“Pot itself has nothing to do with pots and pans, but comes from the Mexican-Spanish word potiguaya, which means marijuana leaves. And marijuana is a Mexification of 'Mary Jane' for reasons that everybody is much too stoned to remember.” — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
The problem with the alphabet is that it bears no relation to anything at all, and when words are arranged alphabetically they are uselessly separated. In the OED, for example, aardvarks are 19 volumes away from the zoo, yachts are… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Every dictionary contains a world. I open a book of thieves’ slang from Queen Anne’s reign and they have a hundred words for swords,… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Pot itself has nothing to do with pots and pans, but comes from the Mexican-Spanish word potiguaya, which means marijuana leaves. And marijuana is… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it was the sausage-maker who disposed of the body. — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
Poetry is much more important than the truth, and, if you don't believe that, try using the two methods to get laid. — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Wouldst like to con a glimmer with me this early black?’, which he [Cab Calloway] helpfully explains as ‘the proper way to ask a… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Love is nothing because those who do something for the love of it do it for nothing.” — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Wamblecropt is the most exquisite word in the English language. Say it. Each syllable is intolerably beautiful.” — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Shakespeare was not a genius. He was, without the distant shadow of a doubt, the most wonderful writer who ever breathed. But not a… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“The glamour's off. Almost any question you ask can be answered. It's only the questions that you didn't know to ask that remain, dancing… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“There's always a strange feeling you get when you come across one particular line by chance. It feels somehow significant. That's irrational of course,… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Oxygen was called flammable air for a while, but it didn't catch on.” — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
But Shakespeare never drank coffee. Nor did Julius Caesar, or Socrates. Alexander the Great conquered half the world without even a café latte to… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
If you are to use Alexander Graham Bell’s product, which is to say the blower, you should, in all courtesy, use it as he… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“It is, incidentally, a favour that e-books have done for the Good Bookshop: they have made books beautiful again. A few years ago, book… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
![“Wouldst like to con a glimmer with me this early black?’, which he [Cab Calloway] helpfully explains as ‘the proper way to ask a young lady to go to the movies’. It should be noted here, that if the object of your affections replies ‘Kill me’, they are not requesting to be euthanatised and you…” quote by Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6c4/mark-forsyth-19782_cab-calloway_wouldst-like-to-con-a-glimmer-with-me-th_738657.jpg)
