Four examples:
philtrum - the "ditch" beneath your nose
aglet - the plastic covering at the end of a shoelace
ennui - boredom
osculation - kissing
I'm thinking about writing a hub on this topic. Please add your suggestions. Thanks!
Splendid! However, you have already listed the ones I was thinking of, as well as a couple of others I've not heard in years. LOL
How about:
Grimoire
Elocution
Prestidigitation
That's all I can come up with for now... suffering from WBS (Weary Brain Syndrome, here.
OOoopppsss... just read a bunch of others...I guess I was supposed to provide the definitions!
Grimoire--a book of spells
Elocution--(lessons) in careful speech, pronunciation, form, tone, delivery, etc.
Prestidigitation--magic/illusory tricks done with the hands
Excellent idea. Would you include the roots for the words as well; in other words how they came about?
Oh, I love this, during my high school years we were charged with learning and using unusual words. I haven't had the occasion to use most of them lately.
flibbertigibbet....a flighty person
sybarite or sybaritic.....loving pleasure or luxury
pithy...meaningful in expression (just learned this one)
infare...house warming
I'll limit mine to four words too.
exsauguination - to bleed
discombobulated - to be confused
hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia - the fear of long words ( I think this just became a new personal favourite lol )
deinstitutionalization - have no idea what his relates to
sesquipedalianist - is a person who uses long words.
There's a couple of good German terms that are accepted in English, but I rarely hear them:
Schadenfreude - pleasure from seeing someone else's misfortune
Weltanschauung - life philosophy / world view
Although many people don't speak Welsh where I live in the Rhondda, some Welsh words are used by everyone here in daily speech:
cwtch - hug/cuddle
chwarae teg - fair play
duw duw - always pronounced as joo-joo, it is literally "God, God", but is used to mean "well, well", "well I never", "fancy that", etc.
aeogrotat - medical certificate for university student illness
carfax - a place where 4 roads meet
growlery - a place to retreat to when in a bad mood
selcouth - strange and marvelous
cerulean - azure, the colour of a deep blue sky
stentorian - loud of voice
contiguous - sharing a common border or following each other in sequence
Competent Authority - this is Eurospeak for a government agency/other organisation or person legally authorised to perform a certain function. I laughed like crazy when I first heard it and it continues to amuse me, because competence is so often lacking in such cases...
Competent authority - I got to just the "government agency" and burst out laughing, just as you say. What an oxymoron!
Oxymoron, indeed! You beat me to it, wilderness!
That's as bad as "military intelligence!"
We often use uncouth, but I never hear anyone described as "couth", although it is a real word meaning "refined and well-mannered"
Going to stop now, I could carry on all day!
Habee....Hope you are feeling better! Here's my modest contribution........
Amass====Collect, hoard
Somnambulate=====Sleep walk
Jocular=====Humorous
Tether======Tie/fasten
Hark!======Listen Up!
Balderdash=====Nonsense
laudation======praise.
Don't think they are real words but they should be cause they make sense and when I used to do clowning I used them as real words ... )
Furnidents - the dents in carpet furniture leaves behind.
Troublems - when your troubles become problems or your problems become troubles.
Donut seeds - little round oat circles you plant to get a good crop of donuts -- aka Cheerios
Quadrasection - when 4 different streets cross each other at one intersection.
PaisleeGal,
These sound a lot like the "Sniglets" books that claim to have originated out of a recurring Saturday Night Live segment about "words that don't exist, but should." I have never watched that show, but I did have a couple of the books, and my mom and I had fun making up many such words.
Barkuumer--dog or cat who eagerly scarfs up dropped food, saving you the trouble of getting out the vacuum cleaner
Plust--The collection of dust that pours out when you dump a jigsaw puzzle onto the table--the word means "puzzle dust"-- (caps show word blend) PuzzLe dUST
Argutory--an obligatory chore for a child about which parents can expect an argument from their offspring
Squelp--the surprised cross between a squeal and a yelp when a dog (or cat) accidentally catches and bites its own tail.
DzyMsLizzy,
I don't watch SNL either and haven't heard of the book but it would be a fun one to check out. Like you words too.. especially Plust... that would be a good clown word to use.
Tragus - the little flap on the ear.
Obsequious - adoring/fawning.
Raspberry - that blowing sound babies make (why is it called a raspberry?).
Feed - the most important part of a pen. It controls the exchange of ink and air within a pen.
Welt - the strip of material that joins a shoe's upper half to the sole.
Xylem (and Phloem) - the vascular network of plants. Xylem carries nutrients up from the roots to the leaves, and Phloem carries sugars from the leaves to other areas of the plant.
Can I use them in a sentence?
