Popular Etymology

Sir: Auberon Waugh (Letters, 29 Novem- ber) is incorrect about the origin of the world pilger. Its origin is in the early 17th-century phrase, `to waugh the pilger'; i.e. one......

Evil Show

Sir: I can't have been the only one put off by the bullying tone of Michael Ignatieff's letter (5 December). Wendy Cope is doing her job properly (his petulant italics, not......

Memory Bonk

Sir: A propos Peregrine Worsthorne's musings on the provenance of the word `bonk', I recall that this was common slang for sexual intercourse when I was at school in Wimbledon......

Business To Be Rich

Sir: Taki is no businessman . . and proud not to be one' (High life, 7 November). Business in its many forms is the chief means of the creation of wealth — of which Taki seems......

Poor Law Health

Sir: Alexandra Artley is wrong in stating that 'the NHS is the direct descendant of those hospitals founded for all by the mediaeval religious orders. (`Our medical heritage',......

Know Your Oats

Sir: I enjoyed Paul Johnson's article about the misrepresentation of things rural in the Press, and agree with his conclusions. The reason for this constant misrepre- sentation......

Science Spending

Sir: I would like to defend the British science budget from a potentially mislead- ing interpretation of the statistics used by Terence Kealey (`How academics waste money', 14......