In the lone novel of his career, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the goading Lord Henry cannot seem to help himself from delivering bon mot after bon mot. Word-play and paradoxical summation was a compulsion for [Oscar] Wilde.

The calculated answer was astronomically large.

In its ongoing efforts to nail the bad guys, the US Department of Homeland Security is investing heavily in the sniff test: odourprint.

"Then 'twas through one bedroom after another, and each one more crowded with noisy, smashable things than that previous.