770-1: Feedback, notes and comments

Janopause After I wondered in last week's issue about spelling this neologism with an o in the middle, subscribers suggested en masse that it had been formed from January + menopause. You may be right, but no reader has yet been able to enlighten me why a brief abstinence from alcohol should be linked to a permanent cessation of female fertility.

Rick McArthur commented from Finland: "As there are less than six million Finns and knowledge of the Finnish language outside Finland is rare, it is unlikely to be more than an interesting coincidence that jano is the Finnish word for thirst (of all types). Finnish also has the useful property that words can be combined at will to create the required meaning or emotion. In this context, Janopause makes complete sense."

Competition update Your additional votes last week kept World Wide Words well in the lead in the Macmillan Dictionary contest for the 2011 Best Website About the English Language. Until Wednesday, that is. We are now in second place and falling badly behind. Every vote is urgently needed! If you haven't voted, please do so. (World Wide Words is on page three of the list.)