WE recently reported Steve Hibbert's proposition that "prion" is a sciency name while "spongler" is not (27 November). Did readers know of any other non-sciency names that have squinked into the lexicon, we wondered.
A gratifying large number did, and here are some of the examples that were sent in. Many come from the computer industry, including nybble (half a byte), Kermit transfer protocol, dongle, snort, Twain ("thing without an interesting name"), incredible woz machine (part of an Apple Mac) and flops.
From biology we have the hunchback gene and the sonic hedgehog, desert hedgehog, tiggy-winkle hedgehog and Indian hedgehog genes.
Chemistry brings us buckminsterfullerene, cummingtonite, moronic acid, unununium, curious chloride and a host of other names listed on www.chm.bris.ac.uk/sillymolecules/sillymols.htm.
And then from maths we have penguin diagram, googol (10