No, it's not an Indian mini-car, it's a daze in South African slang.

From the Afrikaans, which is from the Dutch 'dwalen', to wander or stray.

IN A DWAAL ABOUT ENGLISH?
​PETER THE PROOFER WILL BRING YOU BACK TO THE KRAAL!

If the pop star dished up a great show, we say it was pyrotechnic, being like fireworks.

If she were caught lip-syncing or came on too stoned, it would be pyroclastic, being like rocks ejected from an erupting volcano.

Such is the power of a suffix. Another lesson from the Greeks.

IS IT ALL GREEK TO YOU?
​PETER THE PROOFER WILL SAVE HOI POLLOI!

The Scots, as well as being nude under their kilts to scare the English, also have their own darn words to confuse them.

Thank goodness for that Braveheart spirit!

The Scots say 'fankled' for tangled, which I prefer for its fankness. F-words are good for shock value. When a Scot says 'it's f****ed', it expresses a great deal more than the English ever could.

VEXED BY VARIETIES OF VOCABULARY?
​PETER THE PROOFER WILL UNHEX YOU!

Uncontrollable rapturous desire for beautiful young women is quite a well-known condition really.

People are so judgemental! He should just get a medical certificate and claim worker's compo.

He'll probably need a large pension, since nympholepsy is definitely incurable.

PERPLEXED OR VEXED?
​PETER THE PROOFER IS HERE FOR YOU!

Coding is a bit passé really. Learning ancient Runic would be so much cooler.

Named after the first six letters of the Runic alphabet, also 'futhorc' or 'futhork'.

It sounds like the sort of curse you might hear as a Viking chops off your head!

HAD IT WITH OBSCURE WORDS?
PETER THE PROOFER KNOWS THEM ALL!

Kenspeckle sounds like the bloke down the road, and maybe it is if he wears a red beanie.

From the Old Norse, a Scots word for 'conspicuous'.

HEXED BY CHOICE OF VOCABULARY?
PETER THE PROOFER WILL UNHEX YOU!

One hundred and forty characters just cannot accommodate a proper tirade! I suppose the pub and the bus-stop still have a function in the world.

To name a tirade after a Frenchman, le Gascon or inhabitant of Gascony, may seem rude and insensitive of the English. However, they adopted it directly from the usage of the northern French.

What is it about Northerners? It must be the awful weather!

VEXED BY THE VARIETY OF VOCABULARY?
​PETER THE PROOFER WILL UNVEX YOU!

It sounds like that, doesn't it? And it does mean the corruption of a jury by inducements, but not necessarily involving any hugging at all.

The problem is the French, as is often the case. Norman legal French in this case. Embracery comes from 'embraser'- to set alight- while 'embracer' is the hug.

So, in order to make that as clear as mud, the English rendered both into the 'c' form.

I continue to find it astonishing, indeed inspiring, that le Chunnel was ever built!

ASTONISHED BY ENGLISH VOCABULARY?
​PETER THE PROOFER HAS SEEN IT ALL!