Words – Page 7 – Interesting Literature

25 Weird and Interesting Little-Known Phobias

25 rare phobias – how many of these do you suffer from?

It’s well-known that a fear of spiders is ‘arachnophobia’, but what’s a fear of wasps? What’s the name for a fear of remaining single forever? We’ve been scouring the reference books for some less well-known phobias and have compiled the definitive list. Although some of the following phobias are pretty weird, we like to think that many of the phenomena they describe are quite common.

Koinoniphobia is a fear of being in a room full of people.

Deipnophobia is the dread of dinner-parties.

Scopophobia is a fear of being stared at.

Medectophobia is the fear that one’s penis is visible through one’s clothes.

Automysophobia is a fear of being dirty.

10 Rare But Useful Words Everyone Should Know

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Ever caught yourself thinking, ‘There should be a word for that. Is there a word for that?’ We’re here to help. In this new post, we’ve gathered up ten useful words which should be better known, but aren’t. Many of them, of course, have literary origins or histories, which we’ll mention and discuss as we go.

A Short History of the Word ‘Serendipity’

The curious origins behind one of Britain’s favourite words – and its link to Gothic fiction Word origins, as demonstrated by the popularity of bestselling books like Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language, make fascinating reading. But ‘serendipity’ has a particularly interesting origin-story. The word ‘serendipity’ was invented on … Read more

10 Great Words Coined by P. G. Wodehouse

P. G. Wodehouse invented some fantastically expressive words. He is widely regarded as a master of the English language – even being compared to Shakespeare – and some of his coinages have been honoured with an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. The ten words that follow all appear to have been coined by Wodehouse and … Read more

The Meaning and Origin of ‘The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’. The phrase has the ring of proverb about it, and most proverbs don’t have an author: they’re anonymous nuggets of wisdom handed down from generation to generation, part of an oral rather than written tradition. But we can actually trace ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ to a clear source – at least, in a sense.