Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to the fantastic Helen Zaltzman for her new podcast about language called The Allusionist. As Helen was discussing the etymology of the word bra in the second episode, she wanted to speak to someone about the history of the garment and Amber Butchart very kindly pointed her in... Continue Reading →
Why do you need to know someone's gender? What the fuck difference does it make? Most of the time, it makes no difference whatsoever. It is possible to talk to someone and interact with them on a number of levels indefinitely without knowing their gender, but our society is set up in such a way... Continue Reading →
On Twitter this morning, I made reference to a possibly drunken, probably sarcastic tweet from the rather excellent Ms Stamper and, before long, there was much talk of boobs. In fact, I was recommended by someone as a person one of their friends should follow purely because of my mention (and promise of future mentions)... Continue Reading →
When I returned to the North West of England after following up my three years at a Manchester university with two and a half years back with the parental units in Buckinghamshire, I got a job in Bolton. This is where my education really began. There are many words and phrases that I learnt during... Continue Reading →