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A movie about Tourette’s syndrome called “I Swear” usually elicits a small chuckle and “good title” from someone hearing about the film, which premieres in Toronto. And that’s the reaction director and writer Kirk Jones (“Waking Ned Devine”) wants to dispel — using humor and heart to educate audiences about Tourette’s through this real-life story of John Davidson.

The crowd-pleaser bows Sept. 7 at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Bankside is repping international sales on the film; Studio Canal distributes in the U.K. while Blue Fox Entertainment distribs in Canada.

Robert Aramayo (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) stars as Davidson, who as a young teen in the early 1980s was diagnosed with Tourette’s at a time when it wasn’t understood. Davidson struggled but in adulthood found an advocate in his friend’s mother Dottie (Maxine Peake) and under the mentorship of Tommy (Peter Mullan), who saw through the uncontrollable ticks and swearing and gave him a job. (Aramayo remarks that it was a dream to work with those performers. “And for me, it was, it was just a dream as well. I think that they were all first choices. And you know, that doesn’t always happen,” says Jones).

Davidson not only learned to advocate for himself, he advocated for all with Tourette’s leading outreach and education campaigns through the U.K. In 2019, he accepted an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II.

But while the film will draw tears, it’s hardly a cup of treacle. “We spoke a lot about tone,” says Aramayo, noting that the whole film “could live inside the opening scene.” That shows Davidson freaking out about meeting the queen in order to accept his MBE, finding his inner strength with the help of Dottie to entering the grand hall with a vulgar outburst and charmingly apologizing. “There’s a different kind of energy in that scene with the queen — there’s fun in the film,” he says.

Both Jones and Aramayo were drawn to the material to shed a light on Tourette’s — Jones proudly points out that out of 90 cast members, 30 have Tourette’s.

“I think now actually, especially with artists like Lewis Capaldi, there are people in the spotlight who have Tourette’s, who are quite happy to speak about Tourette’s, who are open about Tourette’s,” says Jones.

“Most people have perhaps the wrong understanding of the condition. For both Rob and I, it was a really steep learning curve.”

Jones spent a lot of time with Davidson, “From a dramatic point of view, from an emotional point of view, from a comedic point of view, I was really drawn to this idea of someone being out of control of what they said, and John, is a really lovely, kind, gentle spirit, but what has come out of his mouth over the years has been violent and aggressive and led to him being beaten up and just in general, causing huge, huge upset. So I just thought it was fascinating, and I was amazed it hadn’t really been dealt with before,” says Jones.

Aramayo says his research was both broad and deep, and spending a lot of time with Davidson as well as people with Tourette’s really allowed him to unlock his portrayal.

“I had this philosophy that I could try and find the John inside of myself. I didn’t want to come from a from a perspective of impersonation, or anything like that,” he says. “And I read lots of books, all about triggers and, like, just really tried to understand and get underneath what ticks are and what Tourette’s is.”

Asked about his incredible physicality in the role, he credits his movement coach. But a kay wans’t so much the tics, it was “literally just the amount of space that John takes up in a room. You know, how he moves around the room. And the robustness to John and things like that was really important to get right,” he says.

“Just to play John himself is not an easy endeavor,” he continues. “I’ve never really been in that energy with a character before!”

Mare isn’t in Easttown anymore, but that doesn’t mean HBO is done with crime dramas set just outside Philadelphia.

What would you do with “cod digits”? Can you identify a “monochrome mammal”? And what on earth is an “unfortunate ungulate”? They are all attempts by journalists – either elegant or absurd, depending on your outlook – to avoid repeating a noun already featured in an article. In the cases above, they are genuine journalistic attempts to describe fish fingers, a panda and a sheep stuck in a car.

Spotting examples of eye-catching “second mentions” became a hobby for couple Juliet and Matthew Maguire. They began collecting examples after Juliet encountered them during her journalism training. Their interest grew into a social media account, which became a lively exchange of the distinctive descriptors.

They have now compiled their favourite examples into a book – The Little Book of Second Mentions – which also examines their history, structure and mixed reputation.

“It turned out there are a lot of like minded people who also enjoy seeing them,” said Juliet. “Sometimes journalists get in touch and say: ‘I’m writing a story about penguins and I can’t think of a second mention. Can anybody help?’ We get requests.”

The married monographers say the art can arguably be traced back to Homer, who specialised in giving new nomenclature to his characters. Thus, Odysseus became “the great tactician” and Athena “the bright-eyed goddess”.

Whether or not reporters were actually drawing on the Odyssey, the use of linguistic variations has been a regular feature in British newsrooms, where they are also known as “nobbly monsters”. The name supposedly originates from a journalist at The Sun newspaper tasked with writing up a crocodile attack.

At the Guardian, sub-editors sometimes refer to them as “povs” – a reference to “popular orange vegetables”, more commonly known as carrots.

While amusing some readers and irritating others, Matthew said appropriate second mentions could enhance writing. “They can allude to the mood of an article,” he said. “When Justin Timberlake was arrested recently [after driving through a stop sign], his second mention was ‘the Cry Me A River singer’. It just fits the nature of the article perfectly.”

The Maguires suspect some more outlandish examples were inserted by journalists simply hoping to enjoy a frisson of subversive joy in seeing their synonym of choice appear in print.

They say animals often make for the best material. Beavers are dubbed “dam-building rodents”. Zebras have even become “striped equids”.

The pair said pigs, pandas, giraffes and hedgehogs seem particularly prone to new descriptions. However, they were once disappointed to find an article that used the word “hedgehog” 27 times, without any mention of a “prickly animal”.

Food also features heavily. Bananas have been renamed as “the energy-rich treat” – awkward, but preferable to salmon once being described as “the pink-fleshed crowd pleaser”.

While the traditional tabloids may have been the main purveyors of the endearing epithets, second mentions are documented everywhere in the media. The Financial Times has described noodles as “the rapid foodstuff”, while pork pies have been referred to in the Telegraph as the “iconic meat and hot water crust pastry combo”.

Over years of searching, the Maguires have acquired their own favourites. “If I ever see a fatter animal called a porker – particularly pigs – I just love it,” said Matthew. “The ‘errant porker’, ‘the runaway porker’, ‘the mischievous porker’ – anything porker related will get a laugh from me.”

Juliet prefers those that elevate mundane items, such as rebranding a scotch egg a “porcine poultry hybrid”. “It sounds very grand for something that’s very simple and every day,” she said.

Opinion has always been split over whether second mentions enhance the reading experience or simply amount to lazy journalism, with writers lapsing into absurd phrases no one would ever use in everyday life. It was certainly frowned upon by HW and FG Fowler in their 1906 book The King’s English, who warned some variations “are not justified by expediency, and have consequently the air of cheap ornament”.

While Juliet said it is a fine balance, she said the originality behind the mischievous missives should be applauded. “We see our book as more of a celebration of creativity,” she said. “There are people who might frown upon it, but we only see the joy.

“The news is quite a serious place at the moment. So if this brings just a bit of levity and fun into people’s lives, then that’s what we’re aiming for.”