Jack Shepherd
@lovefromjack.bsky.social
Puzzle creator at Lil Snack. Formerly BuzzFeed. Big time cat guy. My newsletter about words and, like, grammar or whatever: https://onwords.substack.com/
Fun fact: The ne- in "nest" comes from a word meaning "down," and the -st comes from a word meaning "sit." Nest means "sit down."
That and more in this week's newsletter! open.substack.com/pub/onwords/...
That and more in this week's newsletter! open.substack.com/pub/onwords/...
When I Found Out This Positive Adjective Was Originally a Comparative, I Was SHOOK
And you won’t BELIEVE what the superlative is!
open.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Fun fact: The ne- in "nest" comes from a word meaning "down," and the -st comes from a word meaning "sit." Nest means "sit down."
That and more in this week's newsletter! open.substack.com/pub/onwords/...
That and more in this week's newsletter! open.substack.com/pub/onwords/...
Very excited to dig into the new issue from @unchcrosswords.com!
January 28, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Very excited to dig into the new issue from @unchcrosswords.com!
I wrote about Clippy’s ill-begotten siblings. open.substack.com/pub/onwords/...
The Definitive Ranking of Forgotten Microsoft Office Assistants (Excluding Clippy)
Also, Clippy is not his name.
open.substack.com
January 18, 2026 at 5:38 PM
I wrote about Clippy’s ill-begotten siblings. open.substack.com/pub/onwords/...
Got a new one up about Spooner, who DIDN'T commit very many spoonerisms, but DID mix up concepts in some really interesting ways. onwords.substack.com/p/spooner-mi...
Spooner Mixed Up More Than His Words
On "spoonerisms," a 19th century viral phenomenon, and the curious life of Reverend William Archibald Spooner.
onwords.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Got a new one up about Spooner, who DIDN'T commit very many spoonerisms, but DID mix up concepts in some really interesting ways. onwords.substack.com/p/spooner-mi...
Reposted by Jack Shepherd
Fun post from (I think) @lovefromjack.bsky.social, and a companion puzzle on Big Dave:
substack.com/@onwords/p-1...
crypticcrosswords.net/puzzles/rook...
substack.com/@onwords/p-1...
crypticcrosswords.net/puzzles/rook...
Spooner Mixed Up More Than His Words
On "spoonerisms," a 19th century viral phenomenon, and the curious life of Reverend William Archibald Spooner.
substack.com
January 11, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Fun post from (I think) @lovefromjack.bsky.social, and a companion puzzle on Big Dave:
substack.com/@onwords/p-1...
crypticcrosswords.net/puzzles/rook...
substack.com/@onwords/p-1...
crypticcrosswords.net/puzzles/rook...
Absolute delight to see this revisiting of the unfairly maligned "listicle" era on @talkingpointsmemo.com from @jonallsop.bsky.social. talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/seven...
Seven Reasons Listicles Didn’t Suck, Actually (And One Of Them May Surprise You)
“The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Absolute delight to see this revisiting of the unfairly maligned "listicle" era on @talkingpointsmemo.com from @jonallsop.bsky.social. talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/seven...
If the Proclaimers walked 1,000 miles due East from their home in Leith, they would fall down in Užventis, Lithuania, with a halfway stop in Denmark. The rest, unfortunately, is water.
April 10, 2025 at 3:27 PM
If the Proclaimers walked 1,000 miles due East from their home in Leith, they would fall down in Užventis, Lithuania, with a halfway stop in Denmark. The rest, unfortunately, is water.