Whereas I remember perfectly well that everyone pronounced it French style as Carry-ay. There should be a dire penalty for that sort of lapse.Dr Wordsmith writes: There may well be, but if there is I do not know what it is.Dear Dr Wordsmith, My local video shop is advertising the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Scorerer’s Stone video release with the curious notice “Pre-Book Your Copy Now!”. Surely there is no difference between booking and pre-booking? All booking is done in advance, so is there any point in saying pre-booking?Dr Wordsmith writes: There may well be, but if there is I do not know what it is.Dear Dr Wordsmith, I am puzzled by the strange expression “Way to go!”, which is uttered by Americans as a sort of encouragement. What on earth can it mean? What does it come from? Is there any connection between it and the Robert Frost poem about “The woods are lovely, dark and deep/ But I have promises to keep/ And miles to go before I sleep”? In “way to go” is there an element of abbreviation of “miles to go before I sleep”?Dr Wordsmith writes: There may well be, but if there is I do not know what it is.Dear Dr Wordsmith, Is there an expression meaning “An expert who is so sozzled that he just gives the same answer to every question he is asked”? On second thoughts, don’t answer that.Dr Wordsmith will be back soon, when he is feeling better Keep those queries rolling in
More from Miles Kington. Britain’s biggest wind farm, to be built off the Norfolk coast at a cost of £70m, was approved by the Government yesterday.

The power will be enough to run 52,000 homes.Although offshore wind power plays an important role in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, its potential has hardly been touched in Britain. Only two turbines have been constructed off the coast, near Blyth in Northumberland.Powergen Renewables will start construction in the winter and the power station is expected to open by November next year.The Energy minister, Brian Wilson, said the project was a “significant step” towards the Government’s target of producing 10 per cent of electricity from renewable resources. Offshore wind technology was ready for “major deployment” in Britain, he said.Permission for Scroby Sands was granted after five years of investigation into the impact on bird and seal colonies on the sand bank, which found the project would not disturb breeding patterns.. Ornithologists believe they have discovered the oldest wild bird in Britain: a small black-and-white Manx shearwater that has survived storms, rats and annual flights to South America to reach the age of 50. But some seabirds can live for a very long time – and this is one amazing case in point.”Mr Mead, a consultant to the British Trust for Ornithology, added: “For such a small animal the length of its life is amazing. The oldest bird on record was a sulphur-crested cockatoo in London Zoo, which reached more than 80.

Clearly it benefited from a sheltered life – but these old birds have had to battle against storm and tempest all their life.”The Bardsey bird, whose sex is not known, is also a prolific traveller, the ornithologists say. It has clocked up 500,000 miles, the equivalent of a return trip to the Moon, during winter migration to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Taking feeding flights into account, it has probably covered a total of five million miles.”I don’t know which impresses me most, its extraordinary longevity or the fantastic distance it has travelled,” Mr Mead said.The bird has been ringed four times: in 1957, 1961, 1977, and earlier this month. It was estimated to be about five years old when it was ringed for the first time.The Manx shearwater is one of the tube-nosed group of birds, including the albatross and fulmar, which tend to outlive other wild varieties because of a gland in their sinuses designed to purge salt water. The previous oldest known wild bird in Britain was also a Manx shearwater, recorded in 1996 in Northern Ireland aged 41.Britain has 90 per cent of the world’s population of Manx shearwaters with about 235,000 pairs, mostly in Scotland and Wales. The population is growing slowly thanks to improved adult survival. But they remain vulnerable to rats, because they nest in burrows.

The infestation of islands by vermin has in the past caused local extinction of the breed.. Britain’s premier pair of Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell won the final Great Britain rowing trials in Belgium yesterday, although not without a few nervous moments. There is, these days anyway, no such thing as a Free Handicap, certainly not at least in meaningful terms as a 2,000 Guineas trial. The last winner of the race to go on to Classic success was Mystiko in 1991 and the grey’s place in the history books is safe following yesterday’s trundle down the Dewhurst Stakes course. In simple terms, he cannot win.Yet he was king for a day yesterday, a treasure for his breeder, David Brown, the former Warwickshire and England fast bowler, and a vehicle which demonstrated that Pat Eddery’s talents have not yet been eroded by time. The Irishman brought the chestnut colt down the centre of the track to easily beat the Queen’s Approval.”Pat said the horse was quite lazy out there,” Brian Meehan, the winning trainer, said.