He bombilated until his office mate's eyes betrayed an irritated brontide that precipitated bromidrosis in spite of his blandiloquent request for help with a new project.
bombilate--to hum or buzz continuously
brontide--the low rumbling of distant thunder
bromidrosis--strong perspiration
blandiloquent--flattering or ingratiating speech
This could make for great writing exercises!
Awesome thread!
I suffer from Anatidaephobia.
Anatidaephobia - The fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you.
I actually tried to post that one, and had an image upload problem.
Ducks are awesome.
I used to hate it when those sneaky ducks were watching as we tried to shoot them down from the sky.
Laughing.... this is very very funny....habee your post is a cracker.....!!
Good post habee...
I made a note of these words (and pages and pages more) when I was reading Lawrence Durrell's 'Balthazar'. Still don't know what some of them mean, will have to look them up, but interesting words:
truckle bed - a low bed on casters, a trundle bed
sordid purlieus - lower class neighborhood
bull's pizzle - (uh oh) Bull's penis (hope I'm allowed to say that)
gonfalons - flag or insignia
Rhinoplasty also know around the world as a nose job or cosmetic surgery to the nose....
This is a word I learned to spell in about the 5th grade, at that time thought to be the longest word in the English language. I didn't know what it meant back then, but here it is.
antidisestablishmentarianism.....Opposition to the disestablishment of a state religion. (from the Urban Dictionary.
One word I really like is "innocuous," and I'm not even sure I spelled it right. I don't hear it used much, but sometimes it just seems more reasonable to say than "harmless." Why is that? I don't know. But I generally choose another word when I'm speaking and think of it, as I'm afraid people will think I'm trying to talk big or afraid they won't know what it means. Sorry, that's all I can offer. So many have offered so much more! That word just came to mind.
Hey, let's use the words in sentences!
offal - slaughterhouse scraps
Mommy dear, are these sausages made from offal? That's awful!
interdigitation - holding hands, basically
As a young child, I often engaged in premarital homosexual and heterosexual interdigitation - and my parents approved!
LOL, habee. That's hilarious. Well done!
LOL, habee...that's too funny. I'm reminded of one of my mom's stories from her high school days. She decided to have some fun with the teacher; the assignment was define the spelling words and use them in sentences. Just for a lark, she managed to put them all into a single, sensible sentence!
Are you guys beginning to see why I just HAD to become an English/lit/writing teacher??
fell - the "silver skin" covering on some meats
I removed the fell from the pork ribs, but it fell onto the floor.
snood - a hood-like garment for women
I think she looks rather snooty in her snood.
crepitus - the popping and cracking sounds made by old or damaged joints
I crept in quietly, but the crepitus in my knees gave me away.
"Oh, lordy, you had to go there and bring up crepitus," she said creakily...
Casket lowering device ---
Here's a funny story. I was rushing to write a graveyard scene and didn't know the name for the thing that lowers the caskets into the ground. I did not want to guess or use a stupid sounding term like "casket lowering device", so I wrote around the problem.
One of my friends read my story and wrote to me. He said, " I could tell you didn't know the name of the device... You won't believe this, but it is called a 'casket lowering device'"
He worked in the funeral industry.
Good one! Hey, we could make history by assigning a name to the device. Suggestions? How 'bout:
flesh elevator
"the bogger"
the final stepper
the giant leap
the corpse cliff
Xenonlit--so cool. And I love habee's ideas!
LOL, habee. You guys are doing just fine on your own. My brain is a little fried.
Thanks, Victoria L. I love it when Habee has a forum post. I come here for the forums these days! She should be a regular feature.
Xenonlit--I'll have to check her forum posts out more often. :-)
These are so funny, habee. I vote for the final stepper.
This are all funny. Will have to share with my sister who use to be in the biz.
How about -- The final Decline
A few more from Balthazar:
bulging sumpters - something to do with a camel
spiring pigeons - spiring is a construction like a steeple that forms a point on top.
lintel - a beam over a door
turpid - muddy or cloudy (water)
Sorry these aren't funny Pizzle!
.
The forums seem a lot more fun now that the election is over. lol. Everyone seems to be getting along better. Maybe we're all just in the Christmas spirit? Whatever it is, I like it!
Amen! Those nasty forums make me anxious!
Mastication (eating/chewing food) and matriculation (getting into college). Maybe Myocardial infarction (Heart Attack!). Well, hopefully that last one isn't everyday stuff too much.
One more: Antidisestablishmentarianism - being opposed to a state religion.
Fun! My best buddy and I in 9th grade looked up that word and memorized it--the pronunciation, not the definition. We were trying to learn new words every day or so, and that was one we found since it was so long!
