Which words have given you happiness this year? I’d love to hear them. (And if you fancy some distraction over the holidays, do give my word game Two Words a try. twowords2.page.link/play)

I’m delighted to announce the next shows in my Word Perfect tour. Thanks to all my wonderful audiences this year: I’ve had a blast!

Word of the day, should you be feeling a little huffish, is ‘apanthropy’ (18th century): a love of solitude and the desire to be away from other people.

Thanks for all the excellent responses to this. It might make you smile on this dreich day.

Thank you to the lovely audience member at @hayfestival who shared that her daughter had once corrected her pronunciation of ‘epiphany’ and told her it should of course be ‘epi-fanny’. Which word have you royally mispronounced because you’d only ever seen it written down?

We have a name for our new bot! Thanks to everyone who voted, and to all of those who continue to play and enjoy the game. twowords2.page.link/play

TOMORROW! Join us for a special Film Stories 500th episode event in London with special guest Romesh Ranganathan. Details and tickets here: filmstories.co.uk/news/film-st...

This is your chance to vote for Oxford’s Word of the Year. corp.oup.com/word-of-the-....

Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.

Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.

This show will not disappoint: Simon is more passionate and knowledgeable about the magic of the movies than anyone I know.

It's the Seasonal Reposting Competition! Repost this over the weekend, and on Sunday one lucky person will win a signed copy of one of my books. For you or the #crossword addict in your life: 50 fiendish @theguardian.com #puzzles and all the stories behind them: boatmancryptics.co.uk/crossword-bo...

We’re down to a shortlist of three names for the new bot in my word game Two Words! Thanks for all the brilliant suggestions. You can vote here for your winner: playtwowords.com/namethebot

We’ve introduced a new Bot in our word game Two Words, and it needs a name! Please reply with your suggestions (Botty McBotface won’t do). For those who don’t know the game, here’s the link. twowords2.page.link/play

Word of the Day is ‘catchfart’ (17th century): an obsequious individual who sucks up to the boss and always follows the political wind.

There is a moment at this time of year when the word ‘apricity’ really comes into view. For those who don’t know it, it was recorded only once, in 1623, before slipping out of view. Apricity is the warmth of the sun on a chilly day.

Word of the Day is ‘tandsmør’, from Danish. It describes bread that is buttered so thickly you can see tooth marks in it after every bite. Its literal translation? ‘Tooth butter’.

To ‘ultra-crepidate’ (19th century) is to lecture others on subjects you know very little about.

Like many, I grew up with Woman’s Hour, so it was a special delight to chat with Anita Rani on Friday about Words for Life. It also made the weekend round-up if you fancy a listen here. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Today I offer a reminder of the word ‘forswunk’ (13th century): exhausted from too much work. To be ‘foreswunk’ (my own version) is to be exhausted before you even begin.

Word of the Day is ‘snerdle’ (19th century): to stay warm and still beneath the covers for as long as humanly possible.

Delighted to say that my new book of words is out today, in which I explain how ‘sneeze’ was born from a mistake, that ‘window’ is a Viking leftover meaning ‘eye of the wind’, and that the Finns really do have a word for drinking alone in your underwear. linktr.ee/WordsforLife

Thanks to the wonderful team at the Hachette warehouse for making this morning’s mammoth book-signing a lot of fun. Words for Life is out next week. I hope you like it. linktr.ee/WordsforLife

Word of the day is ‘tamalou’: a French name for an older person who no longer greets their friends with ‘how was your holiday?, but with ‘t’as mal où ?’, ‘where does it hurt?’. There follows an enthusiastic account of aches and pains and doctor’s appointments.

An ‘ultracrepidarian’ (19th century) is one who loves to give their opinion, at length, on matters they know nothing about.

Happening now! Do join me if you can. twowords2.page.link/play

I’m looking forward to another round of Two Words challenges! I’ll be taking on as many players as I can, so do join me, whether you’re an old hand or new to the game. Details for joining to follow on the day. twowords2.page.link/play

Word of the Day is ‘theic’ (19th century), defined as ‘one given to immoderate tea-drinking; a tea drunkard’.

Word of the Day is ‘copemate’ (16th century): the friend in life who gets you through. It’s one of the 365 entries in Words for Life, an almanac of my favourite words and etymologies to give (I hope) each day a boost.

Hosting the British Transplant Games at a sunny Blenheim Palace was such a privilege. Organ donation is needed now more than ever, and the results of such generosity were on display everywhere yesterday. To the audience of 2,000 or more, thank you. And to those who were remembered, thank you too.

Sometimes the historical dictionary offers solace through the existence of an obsolete word that is sorely needed now. One of them is ‘respair’, recorded just once, in the 15th century. It means fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.

A brand-new series of 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown starts tonight, starring Bob Mortimer (which is probably all you need to know). Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 9pm on C4.

Etymology of the day: spiders were once known as ‘attercops’, or ‘poison-heads’, because it was believed most spiders were venomous. The ‘cop’ element became the ‘cob’ in ‘cobweb’.

Word of the day is ‘swullocking’, from 19th-century East Anglian dialect: sultry, sweltering, and sudiferous (sweat-inducing).

It’s been a fun morning talking to some of our very best local radio stations about my new show. It’s getting close now. Would love it if you joined me! nothird.co.uk

Chuffed to be part of this sale. And a big thank you to everyone who has bought or borrowed my novel already.

Word of the day is ‘forwallowed’ (15th century): extremely weary from tossing and turning all night.

The final scores are in! I took on as many games as my brain and fingers could manage; apologies to those whose challenges I couldn’t accept. But we will go again later in the summer. Congratulations to all those who smashed me! twowords2.page.link/play

The use of swearing to relieve stress, anger, pain or frustration is known as ‘lalochezia’.

It’s been quite a marathon taking on so many brilliant players this week. I accepted 53 challenges in total, many still ongoing! Whether you’re as brilliant as these players or just starting out, thank you for giving it a go. twowords2.page.link/play

Thank you so much to everyone who challenged me on Two Words this afternoon! Ten games completed and 53 ongoing! I’m so sorry I couldn’t take everyone on but we will do it again, when I hope to be able to play you. twowords2.page.link/play

Congratulations @RobbieRinder on yet another cracker of a thriller. Happy publication day!

From 12-2pm today I’ll be accepting as many of your challenges in Two Words as I can. Simply swipe across to Search in the main menu and look for ‘Real Susie’ Do make sure to follow bsky.app/profile/play... ‬for live updates! twowords2.page.link/play

Thank you @societyofauthors.bsky.social for a balmy and uplifting evening at Southwark Cathedral. Delighted to have been shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize for Guilty By Definition, and congratulations to Tom Newlands for the win!

Thanks to everyone who voted for ‘went’ - an example of language swerving the expected. Instead of ‘go, goes, goed’ we have ‘go, goes, went’, because speakers decided to opt for the past tense of ‘wend’. This process is called ‘suppletion’.

A reminder of this event on Thursday. I’m looking forward to it (with some trepidation)!

For those in need of a smile, a reminder that one 19th-century name for a penguin was ‘arsefoot’.

Betwittered to announce a special event next Thursday, when Two Words players can take me on if they fancy! Keep an eye out for more details. And for those who haven’t yet played the game, do take a look here. twowords2.page.link/play

Word of the day is ‘fellow-feel’ (verb; 17th-century): to share in the suffering and distress of others.

Numbers vs Words, round 3! We’ve had fun doing these: hope they are just as enjoyable to watch. Let us know your favourite here 👇🏻 tomrocksmaths.com/2025/06/10/num…