- This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 4 months ago by
.
- Posts
In today’s “i” there is an interesting piece by Susie Dent.
My favourite was “Flobly-mobly”.
“accismus (pronounced ‘axismus’, 1500s): the insincere refusal of something you actually really want (useful for the last chocolate éclair).
absquatulate (1800s): to leave somewhere abruptly.
clinomania (1800s): the overwhelming desire to lie down.
matutolypea [ma-tooto-lip-ea]: a state of bad-temperedness in the morning (from the Latin for ‘grief of the dawn’)
flobly-mobly (1700s): neither well nor unwell.
exisibilate: to hiss a poor performer off the stage.
forwallowed: weary from tossing and turning in bed all night.
fossick: to rummage around in a pocket or handbag looking for something.
heartspoon: the little dent at the base of the sternum.
lickspigot: the friend who always seems to show up when they hear a cork popping.
smellfeast: the friend who always pops round just as food is being served.
huffle-buffs: old, scruffy clothes that are perfect for lounging around.
mumpsimus: someone who rigidly sticks to their opinions despite being proved wrong.
nod-crafty: used for someone who nods vigorously in agreement during a conversation, when they actually have little clue what the speaker is on about.
lethologica: the inability to call to mind the right word.
penultimatum: the ultimatum before the final ultimatum (known to all parents, everywhere).
quafftide: the hour/season when it’s time for a drink.
thorough-cough: to cough and break wind at the same time.
quiddle: to waste time on trivial matters in order to avoid doing more important things.”
Drone has used all of these
I wish, what splendacious words!
I’ve come across Fossick and Quiddle but the others are new to me. Lickspigot could be a back-formation from the still-used Lickspittle (sycophant, brown-noser, toady) or vice-versa
One of the boons of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader is the ability to look-up and store unusual or ill-understood words that you come across. I tend to download out-of-copyright tomes on Kindle which are very cheap or free; but it does restrict my reading to mainly Victorian and earlier works, as copyright ceases (in UK and USA) by default 70 years after the death of the author
So it’s no surprise that I’ve come across many words that have fallen out of common use. Some favourites are:
Overmorrow – the day after tomorrow
Eldritch – sinister, ghostly
Mayhap – perhaps
Tenebrous – shadowy, obscure
Hoydenish – a boisterous girl
Trull – a prostitute
Refulgent – shining brightly
Recondite – little knowledge of
Sedulous – dedicatedIt was great news when C4 Racing ceased, as it did mess terribly with the time-honoured Countdown schedule, which led to much discombobulation
Susie Dent: my kind of girl
clinomania (1800s): the overwhelming desire to lie down – usually follows quafftide in my experience
lethologica: the inability to call to mind the right word – If you suffered from this would you ever remember what it is you suffered from?
I really like the sound of thorough-cough
Interesting article in the “i” today by Susie Dent.
On-line version here: https://inews.co.uk/opinion/eyes-narrator-soul-root-language/
Thanks Matron, good stuff
I’ve bookmarked Susie Dent’s i column and hope she continues with them
Bought the Oxford Library of Words and Phrases; Quotations;Proverbs;Word Origins. £3 from a charity shop in Alnwick. Pristine condition. Probably won’t use it much [easier to google things] but couldn’t not buy it!!
Razeen an old hetbrew term is
not now in regular usage, but has always been an old favourite of mine despite beitbg banned in some tightly regulated communities.The corruption of the word to Arzen which dropped an ‘e’ was in usage for a short time, but was found to represent a disguised corruption of the original and both were considered highly disrespectful in strict religious communities, like the Amish and Mormons.
The meaning of tbe word is vague, but communities that used the words were far more productive and contended even in times of strife, drought, and when harvests were poor.
A celebrated Hebrew linguist stated that the word conveyed a vague form of disrespect and was sumply a jocular and cheap way to keep the leckie on, and its usage was find to increase the birth rate in dying communities.
Two people might meet in secret and disrespecetfully whisper
” Fancy a razzle ” ?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.