‘When the well is full it will run over’ is a 17th century proverb advising that a person can only handle so much before their emotions overflow.

To stop himself being made the butt of jokes, in 1862 a man named Joshua Bug changed his name to Norfolk Howard. After his story was reported in the press, however, people began using NORFOLK HOWARD as a slang name for a bedbug instead.

(Slang & Unconventional English, 1937)

‘Viz.’, meaning ‘that is to say’, is an abbreviation of the Latin term VIDELICET. The reason it ends in a Z, while the original word does not, is that the Z is not really a Z at all, but a Latin shorthand symbol or siglum, Ꝫ , once used to represent the pair of letters ‘et’.

Thursday HH brainteaser time with @BBCNewcastle! This week...

❓ The word RINGTONE can be rearranged to spell another 8-letter dictionary word. What is it?

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The word COMET comes from the Greek ‘aster kometes’—literally meaning ‘long-haired star’.

Word of the Day: DROWK (v.) to droop or lean with tiredness

A COOL-THE-LOOM is a lazy, unmotivated worker.

Word of the Day: ISLOMANIA (n.) a fondness for visiting islands

Thursday HH brainteaser time with @BBCNewcastle! This week...

❓ What do these five words have in common?

SOAK
WELDER
SPINE
WASH
BALDER

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In 18th and 19th century slang, a BUMBRUSHER was a school teacher.

Word of the Day: COCK-MA-DANDY (n.) a priggish, self-important man

To BUFFLE something is to handle it clumsily.

Some words that were originally not quite as general as they are in English today include STUFF (which was once a padded material worn under chainmail), THING (which was a local assembly), and BLOCK (which was a tree stump or log, before only later coming to mean any solid mass).

So that would be most of us 😫

An AVOCAMENT is a deliberately distracting shout or call.

Tuesday HH brainteaser time with @BBCNewcastle! This week ...

❓ Give us a 7-letter word that contains the string of letters –OPMO– somewhere inside it.

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Word of the Day: QUAQUAVERSAL (adj.) moving outwards in all directions from a central point

Word of the Day: COSMODELYTE (n.) someone worried about the state of the world

Something that is KEDOGENIC is caused or brought about by worry.

Thursday HH brainteaser time with @BBCNewcastle! This week ...

❓ What can you add to all four of these 6-letter words to turn them into 10-letter words?

STANDS
PICKED
BASKET
SHAKES

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