I was interested to read some of the words that your letter writers associated with the weather and our reactions to it (Puggled, scumfished or utterly shrammed, 14 July). Unsurprisingly, the English language is redolent with words to do with harsh weather, with many of the longest-established terms tending towards the cold or inclement. Perhaps as hotter weather becomes the norm rather than the exception, we’ll start to talk less about dreich days that leave us shrammed or clumsed and more about blazers that are a bit of a pech and leave us feeling mooth. The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary has words to describe all weathers, including all of the above and many more.
Fiona McPherson
Executive editor, Oxford English Dictionary
I can assure Jan Cooper (Letters, 21 July) that people in Yorkshire are still capable of feeling nithered, in very cold weather. On the other hand, in the recent spells of very hot weather, they are far more likely to have felt mafted, as opposed to feeling nithered.
Simon Green
Hull
I remember a lot of snow in my 1950s Wiltshire childhood, and when it pitched, we played outside until we were shrammed and our cheeks were spreathed. My great aunts watched through the window, but in summer they sat outside on the hard wooden bench until their bottoms were dunched.
Wendy Neve
Over Stratton, Somerset
In Lancashire when we’re cold we say: “I’m starving”. To avoid confusion, when we’re starving, we say: “I’m clemming”.
Carol Haines
Yealmpton, Devon
