"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way."
Words that I like:
- Compendium
- bizarre
- weird
- connotation
- rummage
- bibliograph
- jingle
- frolic
- perception
- extravagance
- perambulation
- vehicular
Words I don't like:
- vagaries
- bell
- brochure
- bulldog
- exercise-book
- tumble
- saxaphone
- straight
- cafetiere
Here are some old words no longer in common use:
bablatrice - a female babbler
chaterestre - a talkative woman
erinaceous - like a hedgehog; a person with prickly manners
deuterogamist - someone who marries a second time
dictioneer - person who takes it upon themselves to criticise diction or writing style
finnimbrun - a knickknack or trinket
flagitation - asking or demanding with passion; begging
funambulist - a tightrope walker; a person who thinks quickly on their feet
heterarchy - government by strangers or foreigners, literally "rule of an alien"
hibernacle - winter home of hibernating animal; a sunshine retreat for people
leighster - a female liar
loranthaceous - related to mistletoe family; kisses given or received under the mistletoe
lordswike - a person who deceives their boss; a traitor
mouton enrage - an angry person who is usually calm, literally "mad sheep"
nullo - someone who has undergone an elective amputation for the purposes of body modification, usually of a toe
rhinarium - the hairless and moist nose of some mammals
snollygoster - a dishonest politician, especially a shrewd or calculating one
solfeggist - someone who sings notes using do, re, mi, fa, sol, la and ti woofits - an unwell feeling, especially a headache; a moody depression; a hangover.
My favourite is loranthaceous although I don't think I'll be using it often. Now, snollygoster will be in constant use!
Going to bed now 'cos I've got a touch of the Woofits.
By the way, I get unreasonably wound up by people who pronounce the word 'aitch' as 'haitch'.
2 comments:
I'm known as a bit of a dictioneer in work. But I feel it's one's duty to put the lower classes right.
I hate it when people spell something with a "haitch": Hat is spelt aitch-a-t not Haitch-a-t!
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