 Today's quick and quirky word is date-no-sophist. The word comes from Greek and literally means one-wise at dinner. It refers to someone who is a master at the art of dining, in other words, a good dinner conversationalist. The word was first used in English in the 16th century by one Richard Mulcaster, who is considered the father of English lexicography for producing a list of 8,000 difficult words and calling for, though not himself producing, English's first proper, complete dictionary of both hard and common words. Mulcaster, by the way, was also an early and fanatical advocate of football, though he wouldn't have had hooligan in his word list as it's not attested until the end of the 19th century. Of course, if you were to use words like date-no-sophist in dinner conversation, you might be accused of using break-teeth words, that is, words that are hard to say, and you might even be branded a clatter-fart or a bladder-roon, both words for babblers. But whatever you speak about, be sure to speak up clearly so as not to be considered someone who snoches, that is, someone who sneaks through my nose. That word was first used by William Barnes, another philologist in the 19th century who produced a comprehensive grammar of English. Of course, Barnes probably wouldn't have gone in for break-teeth words like date-no-sophist. He was an English-language purist who wanted to purge English of Latin and Greek derived terms, so sun-print instead of photograph, or wort-lore instead of botany. So hopefully all this will give you enough to be considered a date-no-sophist at your next dinner party, unless I'm just a clatter-fart. Meeks through the nose. No one will be able to understand what I'm saying. I'm snoching. Okay.