled looks," he says, "just use them. Throw them into conversation as often as possible." [17] And the meanings of names on Central line stations include 'Earl of Oxford's Roundabout' for Oxford Circus, 'Ford on a Roman Road' for Stratford and 'Thatch Valley of the De Bosco Family' for Theydon Bois. The callism bit comes from kalos, which meant beautiful and is the same root that you get when looking a pretty things in a kaleidoscope, or admiring somebody who is callipygian. Then you've got people who use the word gift as a verb, as in "I gifted it to him." That's a bit odd because it's verb to noun to verb again. But it's still pretty obvious.

There was a time when I was convinced that ‘candid’ would come to mean ‘hidden’. This was because virtually the only use of the word in the modern world was associated with the phrase ‘smile, you’re on candid camera’ and the main fact about being on candid camera was the reveal at the end, when it was made clear that there was a hidden camera filming you. So, a candid camera was a hidden camera – this now is one of the meanings of the word in the OED. It would be interesting to test people (of a certain age) to see if they would be more likely to say candid meant hidden than frank. There is a labyrinth beneath the language: strange connections and tunnels, secret doors that connect absurd things. Take, for example, the hidden passage between pterodactyls and helicopters. Ptero was the Greek word for wing, this allows for the dinosaur with a finger on its wing, the pterodactyl, and for the aircraft whose wings move in a spiral, the helico-pter. Most people miss that latter one because they think that it’s somehow a compound of heli and copter; but it’s that old Greek pt doing all the lifting. Too short. ( this is serious, I have a few books on the subject and there are many examples where I think Forsyth could have gone even further). I finished it's large-text, wide margin format and felt a little cheated that it was so short. Among them is Cynsige for the Kensington stations which are named after Anglo-Saxon subsistence farmer Dagenham was first recorded in the 7th century as Dæccanhaam, which translated as the homestead or 'haam' of a man called Dæcca, who is believed to have been a local landowner or leader. The Heathway element refers to the road that leads to Becontree Heath - with 'Heath' meaning a tract of wasteland, and 'Way' being the road.Incidentally, the mini in miniature has nothing whatsoever to do with the mini in minute or minimum or miniskirt. In Medieval illuminated manuscripts there were little pictures painted by little monks. These pictures were often painted using red lead or minium. Because of that the verb for painting little pictures was miniare. And because of that the little pictures were called miniatures. The word then got applied to anything small. And then the noun drift can get turned into a verb and the boat starts drifting. It is the gift that keeps gifting. There are also some rather comedic names on the east side of the District line, including 'Road from Daecca's House to the Waste Land' which is Dagenham Heathway, and 'Church with Pointy Gables' for Hornchurch.