Looking back at some of the memorable remarks of 2009 provides an interesting picture of the year. We start with nature: Dan Antopolski's 'Hedgehogs - why can't they just share the hedge?' was voted the funniest joke at the Edinburgh Festival, while another creature which featured widely in the British media was the duck. The British Conservative politician Peter Viggers' expenses claim for a duck house was not allowed by the Commons Fees Office: 'I paid for it myself and in fact it was never liked by the ducks'.
A jolly good time
The English language abounds with words that have sprung from surprising sources. In The Insect That Stole Butter? Julia Cresswell explores these origins with enthusiasm and expert scholarship. The book includes 3,000 A-Z entries as well as an interesting introduction on the history of the English language and almost 20 word panels that discuss expressions common in English but drawn from other languages such as Japanese and Yiddish.
Here are the stories behind some of the words we might come across during the festive season.
