Paul Anthony Jones

Joined: Jun 20, 2014

Paul Anthony Jones is a writer and musician from Newcastle upon Tyne. He is the author of word origins guide Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons, and runs its tie-in Twitter account @HaggardHawks.

Scuba is just one of the words that's actually an acronym.

25 Words That Are Actually Acronyms

Ever wonder what you're supposed to be minding when your mind your p's and q's?

What Exactly Are Your P’s and Q’s?

Never forget the last names of Henry VIII's wives or the order of the planets with these mnemonic sentences.

13 Mnemonic Sentences To Boost Your General Knowledge

You can flout these rules, but you can't flaunt them.

25 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think They Do

Flip through the dictionary and you'll find all sorts of words hiding their bodily origins.

10 Body Parts Hiding in the Dictionary

Some of our favorite words come from body parts. Scratch your 'caput' over the origins of these anatomically derived terms.

Add "like an boar in a frank" to the list of Shakespearisms you should be using more.

10 Little-Used Shakespearisms

Not all of Shakespeare’s snappiest phrases and expressions caught on.

Orange you glad we're going to tell you what word rhymes with orange?

24 Notoriously Unrhymable Words (That Actually Have Rhymes)

Stop the presses—there is a rhyme for orange, and for purple. You just have to get creative (and maybe a little scientific).

A word for sudden pain was made by reversing the word 'hooray.'

10 Backwards Words That Ended Up In The Dictionary

From allerednic to yob, these ananyms and semi-ananyms have backed their way into the dictionary.

Call a bout of spontaneous, uproarious, unrestrained laughter 'cachinnation.'

The Proper Names of 17 Bodily Functions

The next time you interrupt an important meeting with a ructus or a borborygmus, you’ll at least have the perfect word for it.

Now that spring is upon us, incorporate these seasonal words into your vocabulary

18 Words to Welcome Spring

Unless we have some winnol-weather or lamb-blasts on the way, it seems spring is finally coming.

Quisby is just one insult from this list that you might want to start using.

43 Old English Insults

Next time you need to win an argument, try dropping one of these old-fashioned English insults.

Use these delicious food words during your next feast.

23 Delicious Words and Phrases For Anyone Who Loves Their Food

Expand your vocabulary, as well as your Yule-hole, with these delectable words suitable for true gourmands.

The word 'lollipop' is more complicated that you think.

15 Words That Aren’t As Straightforward As They Look

Despite what you may have guessed, the "ham" in 'hamburger' doesn't mean meat. Here are 14 other words that might surprise you.

20 Paradoxes That Will Boggle Your Mind

A good paradox can befuddle the best of us. If you're in the mood to narrow your brow at seemingly irreconcilable facts, have we got a list for you.

'Clatterfart' and 'twattle-basket' are way more entertaining than 'chatterbox.'

15 Words for Gossips and Chatterboxes

We all know someone who never seems to stop talking. They’re a yammerer, a babbler, a chatterbox—but they’re also a blatherskite, a clatterfart, and a twattle-basket.

11 Words That Started Out As Spelling Mistakes

Language is a continual process of evolution, but these words—from pea to sherry—changed thanks to outright mistakes.