Neat Words
Its cheaper to collect words than books – its harder to copyright a word. Take that, public domain! Ha! If you’d like to see a much bigger collection of entertaining words, visit Forthright at The Phrontistery. The more obscure words on this list were most likely discovered on his site.
abditory – a secret hiding place for objects of value; the adjective for this word is abditive, which is also pretty neat.
avoirdupois – weight, or heaviness. Also, a system of measurements based off the pound which is still used in the US and some parts of Canada.
brephophagist – someone who eats babies
billingsgate – coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language; think of the drill sargeant from Full Metal Jacket
famulus – a private secretary, attendent, or intern
flapdoodle – foolish talk, nonsense; originally used as “the stuff they feed fools on”
flibbertigibbit – chattering gossip, a flighty woman (or devil, evidently)
martinet – a strict disciplinarian, a stickler for rules
palaver – unnecessary talk, a fuss, usually before or after a meeting
palfrey – a saddle horse, specifically for women
pulchritude – beauty: physical beauty (literary or humorous)
courtesy of Ben from Relevant Tangent
tyromancy – divination by cheese curds
weltschmerz (VELT-shmerts) – world weariness; pessimism, apathy or sadness felt at the difference between physical reality and the ideal state
zatch – female genitalia (much cuter sounding than “snatch,” I think)
zufolo – a small flute used to train songbirds
Ben said,
February 27, 2006 @ 10:25 pm
pulchritude [púlkri tyood] noun
beauty: physical beauty (literary or humorous)
[14th century. From Latin pulchritudo, from pulcher ‘beautiful’.]
Tildy said,
March 3, 2006 @ 1:53 am
Thats a good one! I remember using “pulchritudity” as a voice warmup in high school. Neat!
Bum Cheek said,
April 27, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
My fav word that my freind Invented is Schnicks Ticks…. hahah you say it instead of swearing if you hurt yourself … ya this is kinda a random post considering it is made up.. oh well. I do like Flap Doodle though!