I wanted to get this post in today, February 28, because it’s the last day I can with any claim to precision mark the tenth anniversary of this blog. The first post (on “advert“) was actually February 13, 2011 (or 13 February 2011) but I’m going by month.
Some numbers. I have written 616 posts, averaging a bit more than 300 words each, which amounts to some 200,000 words — the equivalent of two medium-sized books. (Actually, I now recall, I’ve only written 615 — Jack Bell did a guest post on soccer/football terminology.) There have been more than 2,597,000 page views. Because of some publicity in the New York Times and the BBC, 2012 saw the most traffic, with about 420,000 views, but it’s been quite steady since then, with between 210,000 and 310,000 views a year.
The most viewed post has been European date format, followed by “mewling quim” (don’t ask), “go pear-shaped,” “ta-ta,” and “cuppa.” I think my favorite of all time was about a word that isn’t a Britishism at all, “bumbershoot.”
I keep thinking I’ll retire the blog, but new NOOBs keep popping up. Right now I’m tracking, among others, “jump the queue/line,” “end in tears,” “wicked,” and “right” as adverb (as in “It was a right rainy day”). And frankly I’m glad that it keeps plugging along, first, because it’s fun to do, and second, because of the comments (more than 9,000) so far. Having you lot (a Britishism that hasn’t risen to the level of NOOB … yet) out there –funny, smart, sometimes disputatious — has really made it worthwhile. All in all, I’m really looking forward to the next ten years.
notoneoffbritishisms.com 
I am honored to have had a preview of all 615.
thx dood. you rite real good.
Mazel tov, Ben! Your blog posts are always the first links I click in Feedly.
Congratulations! I was a late comer to the club, but liked what I found so much that I went back and read them all. Posts from NOOBs are nuggets amid the dross of spam and obligations that characterize most of my inbox. Thanks, Ben, and thank you to all who enliven this part of the blog.
Congratulations on the first decade Ben. It’s such a pleasure to read something worthwhile on the net and ignore the stunning amounts of social media rubbish.
Thank you Ben! Your blog is an oasis of calm, witty intellectualism in a world gone mad.
btw The Times (not The New York Times) uses the American date format. Today is Tuesday March 2 2021 . So I don’t think it is strictly American! http://www.thetimes.co.uk
I don’t think “March 2 2021” is American but “3/2/2021” is.
The Americanism is March 2, 2021 (with comma)
Ah…
Thanks, Ben, for providing a regular oasis of civility in a desert of barbarism. Here’s to the next ten years!
PS I could go on some more about the European date format, but I’m sure you’d prefer I didn’t. Which reminds me of the definition of a gentleman: someone who can play the accordion, but doesn’t.