WORD PLAY

The Woman's Own columnist has her say on language, bills and the British weather

- DAWN NEESOM

BRING ON SPRING!

More than eight in 10 Brits hate winter - and half of us are already counting the days until spring, a new poll has revealed.

Dark mornings are the biggest cause of misery for half of us but slipping on ice, having a cold face or runny nose and paying those high heating bills also rankle for many. In fact, 56% of us go so far as to say winter is one of the worst things about living in Britain.

Aww, come on, our seasons are wonderful and these short, dark days make us appreciate spring bursting into vibrant life even more, surely. I mean, who'd want to live in a climate where it was hot and sunny and miss the glorious seasonal transitions?

Oh, wait, 90% of us evidently. Because according to the same Post Office survey that's the proportion of us who have considered moving abroad to escape the UK's grimmer months, with the Canary Islands and Maldives being favoured destinations.

It's not easy keeping up with the latest lingo...

Funny little things, aren't they? Words can say so much yet mean so little and without them, life would be impossible.

The most important three little words used to be 'I love you'. Now they're probably 'social media influencer', even though most of us have absolutely no idea how that is even a thing. Nor will you probably have any idea what the word 'rizz' means. Despite it being named word of 2023 by Oxford University Press, publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Now call me old fashioned, but I would have thought something that contained the words 'English' and 'Dictionary' would do what it said on the tin. Actually, contain words, in English, that we say in everyday usage.