|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Interesting Words
|
bib
Shipmate
# 13074
|
Posted
I have a fascination with words and delight in collecting ones that particularly appeal. My latest gem is BUMFUZZLE which means to confuse. I'm wondering what words appeal to shipmates.
[ 17. September 2017, 22:45: Message edited by: Trudy Scrumptious ]
--------------------
"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
|
Posted
* defenestrate
* philtrum
* pelagic
* estuary
--------------------
The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
We have a long0running feature at the Book View Cafe blog, titled The Languaage Attic. Ol words are turned up an iscussed. I have one 'fistiana' an 'ovine'.
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
|
Posted
My latest words-I-like-and-can't-stop-using are 'torque' and 'high-octane' as an adjective.
--------------------
“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
Posts: 646 | From: Cape Town | Registered: Nov 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
We have a long0running feature at the Book View Cafe blog, titled The Languaage Attic. Ol words are turned up an iscussed. I have one 'fistiana' an 'ovine'.
I flirted with the idea of putting 'corvine' in my list - as a matter of fact, I like all the 'ines' and sort of collect them...
--------------------
The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
|
Posted
If you like interesting words, I highly recommend Mark Forsyth's book The Horologicon where he gives a whole tour de force of the delights of the English language. Start your day with the thrumbling of the kettle, and go on from there.
--------------------
Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
|
Posted
'Concatenation', as in 'a concatenation of events leading up to the murder....' ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
'Dumbledore' - a lovely onomatopoeic old English dialect word for 'bumblebee' ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
'Lustrum' - as in a period of five years, pace Ancient Rome, but used (IIRC) by some sci-fi/horror writers to signify immeasurable periods of time... ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
That'll do for now. I LURVE words!
IJ
--------------------
Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
|
Posted
Serendipity, first encountered as the name of a boat sailed by friends of my parents when I was a child, so named because it was acquired serendipitously.
Crepuscular and pulchritudinous for the sounds of the words, and because they both bring me up short when i read them. The sounds of the words summon up images of encrusted or seeping diseases, not evening twilight and outstanding beauty.
--------------------
Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
|
Posted
Likewise, 'pusillanimous' always sounds more aggressive than its actual meaning, to wit, showing a lack of courage or determination.
IJ
--------------------
Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Galilit
Shipmate
# 16470
|
Posted
"distilled"
"contrast"
"concommitant"
"sunrise" and "sunset"
"kingfisher"
--------------------
She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.
Posts: 624 | From: a Galilee far, far away | Registered: Jun 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
A chap on the BBC News this evening used "mendacious". ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Bene Gesserit
Shipmate
# 14718
|
Posted
Rebarbative.
--------------------
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Posts: 405 | From: Flatlands of the East | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
|
Posted
Catastrophe.
Though you've got to say it right for the best effect - leaning on the second syllable.
--------------------
The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
Hmm ... do you mean "ca-TAS-trofe"? (Perhaps not).
"Sesquipedalian".
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
|
Posted
Lay half-sleep in bed on Sunday morning and a crowd of much-loved words came to me.
vertiginous
viridian
The title of Joseph Massey's poetry collection, a word he found in Emily Dickinson: Illocality
petrichor, the smell of the earth after rain
ambient
temenos, from the Greek, meaning sanctuary
liminal
oneiromancy, the art of deciphering dreams
parataxis
clairvoyant
papillon (masc) from the French for butterfly
--------------------
“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
Posts: 646 | From: Cape Town | Registered: Nov 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Which brings us to prevarication and procrastination.
Are you absolutely sure about that? If I were you, I'd take a long time making up my mind, and leave all my options open.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Hmm ... do you mean "ca-TAS-trofe"? (Perhaps not).
"Sesquipedalian".
No, I mean ca-TAS-tro-fee (four syllables) ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Sesquipedalian is a fantastic word. I first came across it reading the marvellous "Moab is my Washpot" - Stephen Fry is clearly an avid collector of words, as well. He pairs it with 'pleonastic'.
--------------------
The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by gustava:
Borborygmi and discohesive
There's a word for this? Stomach rumble or urble-burble never seemed expressive enough.
Borborygmi (pl) rumbling or gurgling noises made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines.
'Their tender interlude, lying together in wordless silence in the deep swaying hammock, was only a little marred by her post-prandial borborygmi.'
--------------------
“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
Posts: 646 | From: Cape Town | Registered: Nov 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by MaryLouise:
petrichor, the smell of the earth after rain
This is a thing I much love - and now I know there's a word for it! Thank you!
In line with the slightly science-y nature of that one, I like 'podsol'.
--------------------
The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Eirenist
Shipmate
# 13343
|
Posted
How about 'inspissated'?
--------------------
'I think I think, therefore I think I am'
Posts: 486 | From: Darkest Metroland | Registered: Jan 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
|
Posted
Turpitude. Also flummox.
My favorite Spanish word is romper (to break, from the Latin rumpere).
--------------------
"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Urfshyne
Shipmate
# 17834
|
Posted
Oh how I love a bit of osculation - with my wife, of course.
Posts: 98 | From: Maidenhead - lost | Registered: Sep 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Urfshyne:
Oh how I love a bit of osculation - with my wife, of course.
I once abused that in an engineering report to find out if anyone read it. I am pretty sure they didn't. (The two objects being investigated made osculatory contact). A good word.
--------------------
Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
|
Posted
Driving several miles northward from my place this morning, I came around a corner and was - as always - delighted by the blue-grey mountain that suddenly pops into view. What a lovely massif, I thought. Then I thought, what a lovely word 'massif' is.
--------------------
The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
Cruciverbalist. As I'm a rather keen one, I quite frequently discover new and often delightful words.
I occasionally make them up to fit the clue, and find to my pleasure that they were there all along.
