The new Lexipedia quiz for The Observer... This week: wordy questions with wintery theme. Try your hand here: shorturl.at/EVZiN Also, my language column, on the origins of Black Friday. Read here: shorturl.at/k0TN9 hope you enjoy!

Well, it made me laugh!

The new Lexipedia quiz for @theobserveruk.bsky.social... This week: wordy questions on the subject of Trump. Try your hand here: shorturl.at/jMYXj Also, my language column, on the subject of Unparliamentary Language. Read here: shorturl.at/dVhg3 I hope you enjoy!

As Black Friday looms, I’ve done a deep dive into the origin of this curious name for my latest Substack. Have a look-see. shorturl.at/Uhxvf

A 'five emerald' review for League of the Lexicon from Game Industry News... Thank you @gameindustrynews.bsky.social Read it here: shorturl.at/Zyw9v

The latest Lexipedia Quiz is live on The Observer... This week, a quiz about memes. See how you do. shorturl.at/wmwC9

Have a gander at the new post on The Lexipedian Substack… encompassing the origin of keyboards, costly printing mistakes and the mystery of Lorem Ipsum. l1nq.com/csL5C

This week's Lexipedia Quiz is waiting for you at The Observer. Good luck! shorturl.at/XL8ZM

Breaking news! I'm writing a regular quiz, and language column, for The Observer. Dull technical issues mean you can only read it by subscribing to their Puzzles newsletter, but it will soon be on the website. This Sunday: the language of bonfire night and a word about scams. www.observer.co.uk

From the creator of the bestselling game League of the Lexicon @LeagueOfTheLexicon.bsky.social comes a new book for language enthusiasts: “The language-lover’s lexipedia: An A–Z of linguistic curiosities”:

This week saw the arrival of the new League of the Lexicon in Waterstones. Seeing my book, The Language-Lover's Lexipedia, alongside the newly designed and updated League of the Lexicon is quite something. It's been quite the year!

Delighted to see The Language-Lover's Lexipedia in @thespectator1828.bsky.social ... "The year's outstanding language book" no less! I'm biased, of course... but I *do* think it's pretty special. If you haven't checked it out already, please do.

Just spotted a nice bit of micro gardening on our street. ‘Thank you’, mystery gardener.

I wrote a piece about Donald Trump's curious social media sign-off, including suggestions for future catchphrases. shorturl.at/ir8Xe

Lovely share from my good friend Dorian... thanks!

Oooh! Lovely to see The Language-Lover's Lexipedia sitting in this glorious pile!

The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia is now on sale in the UK. It’s pretty sweet seeing something that has consumed so much of your life sitting in Waterstones like it’s always belonged there… Thank you @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social. If words are your jam, it’ll make you happy. shorturl.at/5TwQI

I wrote a fun post for the Waterstones blog about five interesting words and phrases... You can catch it here: shorturl.at/c4PlX

A favourite of mine.

I just wrote a Substack about the origin of League of the Lexicon. If you're interested to find out how a lockdown hobby became the biggest word game in Kickstarter history, take a look. shorturl.at/5ezag

I just received the first copy of The Language-Lover's Lexipedia and I'm lost for words. It's a thing of beauty. It's been a labour of love writing it, but I couldn't be prouder. For all the word lovers out there, this book should be a bringer of joy. Out later this month (UK): shorturl.at/gjp9o

I'm on a roll!

Here’s another… They’re harder than you might think to devise! (If you have any suggestions, please let me know.)

As a dad who’s into language, it was only a matter of time before i started posting linguistic dad-jokes. So let’s get cracking with this beaut. More to come on my new Lexipedian Substack: substack.com/@joshuablack...

"If you can't say anything nice, say it in French." Anon Moule à merde!

Lovely to see The Language-Lover's Lexipedia on the Waterstones round up of September's Best Books! www.waterstones.com/blog/the-wat...

Perfect! h/t Jacob Andrews, who nailed it.

Starting my audiobook recording tomorrow... Particularly concerned about these doozies... Ablanathanalba Sisopetron Discumgalligumfricated Llanbedrycennin Sjörapport Tyrosemiophilist Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia Zyzzyxdonta ZZXJOANW Cicadellidae

Please help!! I'm recording the audiobook for The Language-Lover's Lexipedia next week which includes this 100-letter word from Joyce's Finnegan's Wake: bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk! any thoughts??

This is Dr Johnson's desk... the very one on which he wrote A Dictionary of the English Language. It's hard to imagine how such a huge achievement was accomplished on something so small. It can't be much more than a metre wide. But it's a wonderful thing to see.

I've spent the last few weeks being a tourist in my own city, which has been a wonder. One highlight was my visit to Dr Johnson's house in Gough Square. Having written an entry about Johnson in The Language-Lover's Lexipedia (plug!) I found it more astonishing than I expected.

Walking down Tavistock Place today and saw Blue Plaques for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Jerome K Jerome just a door apart... Sadly they didn't live there at the same time. They would have made fine neighbours.

Visited the Crossbones Graveyard in Southwark recently and was intrigued by the term 'Winchester Geese', meaning prostitutes, on the plaque. Turns out these were prostitutes licensed by the Bishop of Winchester. And to be 'bitten by a Winchester goose' was to contract an STD.

Excited to reveal the book that has consumed my life for the last 18 months: The Language-Lover's Lexipedia. It's a tour of the far-flung corners of language, from the origin of Abracadabra to Zyzzyva and the end of the dictionary. If words are your jam, this will make you happy.

Oh my giddy aunt!

I've been doing some research with one of my favourite books, Jean-Claude Corbeil's Visual Dictionary (1986). This page was quite the time capsule.

The last few weeks following the @archive.org hack has been a sharp reminder of (a) how amazing it is, (b) how much I use it, (c) what a priceless resource it is. Sometimes you only appreciate the value of something when it's not there. Well, point made. I know its value now.

I'm researching hapax legomenon (words that have only one recorded use) and did a google search that produced a googlewhack. It made me tingle.

Every goddam morning! (Cat owners who work from home will know what I mean...)

Dear Santa, For Christmas, I would really really like this axe. (I really would!) #theshining #heresjohnny

Sticker on a lamppost in Barnsley. H/t Ian McMillan for first sharing it.

My commitment to procrastination is unsurpassed! You can see the results here: rb.gy/k3ty7j #Wordle

I just read my first apostrophic poem. It went like this: When she said we'd Be shortly wed, Her dad said, "He'll Be damned to hell." She asked me if I'd Obeyed my id. I asked if she'll Remove her shell.

A paraphilia is a "sexual desire regarded as perverted or irregular" (OED). Determining if something is 'peverted' isn't straightforward, but looking through the extensive list of paraphilias, many are *highly* irregular (and a fair few criminal). Part 2 to follow... Happy Tuesday.

'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog' is a well known example of a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet, also known as a pangram. But at 33 letters, it's certainly not the shortest. Here are some examples of shorter pangrams to brighten your Monday.

My youngest has been working on his World's Worst limerick. Here is the completed piece: There was a young man from Bordeaux, Whose limericks were very bad, Nothing he said rhymed, His rhythm was an absolute disaster, And he always made the last line very long with too many syllables. #limerick

Another gem from the marvellous Tom Gauld...

I recently finished Louise Willder's Blurb Your Enthusiasm... can't recommend highly enough. Funny, fascinating and beautifully written. Definitely one for any book lover. (Which, amusingly, sounds like a blurb in itself!)

I love this. Happy Saturday. h/t Jacob Andrews @ forlackofabettercomic.com - you nailed it.