Grace Tierney
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wordfoolery.bsky.social
Grace Tierney
@wordfoolery.bsky.social
570 followers 340 following 980 posts
Word history - books, blog, LMFMRadio
Comedyfic - Channillo
Love to read, craft, garden in Ireland
My Books - wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/
Weekly Word Blog - http://www.wordfoolery.wordpress.com/
Newsletter - subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhispers
Posts Replies Media Videos
wordfoolery.bsky.social
4) Long John Silver is nearly always depicted as having a wooden leg but in “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson he is described as using crutches and no artificial leg is ever mentioned.
Love nautical words and stories? Check out "Words the Sea Gave Us" by Grace Tierney amzn.to/2D3bSi7
Words the Sea Gave Us by Grace Tierney with blue cover and white wave motif set against a collection of driftwood, pelican toed shells, and seaglass
November 14, 2025 at 5:28 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
My newsletter Wordfoolery Whispers is out on Fri 14th Nov. Read about a Mystery Tour, Podcasting, Blog Highlights, Good Books and histories for opsimathy, ramfeezled, pettifogging, crenelate, and drench.

Subscribe at subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhispers & remember to confirm email. #etymology
Wordfoolery Whispers is out This Friday, plus Wordfoolery jester doll in red green and yellow motley complete with bells
November 12, 2025 at 2:11 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Love Christmas histories, traditions, and quirky words?
#Kindle #FunFacts #etymology
#Christmas paperback hardback 🎄📚💙 #booksky
wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/
November 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
5) His first device led to the creation of the laser microphone which is credited with the discovery of Bin Laden’s hiding place in 2011.
If you enjoy reading about the people whose names entered the dictionary check out "How To Get Your Name in the Dictionary" amzn.to/2ygxZMH
How to get your Name in the Dictionary by Grace Tierney - orange cover - on an ereader, but also available in paperback
November 3, 2025 at 2:08 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Hi, I'm Grace & I write books about the history behind unusual English words - nautical, vikings, eponyms, and Christmas words. I also made the crochet wreath and the pumpkin (from old IKEA cushion covers). You can find more about my etymology/history books at wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/ 🦇🎃
crochet wreath of autumn leaves, flowers, toadstools and hedgehogs The four Wordfoolery etymology books, along with Batty, and the fabric pumpkin I made
October 31, 2025 at 4:58 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Happy #Halloween from Wordfoolery, and Batty!
Here's a couple of spooky word histories to get your evening off to a properly eldritch and macabre start...
wordfoolery.wordpress.com/2019/10/28/e...
wordfoolery.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/m...
#etymology 👻🎃
All four Wordfoolery books alongside a fabric pumpkin, Batty the plushie bat, and my brooms. Boo!
October 31, 2025 at 2:52 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Tune in today at 2pm on LMFM Radio where I'll be looking at the history of some spooky words - mummy, jettatura, occult, and oblivion. Our mystery word is collieshangie. Listen live at www.lmfm.ie and I'll share podlink later.
#etymology #Halloween 👻🎃📚
LMFM Radio 95.8fm in Ireland North East Wordfoolery logo - orange background with a black and white jester hat with bells on
October 31, 2025 at 11:01 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Words the Vikings Gave Us - 300 words from ships, food, farming, romance, myths, daily life, politics - akimbo, kiss, ombudsman, bluetooth, frisbee, thing, and yule.
Ideal for word & history lovers.
#Kindle #FunFacts #etymology #vikings #Kobo paperback
wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/
Words the Vikings Gave Us by Grace Tierney with a green and white cover featuring a long ship motif, against a Christmas wrapping table
October 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Happy Book Birthday to "Words Christmas Gave Us" which launched on this day last year. We managed the merry part of Merry Christmas pretty well at the event in Academy Books! Still available in ebook, paperback, and hardback - wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/ and the National Library of Ireland.
Grace in her Santa hat at the launch, behind a table filled with Christmas treats and copies of the book, laughing Here's to Another Year of being a great book - plus a copy of the book with red and white cover and snowflake motif
October 24, 2025 at 9:37 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Day 4 of #IrishBookWeekChallenge: Share an Irish book you read recently. #IrishBookWeek