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
wild haggis
Shipmate
# 15555
|
Posted
Hebbie gebbies.
Stramash
Stooshie
Scummer
Shuggle
Skoosh
Cluggie
A'd better haud ma wheesht noo!
A visit to Glasgow will help you translate the above.
--------------------
wild haggis
Posts: 166 | From: Cardiff | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
We have "heebie jeebies" here, and also:
- shinny
- slough (it's said slew!)
- kybo
- gotchies
All said to be Scottishisms, but from when this area was Rupert's Land (they ignored the indigenous peoples) which means 17th-19th centuries.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
bib
Shipmate
# 13074
|
Posted
I'm enjoying the offerings and have added some of them to my little black book.
--------------------
"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
|
Posted
My former manager had sesquipedalian tendencies, so while working late one Saturday night in the lab I sent him a note that I was going to leave before I cucurbitified.
I took great pleasure in the fact that he apparently had to look it up to discover it meant "turn into a pumpkin".
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
And did you depart in a cabriolet, a barouche or a simple Hansom cab?
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
|
Posted
Or perhaps a landau, a chaise, or a brougham?
'Curcurbitified' has go to be The Word Of The Week, though!
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
IJ
--------------------
Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
|
Posted
I often misuse crapulous, though it really means over indulgence; gluttony. In Finnish krapula means a hangover, which I have good reason to remember (I was much younger). Crapulent has the same appealing sound, but also means consumption to excess.
--------------------
Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
|
Posted
A couple of Susie Dent specials:
Gigglemug: someone who is unnecessarily cheerful, especially in the morning.
Testiculate:a man who talks a load of cobblers.
and if I can borrow a Scottishism, dreich which describes 70% of the weather at the moment.
--------------------
'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
It can be dreich in Wales too, but they've probably got a different name for it ...
I'm sure the comedian Lenny Henry coined the word spondilious to mean "great" or "terrific".
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
|
Posted
Runcible.
Invented IIRC by Edward Lear (1812-1888), and applicable as an adjective to just about anything you fancy!
IJ
--------------------
Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
|
Posted
My family at one time referred to a small bit of random fluff one might find on a carpet as a "peem".
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
keibat
Shipmate
# 5287
|
Posted
2017 is the 150th anniversary of the British North America Act which created the Dominion of Canada, and there have been many celebrations of this going on in Canada and elsewhere, including a symposium in London which I was at - where I learnt the gloriously opaque (even with some knowledge of Latin) adjective sesquicentennial which means '150th'.
--------------------
keibat from the finnish north and the lincs east rim
Posts: 93 | From: Alford, Lincs + Turku, Finland | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by keibat:
2017 is the 150th anniversary of the British North America Act which created the Dominion of Canada, and there have been many celebrations of this going on in Canada and elsewhere, including a symposium in London which I was at - where I learnt the gloriously opaque (even with some knowledge of Latin) adjective sesquicentennial which means '150th'.
If you want to go on like that, I wore one of my toques today because it was cold. I didn't wear a bunnyhug. Nor a siwash. Nor pantoufles.
--------------------
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Higgs Bosun
Shipmate
# 16582
|
Posted
quote:
- slough (it's said slew!)
The pronunciation interested me, so I did some digging. From this there are two main definitions:
- a swamp, pronounced to rhyme with 'now', as in Bunyan's "slough of despond"
- a verb to shed, pronounced 'sluff' (c.f. 'rough').
The town of Slough, near Windsor, is presumably named for its swamp. Betjeman did not think much of the place:
quote:
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!
Posts: 313 | From: Near the Tidal Thames | Registered: Aug 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
|
Posted
In common US usage, "slough" is always pronounced "slew" when referring to water features. It is most commonly used for a part of a river that has very little current, such when the water breaks through the narrow part at a bend and leaves the former main channel with water in it, but with little actual flow. It may also refer to a stream that only has significant flow in the rainy season, but stays wet the rest of the year. We have a lot of them around here.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
Western Canada: slough (slew) is a pond with soft edges such that bullrushes and reed etc grow on its edges. Habitat for waterfowl (ducks, geese, herons, cranes etc). A pothole to us is a slough with hard edges, i.e., you can walk up the edge easily. It may have reeds and bullrushes too. They are post-glacial features. We talk of prairie pothole country.
We'd call Carex's sloughs "oxbows".
A bluff here is a patch of trees on the prairie, without a slough. There's no hill involved.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
|
Posted
peely-wally
(used by my Scottish grandmother whenever she saw teenaged me looking what I called soulful)
scintilla, scintillate
(shine on you crazy diamond)
--------------------
“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
Posts: 646 | From: Cape Town | Registered: Nov 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leaf
Shipmate
# 14169
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
Western Canada: slough (slew) is a pond with soft edges such that bullrushes and reed etc grow on its edges. Habitat for waterfowl (ducks, geese, herons, cranes etc). A pothole to us is a slough with hard edges, i.e., you can walk up the edge easily. It may have reeds and bullrushes too. They are post-glacial features. We talk of prairie pothole country.
We'd call Carex's sloughs "oxbows".
A bluff here is a patch of trees on the prairie, without a slough. There's no hill involved.
This is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike accuracy.
Although this shipmate makes frequent claims about how "we" "here" in Western Canada use language, I can say that most of these claims about vocabulary are unknown to me. I have lived across Western Canada and in rural, urban, and small town settings. The claims being made about a huge and diverse landscape actually pertain to a small area of one province, and often the usage is not current usage.
I advise that when reading these claims, one ought to understand that "we" refers to this shipmate and partner (or possibly the majestic plural) and "here" to mean the area immediately surrounding the shipmate's residence.
The moral of this story: Don't incorporate. We don't like it here.
Posts: 2786 | From: the electrical field | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Printer-friendly view
