Return to: Home
We asked you for new words (plus their definitions) that have entered the English language and are based on people's names
Superb. And a bumper postbag. A tenner each to the two doubletons. The rest can have a £5 book token each. The Tesco vouchers go to Keith Norman, top dog this week.
Bernanke n emergency rescue of a bank (That's five bernankes we've managed so far this month)
Silverman n someone who has become wealthy from literary competitions
John O'Byrne
Forsyth n a landmark of such antiquity that the planners don't dare touch it (It's an eyesore and a health hazard, but to the locals it's a much-loved forsyth)
Cowell v to use excessive firepower against the easiest of targets, to attack with disproportionate force (He cowelled the pensioner into handing over her purse)
Keith Norman
Rowan n a verbal "clarification" that leaves us more perplexed than before
Barbara Smoker
Fayed n an inappropriately completed passport application form
J Seery
Murdoch n powerful all-devouring god. See Moloch (var)
G M Davis
Ming v to go beyond your sell-by date
Harry Glenister
Sewell v to speak with excessive clarity of diction
Sid Field
Sarkozy n a midlife crisis
Liam Kenson
Burrell v to remove something from one's employer
Nicholas Hodgson
Rowling adj colloq extremely wealthy (She's rowling, innit?)
David Silverman
Winehouse n hairdo completed while under the influence
Bill Greenwell
Bragg n dial sturdy outcrop of rock in the middle of a great wen (Cumbria)
Adrian Fry
Clarkson n huge male following (How big is your clarkson?)
Josh Ekroy
Henman v to fail again - and fail better
Tony Challis
Prescott n a collection of unrelated words
Michael Sanderson
No 4025 A private affair
Set by Leonora Casement
Campaigning in north London following revelations that he had fathered five children with three different women, Ken Livingstone said: "Voters are not interested in who I slept with 30 years ago . . . it's only the media that is interested in my private life. Most people want to talk about transport and crime and other issues that matter to them. I have never discussed my private life and I am not going to discuss it now." We want a journalist's interview with Livingstone, ostensibly about serious matters such as crime and transport and "other issues", but which aims surreptitiously to get at the truth about his private life.
Email: comp@newstatesman.co.uk
Post this article to
Post your comment
Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website


