Words & Phrases: July 2011

01. Social gadfly
02. Republican in Name Only (RINO)
03. Truculent
04. Trenchant
05. Pusillanimous
06. On the Q.T.
07. Bean counter
08. Leguminosae
09. Separate the wheat from the chaff
10. NIBMY(ism)
11. Obsequious
12. Pinch and punch for the first of the month
13. Courant
14. Succour
15. Milk round
16. Chatham House Rule
17. Take a haircut
18. InterCity 125
19. Lack of spoons
20. Flâneur
21. Kike
22. Gert lush
23. Alacrity
24. Mellifluous
25. Maelstrom
26. Waggish
27. Winsome
28. Lithe
29. Bunny boiler
30. Per diem
31. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
32. Clothesline
33. Bang to rights
34. Quisling
35. Febrile
36. Vestibule
37. Mendicant
38. Old Buffer

Last month's list has several more words than even May's record-breaking compilation. And we've got quite a mixed bag with an English word that's spelt exactly as its French derivation (20), two Latin terms (8) and (30), an acronym derived word (10), a few phrases including (9), (12), (17), my first Shakespearean quote (31) and a few regionalisms such as (2), (18) and (22). Five months of these posts and a total of 108 words/phrases.

[Poll #1766661]

The best beer in the world

Standing next to a picture of one of the most famous marketing slogans of all-time. This particular Guinness billboard was in Piccadilly Circus, complete with two West Indian gentlemen in the foreground leaning on the Statue of Anteros. Guinness began their forty-two year association with Piccadilly Circus in 1930 and I think this photo was taken between 1932 and 1953 (but not during WWII, perhaps just after the Windrush arrived in 1948). Guinness was told to stop using the slogan but in 2003, a group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin claimed that a pint of Ireland's greatest export may "work as well as a low dose aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks" while drinking lager didn't yield the same results. Indeed the original campaign in the 1920s stemmed from market research when people told the company that they "felt good after their pint". England went one step further by giving post-operative patients as well as blood donors Guinness based on the belief that it was high in iron! Healthy or not, it is without doubt the world's best beer!

My tweets

• Tue, 15:10: Clubs reveal all in BBC Sport Price of Football survey - "Newcastle were the only club who didn't reveal their prices" (http://t.co/GGEfXxu)
• Tue, 16:51: RT @guardian: Our consumer app of the week is My Council Services UK - see more good suggestions for street-fixing apps in comments: htt ...
• Tue, 16:58: RT @tmsproducer: Reports of record breaking on-line listening figures for TMS yesterday. Over 330,000 - that's not including anyone list ...
• Tue, 21:03: RT @BBCSport: Having apologised to @aggerscricket earlier http://t.co/wb9PvJb - Geoff Boycott now reveals he's a fan of Katy Perry http: ...
• Wed, 10:40: RT @LDN: London’s bus network to benefit from Wi-Fi and open data http://LDN.in/XEhSUG (via @wireduk)
• Wed, 10:43: Wi-Fi coming to 120 Tube stations by 2012 (Wired UK) http://t.co/NNzluAh | From March 2011
• Wed, 10:46: RT @thisisanfield: Joe Cole loan switch to QPR imminent – This Is Anfield (Liverpool FC) http://fb.me/1bcfSlYOf
• Wed, 10:47: In pictures: Britain's secret nuclear bunkers (Wired UK) http://t.co/wSK3YkS
• Wed, 11:31: #Twitter needs a Like/+1 feature.