Daringfireball iconDaringfireballAug 28, 2026 ~1 min source read

We Certainly Have Made a Hames Out of This

It's not so obscure in Ireland, where they use it in an idiom: to make a hames of something is to make a mess of it. With that in mind, it's hard to say which is more apt for this embarrassment, hames or shame.

We Certainly Have Made a Hames Out of This

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It's not so obscure in Ireland, where they use it in an idiom: to make a hames of something is to make a mess of it.

With that in mind, it's hard to say which is more apt for this embarrassment, hames or shame.

I mentioned earlier that for anyone going along with the ruse that Lake Ontario is now named Lake America, the HOMES mnemonic no longer holds, the only two valid words in English with the new five letters...

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The useful part

It's not so obscure in Ireland, where they use it in an idiom: to make a hames of something is to make a mess of it. With that in mind, it's hard to say which is more apt for this embarrassment, hames or shame. I mentioned earlier that for anyone going along with the ruse that Lake Ontario is now named Lake America, the HOMES mnemonic no longer holds, the only two valid words in English with the new five letters are hames and shame, and that hames is rather too obscure.

What to take from it

I mentioned earlier that for anyone going along with the ruse that Lake Ontario is now named Lake America, the HOMES mnemonic no longer holds, the only two valid words in English with the new five letters are hames and shame, and that hames is rather too obscure.

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