Susie Dent @[email protected]:

Two once very literal expressions: a ‘backlog’ was a large log at the back of the fire that kept smoldering away while smaller wood came and went. And the original ‘deadline’ was a boundary around a prison: any inmate attempting to cross it was liable to be shot.

‘Anomaly’ sounds like it’s been unexpectedly hurled to an unknown part of the Milky Way galaxy via a wormhole.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/09/uks-first-orbital-rocket-mission-takes-off-from-cornwall