Whether you’re an abecedarian just developing your logophilia or a longtime sesquipedalian, the English language is a vast vocabulous* sea of endless surprises. I think it’s high time you expanded your lexicon! So as not to frustrate you, I must provide a warning: the images below are not GIFs, despite the “play” symbol. So click as much as you want, but nothing’s gonna move. Now, without further ado, I present to you the 46 quirkiest words I could find on the internet in two hours!
agastopia: admiration of a particular part of someone’s body
argle-bargle: copious but meaningless talk or writing
barn burner: a very exciting or dramatic event, especially a sports contest
bibble: to drink often; to eat and/or drink noisily
blatherskite: a person who talks at great length without making much sense
cacoethes: an irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
callipygian: having shapely buttocks
deipnosophist: a person skilled in the art of dining and dinner-table conversation
eucatastrophe: a happy ending to a story
gabelle: a tax on salt
hinky: dishonest, suspect, or unreliable
hypnopompic: of or relating to the semiconscious state prior to complete wakefulness
jentacular: pertaining to breakfast
kerfuffle: a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views
lackadaisical: without interest, vigor, or determination; listless; lethargic
macrosmatic: having a good sense of smell
mimsy: rather feeble and prim or over-restrained, (coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass)
mouse potato: a person who spends large amounts of their leisure or working time on a computer
oneiric: of, relating to, or suggestive of dreams
persnickety: overparticular; fussy
pausiloquent: uttering few words; brief in speech
quire: two dozen sheets of paper
rawky: foggy, damp, and cold
slangwanger: a loud abusive speaker or obnoxious writer [i.e., Trump?]
tittynope: a small quantity of something left over
toplofty: haughty and arrogant
tellurian: of or inhabiting the earth, or an inhabitant of the earth
ulotrichous: having wooly or crispy hair
umbriferous: shady
velleity: a wish or inclination which is not strong enough to lead one to take action [a.k.a. the desire to get good grades]
widdershins: in a direction contrary to the sun’s course, considered as unlucky; counterclockwise
wittol: a man who knows of and tolerates his wife’s infidelity
xertz: to gulp down quickly and greedily
Although after memorizing these words, you may be perceived as toplofty, your speech may very well contain less argle-bargle. Hopefully no one accuses you of being a slangwanger or a blatherskite! Either way, now you’ll sound a little more erudite (if you overcome your misanthropy and actually talk to people), and Davidson will get an even better rep. Thanks to Oxford Dictionaries, @lovelywords on Twitter, and Voxy Blog, my velleity to search through the dictionary did not inhibit me from curating this list.
*NOTE: Not an actual word. I made it up! In my defense, Shakespeare did it too—over 1,700 times! I’m in good company.
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