Tag: words
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Rubberdogging
Rubberdogging, verb: attempting to invent a solution to a technical problem by explaining it out loud to a pet. From "rubberducking", the practice of doing so to an inanimate object, and "dog walking".
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I guess I'll need some "assistnace" from Tesco to explain why my (long-neglected!) Clubcard didn't work when buying some emergency sunscreen this morning. 😂
![Full image of Photo of a self-checkout screen reading "Sorry, we don't recognise this Clubcard. Try again or call for assistnace." [sic]](https://bcdn.danq.me/_q26u/2026/04/1000134048-scaled.jpg)
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Photo of a self-checkout screen reading "Sorry, we don't recognise this Clubcard. Try again or call for assistnace." [sic]
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Chain Words
I've been enjoying playing Chain Words, from eclectech, intermittently, since it came out in November. If you've not given it a go yet, and you like a word game that's a bit different, you should try it!
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Can it perhaps be time that we stop saying "ethical non-monogamy"?
Nobody feels the need to say "ethical monogamy"; monogamous folks are given the benefit of the doubt and assumed to be practicing a relationship ethically.
I feel like polyamory, open relationships, relationship anarchy and other forms of non-monogamy are now sufficiently accessible to popular culture that we can drop the word "ethical" and still be understood. (Ideally we do so before it starts to look like virtue-labelling.)
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Impossible Countdown
Are there any tilesets that can be legitimately drawn during Countdown's Letters Game for which there exist no English words? I began writing a program to try to find the worst possible deals, but then found a series of heuristic shortcuts that meant I could find one with just a few minutes thought... because it turns out computers aren't always the right answer!
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The 55 Words you Can't Say in Faster Payments
Step aside, George Carlin! Sam Easterby-Smith wants to share with the world the 55 words you can't say in a UK faster payments reference.
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For World Book Day (which here in the UK is marked a month earlier than the rest of the world) the kids' school invited people to come "dressed as a word".
As usual, the kids and teachers participated along with only around two other adults. But of course I was one of them.
This year, I was "magical".
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Dan, a white man with long hair (tied back) and a beard, stands in a Cotswolds-esque village green wearing a black jacket and holding three large novelty playing cards and a magic wand.
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[Bloganuary] Magpies are the Best Bird
Magpies are the best bird, nay, the best animal. Fight me.
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Woodward Draw
Over the course of three days, I completed excellent 4-letter-word-puzzle-game Woodward Draw, and I think you should give it a go too.
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That Moment When You Forget Somebody's Dead
For the first time in years, perhaps, I had that "moment of forgotting my dad was dead" thing.
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Was a 10th century speaker of Old Saxon a "Saxophone"? 🤔
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STAR T/W R/A E/R K/S
Dan shares and comments on an excellent crossword puzzle.
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Goose-Related Etymologies
Geese seem to work their way all over our language. Let's take a look at the etymology of some goosey terminology.
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Word Ladder Solver
It's likely that the first word ladder puzzles were created by none other than Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the talented British mathematician, and author of the Alice's adventures. According to Carroll, he invented them on Christmas Day in 1877.
A word ladder puzzle consists of two end-cap words, and the goal is to derive a … -
Odd One Out?
Which is the odd-one out: gypsies, turkeys, french fries, or the Kings of Leon? It's a simple riddle, but it's still better than whatever you've gotten out of your cracker.