Word To Use Today: humdrum.

Humdrum means dull and ordinary, which is the last thing I want to be.

In fact, this blog is an attempt to prove that humdrum doesn't exist. That everything, but everything, is utterly, gob-smackingly, fascinating.

Lady Mary Wortley Montague is one of The Word Den's great heroines. This is largely because her last words were it has all been most interesting.


I mean, did you know that when a carpenter bee is at rest, its wings hum a reliable Middle C?

Did you know that a woodpecker has an extra stiff tail that acts as a seat when it's climbing trees?

Do you know why your keyboard spells out QWERTY? Where to grab a sally? What a bogeyman has up his nose?

In fact, in the words of that great star of the silent screen Lena Lamont:

'If we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothin'. Bless you all. '

Word To Use Today: humdrum. This word appeared in the reign of the English queen often known as Bloody Mary, when things were generally very exciting indeed.

It was probably made up of hum plus something which rhymed with it, to make it sound as dull as possible.