You won’t be surprised to learn that I’m a reader and listener rather than an ever-alert observer. My world is made up mostly of words, with pictures a far second.

Yet even somebody like me can see that Lingo has the sort of graceful cover design that catches the eye and lifts the mood – I liked it as soon as I saw it. Still, what got me playing with it was, once more, the word, the letters, the fivefold repetition of l-i-n-g-o.

What was there to be made of these letters, I wondered? Largely Independent Non-Governmental Organisation? London International New Grammar Observatory? Lascivious, Indecent… stop right there. Or perhaps they could be re-arranged? Loing – that would the gerund of ‘lo (and behold)’. Gnoli – sounds like an Italian specialty. Login – … Hey, login!

Which resulted in:

Should you wish to hear me talk about Lingo, then listen to this interview on Monocle Weekly. The 10-minute item begins at 26 minutes. The hosts are Andrew Tuck and Robert Bound.

For Radio BBC Ulster, I talked to Roisin McAuley of Sunday Sequence. Our chat is available here (but only until mid December 2014), starting at 1:10:14.