This week the BBC is presenting The Horologicon, “a book of the strangest and most beautiful words in the English language arranged by the hour of the day when you will really need them. Words for breakfast, for commuting, for working, for dining, for drinking and for getting lost on the way home”.
The book was written by Mark Forsyth, a writer, journalist, proof-reader, ghostwriter and author of the great Inky Fool blog on English grammar and vocabulary.
The BBC programme has five parts: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4 and Episode 5 (and all the episodes shoudl be available only until 12 or 13 December).
You can read an excerpt of the book here
or get it at Amazon or (my favourite) BookDepository.
I haven’t read The Horologicon yet but I think it’ll be at least as interesting as The Etymologicon by the same author.
In the meantime, enjoy his TED Talk on “political speak”:
Do you find the English spelling weird or absurd? Then watch the following video – it might give you a hint what’s it all about. Crosswords lovers might like it, too 
The short lesson by Gina Cooke was created for the online learning platform,
TED-ed, launched by TED, the non-profit organization famous for “Ideas Worth Spreading” in April. The educational videos can be accessed by subject
or theme and you can also subscribe to them on YouTube.
