It has been pointed out that I’m never happier in this column than when hurling brickbats, a charge I cannot entirely deny. So, this week, a well-deserved plaudit. I have recently been happily occupied rereading Simon Raven’s magnificent Alms for Oblivion suite of novels and then his novella, The Islands of Sorrow, a signed first edition and a most welcome birthday present from my wife.

This gets off to a typically raffish Ravenesque start – “Last night,” said Adam Ogilvie, “I dreamt I had two pricks” – and continues along at a rattling pace. During its course, Raven chucks in “umbrageous” (creating or providing shade) a delightful word, which can also mean easily offended, which I hadn’t heard for years and that has clearly fallen into disuse. More’s the pity. So please feel free to use it when the mood is upon you.

Right, back to the brickbat-hurling. Why do so many phrases get mangled and then taken up as common usage. I’m thinking particularly of stomping ground and chomping at the bit, which I hear with annoying frequency. Stamping and champing, please.

And in the week that the Premier League fixtures were announced, let’s give a warm welcome to Leeds United’s manager, Marcelo Bielsa, to the top flight. Bielsa can give Eric Cantona a run for his money in the good quotes stakes. For example: “Of each opponent we watched all the games of 2018/19, we watched the 51 games of Derby County. The analysis of each game takes four hours of work. Why did we do that? Because we think it is professional behaviour.

“Why do I do it? Because I think I’m stupid. This is all, I thank you for your patience.”

What a breath of fresh air.

•Jonathan Bouquet is an Observer columnist