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put in a good word

Potwalloper

'... potwallopers grazing marsh.'

This is a variant of 'potwaller', a curious and arcane English method of deciding who gets...

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Imp

Before reading Drury's splendid biography of the poet George Herbert, I knew 'imp' only as a small being of occasional...

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Eldritch

An unusual word, I can't remember when I last saw it used: weird and sinister, or ghostly, rhymes with 'witch'....

collective nouns, put in a good word

A doctrine of doctors

So now, when you are reporting from a medical conference, you know the correct term to package all those medics...

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Shrilling

'Shrilling of the sandpipers.' First time I've seen the adjective 'shrill' used as a noun, let alone to describe the...

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Patarks

I found this in Ryszard Kapuscinski's Imperium, but can find no other reference to it. Perhaps the spelling is different,...

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Jantelagen

A Swedish word used in the north of England – the unwritten rule that forbids anyone to feel or act...

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Scramasax

A large knife with a single-edged blade, found among Anglo-Saxon grave goods, used for hunting and fighting.

‘I’ve heard of...

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Glidder

'It was low tide, and the water ran below glidders, or steep muddy slopes.'

Williamson has a helpful habit of...

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Szkupcsina

This intriguing word turned up in Miklos Banffy's superb Transylvanian Trilogy, tracing the decline of the Hungarian aristocracy in the...

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Orgulous

Though this clearly derives from the French orgueil, I had never seen it in this anglicised version. No wonder, according...

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Two ancient long-haul boats

Lopez refers to some of the ancient boats that reached the Arctic from Europe, including the Irish carraughs and Norse...

Potwalloper

Imp

Eldritch

A doctrine of doctors

Shrilling

Patarks

Jantelagen

Scramasax

Glidder

Szkupcsina

Orgulous

Two ancient long-haul boats

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