Writing Prompts: Cakeage

Cakeage is not an exciting word, or concept, despite relating to the pleasant subject of cake. It refers to the fee charged by a restaurant when you bring in a cake from outside, to serve in said restaurant. You may be wondering what occasions might require such an act, usually this happens on birthdays, though […]

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Writing Prompts: Somatopsychic

Somatopsychic. Interesting word, and another word that’s not straight-forward to spell. I am grateful for Ctrl+V and Ctrl+P. Anyway… somatopsychic is a term used in relation to how the body affects the mind. We so often hear of how the mind affects the body (psychosomatic effects), yet the opposite is also true, and I wonder […]

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Writing Prompts: Consanguineous

So, um, consanguineous. A daunting word to pronounce, let alone spell, but what does it mean? It is a reference to having a common ancestry. In some cases, this is simple. My brother and I obviously share a common ancestry – we’re brothers – but in other cases, the shared bloodline might be obscure. There […]

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‘People Need to Accept they’re Poorer’

This is the position of one Huw Pill, the top economist of the Bank of England. The former Goldman Sachs banker, who has a £1.5 million home and an annual salary of £180,000, is arguing that the desire to combat increasing costs with increases to wages is not realistic. At a time when the likes […]

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Writing Prompts: Bloviate

Bloviate is an interesting word, that appears to have arrived in the English language in 1850, and was popularised by US President Warren G. Harding. It means ‘to speak in an inflated or empty way’, and thus can be seen as a great oral skill of many politicians throughout history. To sound pompous and important […]

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Writing Prompts: Most Enjoyable Olympic Sport

What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most? I’ll confess that, outside the avenue of the Olympics, I don’t watch a lot of track and field sports. I am vaguely aware of when records are set, and some names are familiar to me (Usain Bolt, Linford Christie, Jessica Ennis, Michael Phelps), but the only […]

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Writing Prompts: Polyped

This ‘word of the day’ prompt relates to wildlife, though it doesn’t have to relate to wildlife. A polyped is an animal or object with multiple legs. My mind immediately goes to creatures like centipedes and caterpillars. Ants, spiders, and numerous other living things would fall under this category. It ought to be noted that […]

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Writing Prompts: Pwn

Earlier in the month, I scoped out Dictionary.com for possible prompt ideas, and noticed they do a ‘Word of the Day’. On the day of writing this, that word was ‘pwn’. Pwn gets marked up as a typo by Chrome. That’s understandable. Pwn is not a good-looking word, from any perspective. There are a handful […]

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Writing Prompts: Haircuts

When I say I want to get a haircut, I actually want all of them cut! (insert laughter) Ahem. So, my hair is, at best, awkward when it’s long (or even semi-long). Over the last few years, it is also a lot greyer than it used to be (to use furry parlance, I am a […]

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An Open Letter to Laura Strietmann

Dear Laura, I recently heard of your stance on a ten year-old girl who was raped. She fell pregnant because the assault, and went to another state for an abortion. There are several things that deeply trouble me. Firstly, you refer to the victim as a ‘woman’. She is a child. Physically, emotionally and psychologically, […]

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