The column was called "Witty Words to Whittle By".
Still, the Quiet Man, the John Wayne of the one-lap hurdles, happens to be a dedicated tweeter – a man of few but invariably witty words.
"I felt like I had just wandered into a Johnny Mercer lyric," cracks Spenser, who also has witty words for the local climate, cuisine and intelligence quotient.
Imitation is the essence of comedy, however, and Sullivan had keen instincts about the kinds of music to put with Gilbert's dry, witty words.
In joyous contrast, the disarming illustrations and informative and witty words of Matt Sewell's A Charm of Goldfinches & Other Collective Nouns (Ebury) is utterly delightful.
Hannah Verdier The History Boys (Nicholas Hytner, 2006) 9pm, BBC4 Alan Bennett's hugely popular play about Sheffield schoolboys aiming for Oxbridge gets a respectful big-screen treatment from Hytner, using the original cast and letting the wise and witty words do the work.
Illustrator Samantha Jayne creates witty words and drawings to explore the transition from youth to adulthood, focusing on the so-called "quarter-life crisis" and the complexities of growing up in modern times.
With witty words and loud suits, Mr. De Shields is magnetic; the script, by Alfred Preisser and Randy Weiner, hands him nearly every big moment in the show, and not a single one is wasted.
