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We recently advertised for a job here at Wordsworks Towers. One of the candidates sent us an interesting snippet of word trivia which intrigued us: she claimed that the plural for rhinoceros was actually rhinocerotes, and not the more commonly-used rhinoceroses (or indeed, rhinos).

Well, a quick check of the Oxford English Dictionary shows she was right. Apparently, rhinocerotes, which comes from the Latin, was the original plural for rhinoceros, but for one reason or other, fell out of common use in the 18th century, in favour of rhinoceroses.

Hard to see why,  given that it is easier to get your tongue around ‘rhinocerotes’ than it is ‘rhinoceroses’. No wonder we’ve all but ditched the latter and gone for ‘rhinos’ instead.

Next time we’re in conversation with somebody about rhinos (which, to our mind, doesn’t happen as often as it should, we’ll take great pleasure in dropping it into the conversation.

So Cindy, if you’re reading, thanks!

This month’s word was chosen purely because we love its feel of old fashioned, fusty bookishness:

Betwixt (adverb or proposition) - meaning ‘between’

“Betwixt” and “between” have similar origins: they both come from a combination of the prefix ‘be-’ and an Old English root meaning ‘two’. Both words appeared before the 12th century, but the use of betwixt dropped off considerably toward the end of the 1600s.

It survived in the phrase “betwixt and between” (neither one thing nor the other), but nowadays betwixt is uncommon. It’s still widely understood, though, and this writer, for one, will be making a conscious effort to reintroduce it into common parlance. Until next month’s word, at least.

We came across this lovely story recently of an RAF pilot fighting the authorities for his right to wear a moustache.

It got us thinking what an odd word moustache is, so we looked it up to save you losing any sleep over its peculiarity.

Apparently, the English word moustache comes from the Middle French moustache, which in turn derives from the Old Italian mustaccio. This comes from Middle Greek moustaki, which is a diminutive of the Greek mystak or mystax, which means upper lip. Phew. By the time you’ve read that, you could almost have grown one.

This month’s word is iteration.

It means the repetition of an action or process; or an instance of such repetition. It comes from the Latin iterare - to repeat.

e.g. Can you send me a new iteration of the schedule as I’ve lost mine?

However, it is often used - incorrectly - as posh way of saying version. Strictly speaking, version suggests a new, updated copy of something that has changed since the previous one was produced, whereas iteration is merely another copy of the previous thing.

There is a new phobia haunting us citizens of today’s 24/7 techno society - nomophobia. It means the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Apparently, millions of us are so dependent on our mobiles that discovering it is out of power or simply misplacing it sends stress levels soaring.

Thankfully, researchers have suggested some handy tips for minimising the risks of nomophobia: keep your credit topped up, carry a charger, give family and friends an alternative contact number and carry a pre-paid phonecard to make emergency calls if your mobile is broken, lost or stolen. Phew, thanks for those.

Alternatively, you could just switch the darn thing off and, in the words of one of our favourite Depeche Mode songs, enjoy the silence (below).

Our word of the month is confabulation (noun). It means familiar chat or informal talk.

Example: “I took Justine by the arm and led her onto the balcony, determined to distract her with a spot of romantic confabulation.”

Or: “You boys, cease your incessant confabulation before I inform the headmaster.”