Is there a connection (apart from the spelling!) between all those ...ump words with vaguely similar meanings? Off the top of my head: Lump Hump Rump Jump Sump Bump Dump Mump(s) Plump Slump Stump Clump even perhaps, Grump, Frump, thump... All seemingly to do with convex or concave protuberances. Can...

Lovely! Nice try. Nearly got me. I had to do a bit of research to assuage my doubts!

I was given a book of eponyms and started to believe the extraordinary stories about the origins of the people behind the words. But when I got to "Madame Boudoir", I became suspicious. The word actually comes from the French (not surprisingly) 'bouder' to sulk. I suspect the source of you...

Nice try! Agle was a Dutchman!

To acquire deviously. Lovely word. I wonder about its origins?

So it seems that liminal is to sub-liminal as whelm is to overwhelm. Although now I think of it, the threshold is a clear distinction for liminal, where whelm and overwhelm are really the same side of the threshold or surface

I suppose that is why a bank teller works behind a counter!

In relation to the good word of a couple of days ago, PARTY, I was amused (and I confess a little disappointed) by your advocacy of the word being pronounced Par Dee. Really! Even US dictionaries admit it has a 'T' in it. I know Americans have difficulty pronouncing the 't' sound and in words like C...

Nuht is surely the noun or adjective, and nayt the verb - the former means something or somebody that swaps and swaps back again (or alternayts) with another?

Maybe that's how it is used in USA. But I am sure that here in Australia and probably in UK (and in Greece) it is a status that gradually accrues. It may be boosted by a particular incident. But it is not something that one person can give. The implication, if you have kudos, is that the acclaim/ren...

It's hard to believe that people anywhere actually use kudo. Do they really? I have never seen or heard of such a usage in Australia - nor in UK (to which I am admittedly less exposed). Further, it seems to me that your definition as 'Praise' is a long way short of adequate. I have always heard and ...

Thanks for enlightening us on its past tense. I too thought 'wrought' was the word. But if that word is a past participle of 'work', the suggestion is that if you are making wrought iron, you are working iron. Fair enough, but not as picturesque as wreaking it.

Usually understood to be a lady's private room, the interesting thing about this word is its origin. It comes from the French bouder, to sulk. It is in fact a sulking room. How terribly French and civilised! Fascinatingly, the presence of a boudoir, by virtue of its existence, eases the pressure to ...

Why is it that a huge proportion of rhyming combination words start with 'H' hurdy-gurdy, hanky-panky, higgledy-piggledy, harum-skarum, helter-skelter and lots more?