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  • Dave Wilton

Dave Wilton

05 Feb 2025 • 7 min read
Display of eight unfurled condoms of different brands and their packaging

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A stylized “2025” with the zero being a treasure chest with gold, while a young woman, dressed as a witch, and a cat look on

2025 Wordorigins Words of the Year (WOTY)

23 December 2025 As in past years, I’ve come up with a list of Words of The Year (WOTY). I do things a bit differently from other sites in that I don’t try to select one term to represent the entire year. Instead, I select twelve terms, one
23 Dec 2025 8 min read
Photo of a large ship with a very large crane on its deck
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neither confirm nor deny / Glomar response (paid)

22 Dec 2025 3 min read
Colored drawing of Pinocchio with a long nose

bald-faced / boldfaced / barefaced

22 December Is a lie bald-faced, bold-faced, or barefaced? Of the three, barefaced is the oldest by about half a century. The underlying metaphor is that of being beardless, that is open and undisguised. But from its earliest use barefaced has also been linked to being shameless. It appears as
22 Dec 2025 3 min read
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