When was a toilet worn on the head? Is gong farming a valid career opportunity? Where might you pay a visit to the cludgie? In this episode lexicographers Craig Leyland and Fiona McPherson display the OED’s historical scope by getting to the bottom of the language of loos.

Join us for another episode in two weeks (September 23rd) when we’ll be looking at new words in the OED’s September 2026 update including mountweazel, and talking to our colleague Jonathan Dent about some recently revised entries.

P.S. The entries toilet n. and loo n.4 are freely available to all at oed.com for three months from the date of publication of this episode.

www.oed.com

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