Books I've actually finished (again) lately: 59

I read the Iliad a long time ago but I was too young to appreciate it.

- Ludo, aged 11

Duly noted

The root of the word irony is in the Greek eironeia, 'liar'.

- PJ O'Rourke, in The Daily Beast

mute vs. mutmut

Note that the word "mute" (from Latin mutus...) is regarded by linguists as an onomatopoeic formation referring not to silence but to a certain fundamental opacity of human being, which likes to show the truth by allowing it to be seen hiding. (Compare the Latin word mutmut, representation of a muttering sound, used by Apuleius).

- Anne Carson, NOX

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 10

borborygmus - (Greek) the sound of intestinal gases rumbling

[with thanks to Moose Allain, cartoonist at the Literary Review]

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 9

sphincter - Greek (ancient), the sound of someone desperately trapping an escaping fart