Hey folks, did you know that there are lots of words for things? LOTS. OF. WORDS. It’s thrilling, isn’t it? I think words are just sublime. I think they are so sublime, in fact, that I subscribe to the AWAD newsletter, and get a fabulous new word in my email box every single day.
I posted my superhero, the Baroness Von Blistering Monarch, a few days ago, but I think that, in reality, if I were a superhero (yes, I realize that the previous half-dozen words make no real sense), I would be some sort of vocabulary-stretching-crusader with a thesaurus in one hand and a wand in the other.
The wand would be a handy gadget that would instantly transform sub-par adjectives into rockin’ descriptives with a flick of the wrist. I have long held that it is simply a lack of imagination that causes average people to spew the F-bomb rather than find a rich and wonderful epithet to fling.
After all, if the corner hoodlum knew that words such as extortionate, termagant, puerile and lachrymose even existed, he wouldn’t have to say that the f***’in landlady b**** was p***’in him off for raising his f***’in rent, would he?
When I was a kid in high school, we had a little curriculum called “Word Wealth” that introduced us to new and wondrous words each week, and to this day I remember many of them. Obstreperous, pugnacious, and querulous, for example, are trotted out frequently now and then when I feel like making a good impression.
Here are a few of my more recent favorites:
Ambisinister: (am-bi-SIN-uh-stuhr) adjective: Clumsy with both hands. (Literally, with two left hands.)
Pantagruelian (pan-tuh-groo-EL-ee-uhn) adjective Enormous; Displaying extravagant and coarse humor
Atrabilious (at-ruh-BIL-yuhs) adjective: Gloomy; Ill-tempered.
Isn’t this fun? Aren’t you just dying to try one of these babies on for size? Okay, a few more:
callipygian (kal-uh-PIJ-ee-uhn) adjective: Having well-shaped buttocks.
Jobbernowl (JOB-uh-nowl) noun: A blockhead.
Kerfuffle (kuhr-FUHF-uhl) noun: A commotion.
and one which is especially intriguing…
Ichor…(ahy-kawr noun)… because its meanings are a bit dichotomous, to say the least. On the one hand, it means an ethereal fluid flowing in the veins of the gods. Which sounds rather lofty and exalted, doesn’t it? But the flip side is an acrid, watery discharge, as from an ulcer or wound.
Um. Ew.
So hey, let’s have some fun! Use one or more of these words in a real, honest-to-goodness sentence in the comments and if any of them make me LOL for reals then I’ll reward the appropriate wordsmith with this:
It’s my very first, totally personal award. Featuring my verymost favorite mollusk, your friendly neighborhood octopus. You know you want him. So go ahead: make my verbal day. Literally.
Joshua, always adept at causing a kerfuffle with his medical adventures, has put me in a most atrabilious mood with his querulousness. Being sleep-deprived does that to a person, ya know!
I think I remember the word callipygian recently being used to discribe the first lady. And if I remember correctly it got that reporter into a little hot water!
One of my favorites that I like to use at work when someone spends way too much time describing an attribute of one of our patients, is “superfluous”. I just say “Isn’t this information rather superfluous?” (ie why are you wasting my time)
They usually stop right there.
Thanks for the link to AWAD.
Hey, you gave us callipygian in a previous post. I remember becaused I told you that it described my husband. As in, “I married you for your callipygian physique.” Which I did.
You may already know about this site, heck you may have been the one to link to it. My memory is bad!!
http://www.freerice.com
Ah, you always make me think – and that is a good thing
How about: Jennifer Lopez is a callipygian jobbernowl known to cause a kerfuffle whenever she appears in public.
OK, there’s no way I can top Kate’s sentence! But I must find a way to work kerfuffle into my day – that’s a truly great word!!
How about this:
A loud kerfuffle ensued in the diner kitchen when the cook, an ambisinister jobbernowl, who was waving the coffee pot around while telling a pantagruelian story, dropped it, thereby depriving us all of our morning cup-of-joe and rocketing us all into a foul and atrabilious mood.
Couldn’t fit that icky ichor word in there…!
Could you provide info on the “word a day” email service? My 12-year old daughter is displaying an interest in learning new words. I’d like to think it was for something noble, like writing, but I fear she just wants to be able to insult her younger brother in clever and pithy ways without him having a clue of what she is saying…. Sigh.
Adrienne
PBS Kids… Word Girl! She is the superhero of words who saves the day. My 5-year-old loves her.
After my 1 1/2 hour kerfuffle with my atrabilious oldest son last evening whose strong will flows from him like ichor (to which I handled the situation like an ambisinister jobbernowl), I am too brain-dead to create something clever, so I will just go work out and try to create a callipygian instead.
Midlife seems to have rendered me both ambisinister and atrabillious. I have resolved to, however, work hard to remain callipygian, despite a rapacious appetite for chocolate.
The ambisinister octoped discharged an ichorous substance of irrelevant proportions creating a kerfuffle in the primal sea after a callypigian jobbernowl had stepped upon his wayward tentacle, said pantagruelian jobbernowl turned to her bon ami and exclaimed, “That atrabilious mollusk has stained my tillblivelse tinted turqoise toes with it’s fowl piss.”
I may be altrabilious and pantagruelian, but she is an ambisinister jobbernowl with callipygian curves!
aurgh…foul, not fowl…don’t check for spelling…puh-lease!
Sarah – you rock!!!!
why, thank ya, thank ya very much…
What a coincidence… when taking my son to school this morning, I suddenly remembered that I had not switched my AWAD subscription when I changed my email address a few months back. And then you post this today with a convenient link to sign back up. Thanks!
Thought you might also like to see this list of 100 funny-sounding words:
http://yubanet.com/oddnews/100-Funniest-Words-in-English.php
The ichor of the Goddess Maw-leen turned suddenly to ice when her consort mentioned, in what was obviously a pantagruelian joke, that it is again tax time, thus risking a major kerfuffle, and perhaps a kick in his non-callipygian rear, not to mention a very atrabilious goddess on his hands (not the ambisinister type). Whew! So nanny-nanny-boo-boo to you, Sarah.
You are so funny…..I love it!
OK, here is my lame attempt, I am not very good with fancy words.
I was hoping to attain callipygian status with my newly aquired jeans….
(http://pridelandsmommy.blogspot.com/2009/02/good-pair-of-jeans.html)
thinking you might appreciate the humor about finally splurging on something for yourself (as a mom) instead of scraping the barrel after the kids’ needs have been taking care of.
Peace
*~Michelle~*
can’t. resist. playing. with. words. (even though I should be sleeping). Okay, here goes.
Poor Mr. Dole
was an ambisinister ol’ soul
who couldn’t secure a zipper.
His neighbours around
would stare at the ground
or self consciously eye up his slipper
Though Cole was not spry
he was a tough guy,
infamously pantagruelian
He knew what a fright
was caused by the sight
of his exposure so non utopian
What made his neighbours atrabilious
HE found quite hilarious
and right in the public square
Being callipygian
and borderline bacchanalian
he exposed his derriere
The folk called him foul
a real Jobbernowl
and oh did it cause a kerfuffle
All over they whacked him
quite harshly attacked him
in a most aggressive scuffle
Then bruised and sore
and oozing ichor
out of town did poor Dole shuffle.
Dole, Dole… where did that Cole come from. Sigh
I’ve always wanted to be a callipygian but instead I am a sag-ipygian.