Word To Use Today: clusterfunk.

This is a computer term to describe a group of terrible things that go wrong because of one single action.

Yes, we've all been there: making changes to a computer system seems to be about as predictable and effective as playing spillikins blindfold. And in mittens.

But still, people will do it.

On the positive side, all these disasters have given us the word clusterfunk, which can also be used to describe the atmosphere in a room full of anxiously sweaty programmers - and, more generally, any widespread disaster anywhere that's set off by one single action.

Fights sometimes start in this way.

So there we are: clusterfunk. A glorious word that's used in terrible circumstances, but which is bound to make everyone feel quite a bit better.

Word To Use Today: clusterfunk. Cluster comes from the Old English clyster, and is a relative of the words clod and clot. Funk meaning to be afraid is 1700s university slang and is perhaps something to do with the sort of funk that describes a smoky room. 

On the other hand, funk might be a polite variation of something ruder.