Cool. It is a fun word, so long. I want to state again that my original definition above is inaccurate: The meaning of the word is that of being opposed to the separation of religion and the state. Which is a funny way of saying it means a person is in favor of there being a state religion, it seems.
Oops! I meant, being opposed to getting rid of state religion...or getting rid of the connection between the two, state and religion. Too groggy right now to make sense.
rankle - means "to annoy". I use it often, and whenever I do that my colleagues would say, "Rankle"? Hahaha.
Obfuscate: to make something unclear, unintelligible or bewildering
and it has an associated noun: obfuscation
and adjective: obfuscatory
Reading these forums can sometimes be an overwhelmingly obfuscatory experience
I think politicians and lawyers have cornered the market on obfuscation!
Willy Nilly - carrying out something without clear direction or goals.
Pedagogical - a pedagogue is a teacher. A lecturer at university was trying to teach us something. One of the bright students asked an extension question which the lecturer refused to answer "for pedagogical reasons" . In other words we were so thick that more information would just confuse us.
One lovely ambiguous or equivocal statement "I'm always pleased to see your back again" or "I'm always pleased to see you're back again".
I told one class that a number of them were bright hard working swots, some of them were like the cartoon character Garfield -they just wanted their tummmies rubbed, and a number of them were just bobbing along like dead guppy fish at the top of the tank.
Charles James said:
"Pedagogical - a pedagogue is a teacher.... "
Challenge for someone: Define the difference between pedagogical and didactic
Pedagogical is closer to pedantics or obsessed with the minute detail, whereas didactic learning is by it's nature more artful, poetic and fun.
Didactic can also mean manipulative speech, designed to mislead: think "politicians"... false moralizing, etc... ;-)
Interesting. I have not come across that sense of didactic.
As for spelling, I know what the word means, I see it and use it frequently in my work, but I cannot get the spelling of "pharmacopoeia" right on first attempt, ever...
... and I don't even attempt to get my head round the US and UK variants of it!
Oh, how about, "hornswoggled." ... A state of stunned amazement or bewilderment/confusion.
"Well, I'll be hornswoggled! i never thought I'd see a cat and a dog be friends."
(Although, I actually have, and know better...many species get along better than we humans...that was just the only thing I could think of to use...)
Which reminds me of "gobsmacked." Smacked: hit, Gob: mouth. So hit in the mouth.
But is typically used to mean astounded, flabbergasted (another good word), or speechless.
Had that one used on me the other day (crazy british!) and it cracked me up.
This is so much fun, can't wait for the hub. Unfortunately I'm not erudite enough to contribute (lacking in scholary knowledge).
Nasolabial folds. How many of you know what that is? I sell makeup for Avon, so I know what it is, and thought everyone knew. But they don't. Not even some Avon Ladies. And talk to a prospective customer about her nasolabial folds and all you'll get is a blank look. Most of us here are writers and love words. Words are our life, but nasolabial fold means nothing to the average person. The nasolabial folds are the lines that run from the nose to the mouth. Everyone sees them when they look in the mirror. Every woman over 25 worries about them, but hardly anyone knows what they're called!
I think didactic is where you are telling. Pedagogue embraces any teacher led learning.
"mithering" is a Lancashire expression which means nagging or constant complaining.
"nattering" is the mindless conversation of women.
"archaic"?
I do hope 'nattering' is not gender specific?
I have never heard the word used to describe the conversation of males or mixed groups. Sorry!
Yes it most definitely is. As is "yak", "yap", "chatter" and "gossip".
Gentlemen converse. And run and hide...
What a neat thread.
Some of us learned the meanings of words and how to spell them only through reading. My daughter and I were talking about this the other day, when she used the word burgeoning (bursting forth, flourishing, growing quickly) but pronounced it burguning (with a hard "g"). She used the word correctly to get her thoughts across, but it did sound odd. As it happened, she learned the word while reading one of my mother's "historical romance" books (substitute "romance novel") when she was about eleven or twelve, but never had the occasion to speak the word until now. Here are some of the others:
Chagrin - "chargin" with a hard "ch" and a hard "g", accent on the first syllable
Debutante - "debootat"
Naive - "nave"
I read somewhere a long time ago that the average number of different words a native American English speaker uses in day-to-day conversation is about 500. That doesn't mean more words aren't known or written, just that more words may not be spoken.
Great topic for a hub, Holle.
Your daughter is well-read. I used to read all the time as a kid (no TV--a long story), but I remember hearing adults speak of a certain card game, pronounced as "pee-nuckle". I had never seen the word in print, but one day in a store, when I was 10 or 12, I saw for sale a deck of cards for the game. My word-attack skills from all that reading were good enough that I recognized that the "Pinochle Deck" was the spelling for that card game.
