Grace Tierney

“Words Christmas Gave Us” festive history “Words the Vikings Gave Us” Norse nouns “Words the Sea Gave Us” nautical words "Modern Words with Old Roots" avatar to zarf “How To Get Your Name In The Dictionary” eponyms #etymology paperback #Kindle wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/

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My #mysteryword month is now complete. If you relish unusual words and their stories you might dip into my weekly Wordfoolery Blog (wordfoolery.wordpress.com), my books (wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/), or my monthly newsletter (subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhi…). Happy February!

#mysteryword Day 31 - joblijocks Morning disturbance, for example by a small child. 1700s. Yorkshire dialect.

#mysteryword Day 30 - blutterbunged. Confounded by disgust or joy. Lincolnshire dialect.

I'll be chatting to Gerry on LMFM radio around 2 o'clock about the word history of throttlebottom, bugbear, bribe, and chivvy. Our mystery word is mubble-fubbles. Listen at lmfm.ie and I'll share podlink in comments later.

@NellifantMc Oh yes, the perfect adjective for those trolleys!

I use this word frequently, often referring to supermarket trolleys.

#mysteryword Day 29 - shoogly. Unsteady or wobbly. Scots.

@HilaryRSparkes Love them! What a hoot (sorry, couldn't resist)

Random Owl of the Month Guess who got owl socks for Christmas?

#mysteryword Day 28 - betwattled. Confused. 1600s English dialect. From twattle (gossip).

“Linda, what’s this old library event you ran? It’s called Kicking the Bucket, was that a game?” #1linewed "The Librarian's Secret Diary"

This week's episode of The Librarian's Secret Diary, my serial fiction @_Channillo , is now available for subscribers to read. Nina re-cycles a library event from the past and learns about a very unusual form of garden composting. channillo.com/series/the-lib…

@Sally_writes Adorable!

You never know if anyone’s going to turn up when you do a book signing

#mysteryword Day 27 - to glaver. To flatter. From Saxon gliwan (flatter).

#mysteryword Day 26 - Ferlie. Wonderful or marvellous. Scots. From Old Norse ferligr (dreadful).

This week's word on the blog is hooch (with a side of moonshine and bootlegging) - some words the Gold Rush gave us. Read more at wordfoolery.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/the…

#mysteryword day 25 - perissology. The use of more words than necessary. From the Greek for superfluous.

#mysteryword day 24 - badkruka a cowardly bather - one who lowers themself slowly into cold water. This is a Swedish word - bada (bathe) and kruka (coward).

#mysteryword Day 23 - drotchel A lazy person. 1700s, Scots. Possibly from dretch - a verb used by Chaucer meaning to idle.

"How to Get Your Name in the Dictionary" 260 eponyms named for heroes and villains - from atlas to zeppelin. Ideal for word geeks, history lovers, and biography buffs. #FunFacts #etymology #Kindle #Kobo paperback wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/

#mysteryword Day 22 - exsibilate - to hiss a poor actor off the stage. From Latin. Seems an appropriate word for the day the Oscar nominations are released, no hissing for them I'm sure.