“Pray tell, the Baron, what sort of gentleman is he?” “Well…”

Second time this month, this request has come up on our neighbourhood Facebook. Even though I know the British English term “cool box” (AmE cooler), I never read this right on the first try. Especially not at a time of year when pretty boxes are in short supply. An argument for closed compounds.

Second anniversary of our Apple TV’s spectacular attempt to understand me asking for “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas”

Merry Christmas Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 24 North Laine

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 23 Off Lewes Road

My new newsletter contains more than FIFTY Words of the Year from around the world. Those won't be the final hashtag#WotY2025, but it is the final newsletter of the year! lynneguist.substack.com/p/2025-words...

If anyone ever wonders "why isn't this English word written in this obviously better way?", most often my answer is "it used to be, and could be again".

An example of how individuals can shape spelling (that I wish I'd included in my book) is 'ache'. It was historically spelled 'ake', but because Dr Johnson and others thought (reasonably but incorrectly) that it came from Greek, its spelling shifted to a Greek CH (like 'chronic', 'school') instead.

Interdisciplinary research ftw…!

They‘re the Smartphone Generation. Not digital natives. They grew up with closed operating systems that don‘t require or even allow much customization beyond cosmetics, with cloud data and streaming.

With apologies, but... Shite Christmas

Sinister or reassuring message viewed from the bus yesterday. you are content

True Christmas love. (but for the record, I don’t hate anyone, I just have absolutely no respect for anything John Humphrys says about language, based on having read too much of it)

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 22 North Laine (Heartbreaker Tattoo)

A list of animals who by @stancarey.bsky.social stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/a...

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 21 Quadrophenia Alley (off East Street)

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 20 North Laine (beside Bagelman) Cc: @bob-uu.bsky.social

"American audiences want to know who’s right and who’s wrong, but great drama is seldom like that." stageraw.com/two-peoples-...

Yep. social.ayjay.org/2025/12/16/e...

AI is pretty much a mansplainer you can’t escape from.

Strong Message Here has a #WotY2025 episode: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 19 North Laine

I’ve written a long blog here that comes out of various things that I’ve worked on with other people this term. It’s about accents... again! Sorry, not sorry. englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/pride-a...

Essentially my response to people who write to me to complain about linguistic forms, but pithier. Och på Svenska. ❤️🇸🇪

In 2007, a clip went viral of a man being stopped on the street by a Guangzhou TV reporter. The man was asked about a sex scandal that was all over the news at the time and his reply has been a popular Chinese slang phrase for not getting involved ever since. He said “I’m just here to buy soy sauce”

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 18 North Laine

They’re trying to poison the entire intellectual structure and with it the very notions of expertise and authority. Some for the purpose of discrediting it entirely and others for the purpose of making it easily manipulated on both the micro and macro levels. www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Labour’s Erasmus breakthrough shows the way back from Brexit www.independent.co.uk/voices/labou...

I can only surmise that JK Chambers signed this to troll the others #linguistics www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@lynneguist.bsky.social - I've seen this complaint from Americans under UK 'jab' headlines a few times recently. As recently as 2020 you had 'jab' as your UK>US WoTY and you speculated at the end of your blog whether it'd stick around stateside. Seems it has, but it's mutated...not in a good way. ⚕️

Thanks to @fritinancy.bsky.social for this WotY round-up fritinancy.substack.com/p/words-of-t...

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 17 Ann Street/Providence Place

Perfectly Common* BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me†: An Occasional Series THRAWN *OK, maybe not *perfectly* common † really @bazzargh.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

Interesting to see how relatively few Germans used generative AI tools in the last three months. Source: link.europa.eu/kFknX6

Ultimately, our graphics should tell a story about our research, whether it’s about changing media habits or shifting social norms. Here's a few of our favorite visuals from 2025, how we made them, and what makes them successful.

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 16 North Laine (Blue Man cafe) You can watch a video of its installation here: www.instagram.com/reel/C8jRcc0...

did you know: the American Dialect Society is the oldest "word of the year" event in the States, and the words are chosen by several hundred linguists who get raucous in a big meeting room in January. you can submit nominations for us to consider! great activity for classrooms!

If I did not say "this one goes to eleven", "hello Cleveland", "where the banshees live and they do live well", "their appeal has just become more selective", "who's in here? no one" etc many many times per week I would not be the person I am today.

You'd better believe that if I worked for @merriam-webster.com I'd be voting for "dictionary" every year too. theonion.com/merriam-webs...

Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series GUFFING *really @jeffgrim.bsky.social Now added to the blog list (with a link to Green's Dict of Slang): separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

Ten famous people with festive names… 10. Jon Snow 9. Holly Hunter 8. Spruce Willis 7. Oprah Wintery 6. Kim Kardashian-Through-The-Snow 5. Samuel Elf Jackson 4. A-wreather Franklin 3. Misteltobey Maguire 2. Michael Baublé 1. Snoop Dogg-Is-For-Life-Not-Just-For-Christmas

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 15 Beaconsfield Road

@lynneguist.bsky.social Hi Lynne! I know your specialty/speciality is BrEng and AmEng, but I thought you might be interested in this article about CdnEng 🇨🇦 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I adore the Welsh language. 'Coffinwr' is a lovely word for undertaker ⚰️ #Wales #History

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 14 North Laine

Although the episode is not prudish about slow dancing, the transcript may be a little to prim for its own good

Oooh, a semantics-inspired Scrabble-type game... www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

Brighton Street Art Advent Calendar, Day 13 North Laine

Gave our window cleaner a Christmas box, and can’t stop thinking about his reply. #fambo