Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Weird Words For Your Writing Pleasure

About a year ago, the millionth word was officially added to the English language. The word with that dubious honor was "Web 2.0" (yes, I know it has numbers in it; I'm not in charge of the English language here :-), which is a term that refers to "the second, more social generation of the Internet."

I'm not sure whether it's a noun, a verb, or an adjective. Maybe it's meant to be all of them, like many other web terms have become (Google, Twitter, and Facebook, to name a few).

Anyway, there are a MILLION WORDS in the English language. That's a lot of words. Here are twenty of them you probably haven't heard. Feel free to use them in your writing, or blow someone's mind with them at your next Scrabble game.

(You may note that "defenestrate" is not on the list. I didn't include it because, strangely enough, most writers seem to know that one. In case you don't, it means "the act of throwing someone or something out a window" - as you'd like to do with your couch when someone's car alarm is going off right outside your house.)

Erinaceous: Like a hedgehog
Lamprophony: Loudness and clarity of voice
Depone: To testify under oath
Finnimbrun: A trinket or knick-knack
Floccinaucinihilipilification: Estimation that something is valueless. Proper pronunciation based on Latin: flockə-nowsə-nəkələ-pələ-fək-ation.
Inaniloquent: Pertaining to idle talk
Limerance: An attempt at a scientific study into the nature of romantic desire.
Mesonoxian: Pertaining to midnight
Mungo: A dumpster diver; one who extracts valuable things from trash
Nihilarian: A person who deals with things lacking importance (pronounce the ‘h’ like a ‘k’).
Nudiustertian: The day before yesterday
Phenakism: Deception or trickery
Pronk: A weak or foolish person
Pulveratricious: Covered with dust
Rastaquouere: A social upstart, especially from a Mediterranean or Latin American country; a smooth untrustworthy foreigner
Scopperloit: Rude or rough play
Selcouth: Unfamiliar, rare, strange, marvelous, wonderful.
Tyrotoxism: To be poisoned by cheese
Widdiful: Someone who deserves to be hanged
Zabernism: The abuse of military power or authority.

5 comments:

Hart Johnson said...

There are some GREAT WORDS here! I am particularly keen on Erinaceous, Floccinaucinihilipilification, Nihilarian, Nudiustertian (mostly because it seems naked), and Tyrotoxism (in fact I have a USE for that last one in an upcoming scene!)

Now, off too engage in some Scopperloit. *snort*

s.w. vaughn said...

LOL I am also quite fond of erinaceous. I mean, who can resist a word that means 'like a hedgehog'? *G*

It's awesome that you can use one of these! Have fun scopperloiting (I wonder if that word is supposed to be conjugated? LOL)!

Hart Johnson said...

I wrote a little story on my blog today that included many of these (about 3/4 of them)--not bad considering it was only about a paragraph... if anyone is curious.

http://waterytart23.blogspot.com/2010/07/thursdays-descent.html

Kim Smith said...

I knew there was a word for this!!!!
Mungo: A dumpster diver; one who extracts valuable things from trash

Marta Stephens said...

Wow! I just now got a chance to read these. Hmmmm,I'd like to see how someone would react to being called a Pronk!! LOL