Looking
for a new way to express certain feelings, events, actions, or ideas that the
current dictionary doesn’t seem to allow for?
Look no further than words that used to be common but now live in
obscurity. So where do you dig up such
words?
Try
flipping through The Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, Snollygosters, and 86 Other
Surprisingly Useful Terms Worth Resurrecting by Joe Gillard.
Why
is there a need to resurrect words that fell out of favor long ago? Gillard writes:
“It’s
hard to define exactly why we love these deity, musty archaic words. Is it the colorful way they sound as you
speak them and hear them? Their odd
specificity? Their uniqueness? They do
come in great variety. And while some
sound fit only for impressing one’s noble peers at an upper-crust Victorian
ball, others sound like the were overheard late at night in a dimly lit Medieval
tavern. Some have ten equally evocative
synonyms, while others may be the only word ever crafted to define a certain
feeling. Whatever their origin, whatever
their use, those words have this in common: they inevitably bring joy in their
rediscovery. “There’s a word for that,”
you will say, in countless conversations, settings, and situations.”
Is
it possible that words like clothing fashion, can come back after virtual
disuse for decades or centuries? Could
it be that we’ll soon start spewing the words spoken by long-lost ancestors?
Here
are a few that seem like they could come back in usage -- provided we all agree to
use them and properly apply them to the right situations:
Accismus – a fake refusal of something you
really want.
i.e.:
Joey may be a master of accismus, but he could never refuse a good chocolate
cake.
Amphigory – a piece of
writing that appears to have meaning but is really just foolish nonsense.
i.e.: The poet’s blog post was amphigory; it reads
like a late-night drunk text to a woman out of his league.
Apanthropy – a desire to be
alone; a distaste for the company of others.
i.e.
After hearing more stories from her patients, Sarah, a therapist, felt
justified to remain an apantropic young lady.
Blatteroon – a person who
talks or boasts incessantly and constantly.
i.e.: The terain conductor had to silence the blatteroon
on his phone.
Famelicose – constantly
hungry.
i.e.:
The people of third-world countries are famelicose because they have few
resources, but Americans suffer from it as well because they lack willpower.
Fogo – an overpowering and unpleasant
stench.
i.e.: The homeless of NYC turned the streets into garbage
with a fogo scent wafting out of them.
Notekin – a little note.
i.e.:
He turned down the job via notekin.
Popinjay – a person who dresses and acts
with vanity and extravagance.
i.e.:
Too many Hollywood celebrities prance around as popinjays while completely
ignoring the fans they insult.
Ramfeezled – exhausted from a
hard day of work.
i.e.:
The union worker was surprisingly ramfeezled.
Scaramouch – a braggart who
is secretly a coward.
i.e.:
All of those politicians are egotistical
scaramomouches who run at the first hint of a challenge to their tweets.
Snool – an obedient, submissive person
who willingly bows to authority.
i.e.:
He took advantage of the snool, demanding she work OT off the clock.
Tortiloquy – immoral or
dishonest speech.
i.e.:
So much of social media is filled with ignorance and tortiloquy.
Ultracrepidarian – a person with
opinions on subjects beyond their knowledge.
i.e.:
Trump, ever the ultracrepidarian, weighed in on the subject of immigration.
Wamblecropt – severe digestive
discomfort.
i.e.:
So many foods, whether organic or genetically mutated, cause wamblecroft.
Prickmedainty – an overly nice
person.
i.e.:
The selfless dad of three is a prickmedainty without a bad bone in his body.
Quidnunc – a gossipy or meddlesome person.
i.e.:
The drunken quidnunc can’t be trusted.
Quanked – exhausted or fatigued from hard
work.
i.e.:
The teen looked quanked but I’ve never seen him help around the house.
“Of the future we know nothing, of the past little, of the present less; the mirror is too close to our eyes, and our own breath dims it.”
--Walter Savage Landor
“What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.”
--Aristotle
“From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.”
--Denis Diderot
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