Well, I was well and truly jiggered by a report last week on words that are dropping out of favour among people under the age of 30. Among those that they claim not to have heard were cad, bonk, betrothed, wally and sozzled.
I well know that language is constantly evolving and that words do drop out of fashion or usage, but it would be a tragedy if any of the above were to disappear completely, even if some, such as cad, are redolent of a certain era - think Terry-Thomas. Still, there was one bright spot. Collins dictionary whizzes report that nincompoop is 373% more popular than it was 30 years ago. Apparently, it’s favoured as an insult by social media users. So the young aren’t all bad if they favour such a joyous word.
There were also reports last week of Spurs’ Carabao Cup match against Chelsea, during which Eric Dier dashed off the pitch for a “comfort break”. I do wonder whether this took place in the restroom and further wonder why we have to be so prissy. Comfort break indeed!
And talking of footer, there is a new name to be added to the pantheon of the game’s original thinkers - Renato Paiva, a coach at Benfica. Talking of Manchester City’s new signing, defender Rúben Dias from that club, he says: “You need some players who play the violin and some who play the drums and Rúben is a guy who plays the drums.” After City got stuffed 5-2 at home against Leicester, that’s just what Pep Guardiola’s hapless team needs - Keith Moon marshalling the back four.
As for the “expert” talking about students last week and universities “delivering education outcomes”, I think the less said the better, don’t you?
•Jonathan Bouquet is an Observer columnist
