Word To Use Today: manure.

Gardener: 'I'm going to put some manure on the roses today, ma'am.'

Lady: 'You shouldn't call it manure, you should call it fertiliser.'

Gardener: 'What? But it's taken me forty years to learn to call it manure!'

Manure is - or should be - a mixture of well-rotted straw (or something similar) and animal poo. 


photo by Paul Clarke http://paulclarke.com/photography/

Messing around with the poo of carnivorous animals is neither pleasant nor healthy, but the application of the waste products of chickens, and, especially, horses, will give a boost to any plant.

Gardener: Do you have manure put on your rhubarb?

Lady: No. Custard, usually.

Manure is also a nickname used to annoy Manchester United Football Club fans. I don't know why they find it so irritating. 

I mean, they're both rich and powerful, aren't they.

Word To Use Today: manure. This word appeared in the 1300s from the Latin manuospera, which means manual work. So it's actually always been a very polite word indeed.