Monthly Archives: December 2008

  • You are here:  Home

Christmas Traditions – 190

Extract from Crossed Wires BIG 190

Here are some interesting facts about the traditions of Christmas:

The Christmas cracker is 161 years old this year. It was invented by English baker Tom Smith, who first sold wrapped sweets and added mottoes into the wrappers. When he heard the crackle of a log in the fire, he [more…]

Hello – December 2008

I often write about interesting new words coming into our language, but they come at a cost. They’re now jostling with our older words for space in our dictionaries, the oldies being threatened with eviction.

In September 2008, the lexicographers at Collins dictionary started preparing for their forthcoming new edition and found that over 2,000 [more…]