The Top Ten: English words without a rhyme

 

John Rentoul
Sunday 04 January 2015 01:00 GMT
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Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson perform in a stage version of Bottom, whose title 'pleasingly' doesn't rhyme with any other word
Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson perform in a stage version of Bottom, whose title 'pleasingly' doesn't rhyme with any other word (Rex Features)

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Thanks to Ben Ross for starting this list (which contains more than 10 words, as you see) with 'bulb', 'silver', 'purple' and 'month'. People started inventing silly words such as 'nirple' to try to refute some of these, and the dispute about whether lozenge rhymes with orange will never be settled.

1. Bottom

"Pleasingly," said Stig Abell.

2. Rhythm

From Greg Callus, who also nominated "acrid", which was accepted, and "balk", which was not (it rhymes with "caulk", as Matthew Bailey pointed out).

3. Chimney

Nominated by Rob Davies.

4. False

Tom Startup, who said he became "obsessed" with these.

5. Walrus

Suggested by Citizen Sane, who also nominated "squadron".

6. Width, depth, breadth

From Alex Bigham. Which led us, via "sixth" (David Steele) to most ordinal numbers, such as "eighth", "twelfth" and "hundredth" (Colin Forster).

7. Cushion

From Welshornot.

8. Wasp

Tom Startup, too.

9. Filth, filthy

Tom Startup, three.

10. Angel

Nominated by Ben Ross.

Next week: Disappointing famous places

Coming soon: Prematurely cancelled television shows. Send your suggestions, and ideas for future Top 10s, to top10@independent.co.uk

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