(I don't and have never played the game--I don't know anyone who does, so it's odd I'd heard it in conversation.)
But, it rather makes me irritable that people have trouble spelling (typos aside), words that they recognize and know when reading. If you see "weight," e.g., and know what word you've read, how can you have trouble spelling it? I go through this with my husband on a daily basis... and his IQ is near genius level.... :: sigh ::
Oh, I don't know, Dzy. Some people just have a hard time when they're spelling words. Their brains don't catch that they're spelling something wrong; that the letter goes there instead of where their pencil put it. Or maybe they're just not paying attention; their mind is somewhere besides there on the paper where they're working. Possibly they're reading their as there, and never knowing the difference.
Given them time - wait - and they might learn to spell even that word.
LOL, wilderness--that particular trio you've used is probably THE most common mix-up we see! I do have to admit, English is one of the hardest languages, bastard that it is, borrowing from so many others...
But, there are also those who won't even try; who don't think spelling is important; who don't realize or care that a homophone is still not the right word with the meaning they intended. They operate strictly by phonetics, and let the reader sort out what they meant... Sadly, my husband fits this category. He's constantly asking me, "how do you spell.. (whatever word of the moment)...???" to the point where I have provided him a list of his most frequently requested word spellings; still, he'd rather just ask than look at the list!
He's good a math, though--and I'm inclined to think it follows. He's good a math; sucks at spelling, while I'm good with words and suck at math...
:: shrug ::
We should get our spouses together; my wife can't spell a lick. She's just opposite, though - she can recognize a word in print, and speak it, but can't for the life of her produce even an attempt to sound it out to anything like the correct spelling.
Don't think I can go with you on the math/spelling, though. I do well at both, probably I like math and love to read. The world's worst at grammar, though - I can't even follow the conversation when it comes to grammar and usually don't know the meaning of the words!
hubby can read, and recognize words, hence the second part of my comment.. LOL
He claims, however, to be 'burned out' on reading, he had to do so much of it in pursuit of his Master's Degree -- "later in life" as they say...
Pinochle is one of our family's favorite games. As for my daughter, she learned to say it before she learned to read it. It's so interesting how people learn...we're all different. For some, maybe as for your husband, the "proper" spelling just isn't important for what he has to get across...complex subject.
Doxy: a sexually promiscuous woman or a mistress, female lover.
Speaking of doxy, I was amused tonight when passing the frozen desserts section in Sainsburys to see a "Millionaire's Tart" on offer.
Funny you should mention that because I bought one of those just the other day. I don't know where you are, but they had them reduced where I am and let's face it, a bargain is a bargain so why not?
I'm afraid no tarts were going cheap in Pontypridd tonight.
Well, not in Sainsburys at least....
Pontypridd? That's near Cardiff isn't it? One of my boys went on a trip with the school near there. Mind you, that was a long time ago. I must still have the post card he sent me somewhere. I love to treasure all those little things. Let's face it, those times don't come around again, do they?
Ponty is about 8 miles north-westish of Cardiff. I live in Treorci, which is another 11 miles NW up the valley of the Rhondda Fawr. We only have a very small Co-op, which is OK for basics but a bit limited. Thus, I end up going some of the time to ASDA 3 miles away in Llwynypia, Sainsburys in Ponty or Tesco in Talbot Green 12 miles away.
I moved here from Arnold, Notts, where I had a big Sainsburys and big ASDA just a few minutes walk away. However, what I've lost in shopping convenience, I've more than gained in many other things.
I, too, was in Sainsburys today (cringes) and also saw the "Millionaires Tart" mind boggling, I opted for a stollen.
Did they have them reduced where you are. 10% off in Sainsbury's Superstore, Clapham Common.
I live in Manchester. I despise supermarkets at the best of times, let alone the this time of year. I take my mum shopping (she's in her eighties) I noticed loads of stuff at half price, put just a few things in my trolly and it came it came to ninety odd quid; I hadn't even bought any basics like bread or toilet rolls!
I finished my shopping elsewhere, although why I've bought such a ridiculous amount of food is beyond me. I feel like a daft, conformist, must have enough to feed an army type at Christmas, and I'm not usually like that.
I know what you mean. When the boys lived at home we did all our shopping at Tescos once a month. But, you know, you always run out of something or other, so i still found myself at the local Sainsbury's once a week. But what do they say, a woman's work is never done. At least we've got cars these days. Don't fancy lugging everything home in shopping bags like my mum had too in the old days.
Dang! I really envy you hubbers who are in England. I wanna visit soooooo bad!
Well, I'm not in England, I'm in Wales. I escaped here from England 5 years ago.
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