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Weird Words... (Read 70107 times)

slackline

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Weird Words...
December 30, 2008, 10:01:33 am
In investigating the origins of the text currently up on the UKB shop I came across an unusual word that I didn't know the meaning of...

retromingent an animal that urinates backwards - such as the camel, hippo or raccoon; Set up so as to urinate backwards; cowardly.

Can't see me ever using it that often though, any coward would have run away!

What unusual words do you know, and do you ever actually use them?


EDIT :  :-[
« Last Edit: December 30, 2008, 10:14:55 am by slack---line »

GCW

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#1 Re: Wierd Words...
December 30, 2008, 10:05:42 am
I know a few:

Weird
Discombobulation
Pusil****ous (yes, I sometimes use it and get criticised for it :lol: )
Borborygmi is something I use occasionally

SA Chris

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#2 Re: Weird Words...
December 30, 2008, 10:18:17 am
I like Porphyry. An unusual letter combination.

And Paraphernalia. Just like saying it.

slackline

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#3 Re: Weird Words...
December 30, 2008, 10:21:32 am
I sometimes excuse myself saying I need to micturate, but people just think I'm taking the piss.

SA Chris

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#4 Re: Weird Words...
December 30, 2008, 12:09:25 pm
:)

Was it Ben Johnson (the sprinter) who said "Are you going to give me a gold medal or take the piss?"

andy_e

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#5 Re: Weird Words...
December 30, 2008, 06:05:48 pm
Panopticon
Microcosm

Duma

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#6 Re: Weird Words...
December 30, 2008, 06:12:29 pm
Right, having to have looked up everything but microcosm so far, any chance of including some definitions in future posts?

onomatopoeic is a favourite (sounds like what it's describing, ie buzz)

slackline

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#7 Re: Weird Words...
December 30, 2008, 10:57:00 pm
Right, having to have looked up everything but microcosm so far, any chance of including some definitions in future posts?

onomatopoeic is a favourite (sounds like what it's describing, ie buzz)

My favourite onomatopoeic is "orange"

slackline

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#8 Re: Weird Words...
December 31, 2008, 11:59:09 am
Right, having to have looked up everything but microcosm so far, any chance of including some definitions in future posts?

Forgot to say, perhaps the easiet way of looking up a definition is to enter 'define: [word]' into Google (no need for the quotes, but the colon is key), example of results linked below.

Not particularly obscure but I just used ameliorate which I don't use very often but have just used in another post.




slackline

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#9 Re: Wierd Words...
December 31, 2008, 12:05:20 pm
Pusil****ous (yes, I sometimes use it and get criticised for it :lol: )

My wife castigates me when I use words that she doesn't know and we often have petty arguments over this.  My stance is that I can't possibly double guess her or anyone else's vocabulary and if I know a word that succinctly conveys what I am trying to say its not my responsibility to try and guess whether the person I'm talking to or writing to will know it.  If they haven't understood what I've said and are really bothered about understanding what I'm saying then they can either ask me for clarification or live in ignorance.

She thinks I'm being snobbish using words that she doesn't know, but thats not the case, there are many wonderful words that describe or convey more meaning than a dumbed down description that uses several words to describe something.

Despite the above use of Google I still keep a dictionary to hand on my desk.  Maybe I'm just weird, I did used to read dictionarys for "fun" when I was younger  :-[

robertostallioni

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#10 Re: Wierd Words...
December 31, 2008, 12:53:22 pm

slackline

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#11 Re: Wierd Words...
December 31, 2008, 01:56:59 pm
dictionarys

Can this one go in?

 :oops:  :lol: really need to get in the habit of using the Spell Check

GCW

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#12 Re: Weird Words...
January 01, 2009, 04:49:39 pm
Mondegreen.

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slackline

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#14 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 11:36:53 am

dave

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#15 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 11:43:06 am
i love masticating a sausage at the dinnertable.

another good one is verisimilitude, for the david ward fans out there.

also one of my favourite bits of wordage, from The Wrong Trousers: "its no use prevaricating about the bush".


GCW

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#16 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 11:44:38 am


Slackers, you are a sesquipedalian, whereas I have hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
I have an issue with the wife and her scurryfunge.
Purfled.
Squizzle.
Crytoscopophilia.
Pulchritudinous.
The other day I had some curglaff, but after lunting I felt much better. If only I could sort out my jirging.

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#17 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 11:51:37 am
another good one is verisimilitude, for the david ward fans out there.

Nice one, that's well pulchritudinous.

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#18 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 11:57:17 am
I once submitted a paper to my PhD supervisor entitled "The Peripatetic Perambulations of Polydimethylsiloxane in Plasma Processed Polypropylene".

dave

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#19 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 12:00:54 pm
this is rapidly turning into the dictionary episode of backadder 3.

I once submitted a paper to my PhD supervisor entitled "The Peripatetic Perambulations of Polydimethylsiloxane in Plasma Processed Polypropylene".

a bit like "Proper Planning & Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance".

SA Chris

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#20 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 12:05:21 pm
Very David Brent that is.

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#21 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 12:07:33 pm
 :lol:

That's amazing! Talking of the crazy deployment of modern discourse, some of you might know the story surrounding the physicist Alan Sokal and his contribution to Frederic Jameson's journal Social Texts. He basically made up a lot of faux theoretical lexicons and  concepts and his article was published.

A synopsis of the hoax here

slackline

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#22 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 12:26:34 pm
:lol:

That's amazing! Talking of the crazy deployment of modern discourse, some of you might know the story surrounding the physicist Alan Sokal and his contribution to Frederic Jameson's journal Social Texts. He basically made up a lot of faux theoretical lexicons and  concepts and his article was published.

A synopsis of the hoax here

Yeah, come across that before, first time was when I stumbled upon the Post Modern Generator which implements such pointless ramblings on the fly.

chillax

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#23 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 12:41:56 pm
http://obsoleteword.blogspot.com/

I quite liked tziganologist.

tomtom

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#24 Re: Weird Words...
January 08, 2009, 12:52:58 pm
Yeah, come across that before, first time was when I stumbled upon the Post Modern Generator which implements such pointless ramblings on the fly.

Thats completely made my day.. I can have so much fun winding my colleagues up with that...
Excellent work Slackers.

My word of the day (that I do sometimes use) is:
Palimpsest

 

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