Q. It’s the heavy-browed splaining: ‘You’re not understanding me.’ It’s the meeting without end: ‘Let me circle back to my first point.’ It’s the performance art that offers neither performance nor art: ‘Foo la la. My spleen is a dream.’ Bored. What are some lesser-used words that can be employed

Q. A kaleidoscope of butterflies that flutter from blossom to blossom as you inhale your way through a path of lilacs? Yes, please. A cloud of midges that are suddenly all up in your face as you walk down the beach? Absolutely not. Which insects would you be delighted versus

Q. They are awfully stubborn. The elephants refuse to leave the room, the thoughts cower inside the box, and the tattered idioms worm their way back into innocent conversations. What are some more examples of lesser used idioms? . A. The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms houses thousands of these ‘phrases that

Q. What are some forgotten idioms that are well-suited to our odd times? . A. We scanned the Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms (because, you know, rabbit hole …) to find old-fashioned sayings that could be revived for life as we currently know it. In our words … . .

Q. What are one or two English words that you find to be particularly beautiful? What say others? . A. In the early 2000s, The British Council surveyed 40,000 people across 102 countries. They asked these respondents – none of whom spoke English as a first language – to identify

Q. Eesh 😮‍💨 Sitting on the couch and watching high stakes Olympics hockey games is stressful. It’s remarkable that certain athletes manage to remain ‘cool as cucumbers’, even when all those years of training and dreaming come to a head, as the clock counts down. It’s overtime. Next goal means

Q. ‘Un’ words can seem unforgivably lazy. First, we invent a treasure cave of words. Then, we just slap ‘un’ on a bunch of them and claim the opposite meaning. Voila! Forgiving. Unforgiving. Grateful. Ungrateful. But, un words can also be unabashedly harsh. What are some of the most unencouraging

Q. It’s that time. Lake Superior State University has – for the 50th year – gathered nominations from around the world. Their focus? English words so annoying or overused that they should be banished. Which words are rankling in 2026? . A. 2026 Banished Words List. Lake Superior University i.  

Q. If someone calls you ‘out of the blue,’ it is unexpected, a complete surprise. Where does the ‘out of the blue’ phrase originate? . A. An ‘out of the blue moment’ today could be positive or negative – it’s an emotionally neutral phrase. Its 19th century origins – ‘A

Q. You might have heard that ‘parasocial’ is Cambridge Dictionary’s 2025 recipient of word of the year. Its meaning? The vivid ‘relationship’ a person feels with someone they don’t actually know, such as a celebrity, a bot, or a fictional character. ‘Oh, Kate. What has Hal done now?!’ What kind