Ever since I discovered English at the age of twelve, I have been marvelling at the variety and richness of the language.

From the beginning I didn’t fancy my chances with ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘an’. And as my long suffering proofreader/husband can testify, that hasn’t changed. Over the years he had to add the little blighters into many a writing project. And extract them out of just as many.

I enjoy living with a language that can say, ‘I fancy him rotten.’ Don’t you? What a brilliant expression!

Well, recently one particular word has taken my fancy. It’s to do with K, my nineteen years old niece. But I will get to that in a moment.

First, consider the fancy cars and houses, she will find when she visits England this summer. Then think of the fact that London, the celebrity culture capital of Europe (yes, we are still geographically in Europe…) is a place where she can come across any ‘celeb’ with their fancy man or woman. How exciting for a girl from a small Czech town.

And then the fact that she can go to the seaside any time the fancy takes her (The Czech Republic is a landlocked country. A sea, any kind of sea, is a rarity for us).

I decided that on my next visit to my homeland I will meet up with my niece over a cuppa and go through all the things she needs to get organised before she travels over to work on the farm for a few weeks. I fancy myself as a good aunt who’d like to help K improve her school English so I texted her, ‘Fancy a coffee?’

She replied, ‘What does ‘fancy’ mean?’

Well, fancy that!