Love female #history? Irish #history? The lives of ten remarkable women overshadowed by famous Irish husbands
Irish Book Week Challenge - 21 Oct share an Irish book you read recently Purple cover of Great Irish Wives by Nicola Pierce - released in September, reprinting already
October 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Wordfoolery Whispers is my monthly newsletter packed with #etymology facts, history visits, writer life, and bookish chat. If you like unusual words, history or books it could be for you.
subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhispers and remember the confirmation email.
The little Wordfoolery jester doll (in motley with bells) is here to remind you how to subscribe to the Wordfoolery Whispers author newsletter and to remember to click on the confirmation email - it gives you the inside scoop on my writing, reading, unusual words, upcoming book, and contests too
October 20, 2025 at 3:21 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Happy Friday, all. This week I'm #bloomscrolling with my Michaelmas daisies. Random buy recently and couldn't decide where to plant them so took my MIL's example and put them in a pot at the kitchen step where I enjoy them daily. So cheerful. #purple #gardening
Purple michaelmas daisies blooming October Ireland, close up on one bloom but a bush of them in the background
October 17, 2025 at 3:40 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Wordfoolery Whispers is out on Fri 17th Oct. Read about How to Start a Story, a Mammoth Craft Project, Blog Highlights, Good Books and histories for quockerwodger, gargalesthesia, obloquy, aliferous, exulansis, and bampot. Subscribe at subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhispers & confirm email. #etymology
Wordfoolery Whispers is out This Friday, plus Wordfoolery jester doll in red green and yellow motley complete with bells
October 15, 2025 at 9:47 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Took a wander in my garden. Spots of colour despite the falling leaves. Verbena bonariensis patch looking well. #bloomscrolling
October 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
“light-hearted look at Viking influence on the English language…a good jumping-off point for discovering more about both the Vikings and about English.” Popular History Books review
#Kindle #FunFacts #etymology #Viking paperback
wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/ #booksky
Words the Vikings Gave Us by Grace TIerney - green and white cover with long ship motif, flanked by Scandinavian mini flags and Viking replica beads
October 9, 2025 at 11:57 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
5)Tux, a cute little penguin, is the Linux mascot because Torvalds was once bitten by a penguin at a zoo in Australia.

amzn.to/3kuDbUr (ebook/paperback)
October 3, 2025 at 2:33 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
I'll be celebrating the oddities of the English language on LMFM radio at 2p.m. where our words will be feisty, renegade, insidious, and monger. This time our mystery word is raffle-coppin. You can listen online at www.lmfm.ie and I'll share the podcast link later. #etymology
LMFM radio logo in red and white on blue background with 95.8 as the frequency to listen in Ireland Wordfoolery Press logo - a black and white jester hat, with bells, on an orange background - other colours are available, of course.
September 26, 2025 at 8:36 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Words the Sea Gave Us - 370 nautical words & phrases, pirate slang, and more - baggywinkle, gollywobbler, tempest, flotsam. Ideal for beachcombers, sailors, and history lovers.
#Kindle #FunFacts #etymology #sea #Kobo paperback
wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/ #booksky
Words the Sea Gave Us by Grace Tierney - a blue and white paperback with wave motif, posed against driftwood, pelican toe shells and sea glass pieces
September 25, 2025 at 11:10 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
The dedicated bookshop/library ordering page is now up on the Wordfoolery site. If you're seeking stock for the winter season check wordfoolery.wordpress.com/shop-library... or message me here.
"Words Christmas Gave Us" (especially in hardback) proved a popular gift purchase last year.
Wordfoolery press books - Vikings, Eponyms, Sea words, and Words Christmas Gave Us - why not get them all? Pictured ready to be gift wrapped
September 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Happy Book Birthday to "Words Christmas Gave Us". Writing it required me to research festive words & traditions in high summer, but it was worth it to discover they used to put false teeth in Christmas crackers and Jean Paul Sartre wrote a nativity play. #booksky
wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/
Words Christmas Gave Us by Grace Tierney, red and white cover with snowflake motif. Here's to Another Year of Being a Great Book
September 23, 2025 at 1:48 PM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Created my author newsletter about 18 months ago to share stories about words, writing news, history visits, garden pics, and books read.

Now have readers from 11 countries, which I never expected. A delight! 🌎

(Subscribe at subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhispers & remember to confirm email.)
Details of the Wordfoolery Whispers newsletter. You can subscribe at subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhispers & remember to the confirmation email can land in spam. Plus a cute pic of Wordfoolery jester doll.
September 23, 2025 at 11:32 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
4)They may have worn bandanas around their necks as a small scarf. But bandanas aren’t mentioned as head gear and pirates weren’t illustrated with them until the 1800s.

Find more pirate lore and nautical words in "Words the Sea Gave Us" by Grace Tierney #booksky
Aaaaarrrr
Words the Sea Gave Us by Grace Tierney (blue and white cover with wave motif) beside a pirate rubber duck and a model of a Galway hooker sailing ship
September 19, 2025 at 9:16 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
It's #ReadAnEbookDay - if you enjoy the stories behind the words we use (nautical, Viking, eponyms, or related to the 25th of December) all my Wordfoolery books are available in ebook format (Kindle and Kobo). #history
All the ways to get them are listed at wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/
Words Christmas Gave Us by Grace Tierney - red and white cover with snowflake motif - on an ebook reader with a mug of coffee in the other hand
September 18, 2025 at 10:11 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
Wordfoolery Whispers is out on Fri 19th Sept. Read about a Book Launch, Back to School Season, Blog Highlights, Reading, and histories for snortlywink, ubiquity, flippercanorious, and feisty.

Subscribe at subscribepage.io/wordfoolerywhispers & remember to confirm email. #etymology
Wordfoolery Whispers is out This Friday, plus Wordfoolery jester doll in red green and yellow motley complete with bells
September 16, 2025 at 11:26 AM
wordfoolery.bsky.social
#OnThisDay 2021 - I launched "Words the Vikings Gave Us" onto the seas. It traces the huge influence of Old Norse (and modern Scandi words) on the English language. Perfect for all #Vikings fans and a total joy to write - from akimbo to yule. Stocklist List at wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/
Words the Vikings Gave Us by Grace Tierney with green and white cover featuring a longship motif. Here's to Another Year of being a Great Book.
September 14, 2025 at 7:21 PM