ODD ENGLISH WORDS
G'day folks,
From time to time I post some weird and wonderful words in the English language. Have you
ever worn winklepickers or salopettes? Is the saying about French
women and their oxters true? Do your friends complain that you bibble
too much? Have you ever experienced zoanthropy and been convinced you
were an elephant?
If you’re
confused as to how to answer any – or all – of these questions, never fear!
We’ve created this confusion, and we’re here to clear it up with this
alphabetical list of 26 weird English words and their meanings.
n. –
admiration of a particular part of someone’s body
v. – to
drink often; to eat and/or drink noisily
n. –
coastal navigation; the exclusive right of a country to control the air traffic
within its borders
NOT: v. –
to sabotage with cabbage and/or Vermont Cabot Cheese
n. – old
English word for bagpipe
adj. –
of, pertaining to, or resembling a hedgehog
Although
she won’t know what it means, never, ever tell your date Erin that she is
“looking quite erinaceous this evening.”
n. – in
Turkey and some other Oriental countries, a decree or mandate issued by the
sovereign
n. – a
tax on salt
n. – a
platform of a staircase where the stair turns back in exactly the reverse
direction of the lower flight
v. – to
pawn or mortgage something
NOT: v. –
to impregnate a pig
adj. –
pertaining to breakfast
n. – fear
of failure
This is
the last word that someone with kakorrhaphiophobia would want to encounter in a
spelling bee.
n. –
loudness and clarity of enunciation
adj. –
having a good sense of smell
n. – the day
before yesterday
NOT: n. –
a martian nudist
n. –
outdated word meaning “armpit”
NOT: n. –
a creature that is half ox, half otter
adj. –
uttering few words; brief in speech
If you
had to figure out how to use this word in context, you probably wouldn’t say
much either.
n. – two
dozen sheets of paper
n. –
small shoot growing from the root of a plant
NOT: n. –
the offspring of interbreeding rats and raccoons
n. –
high-waisted skiing pants with shoulder straps
n. – a
small quantity of something left over
Undoubtedly
the biggest eyebrow-raiser on this list!
adj. –
having wooly or crispy hair
First
time you’ve heard this word? It’s probably a good indication that you don’t
have wooly or crispy hair. Or that you do, and nobody uses this word anymore.
n. – a
sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned
with his or her health
Think –
“the valedictorian of hypochondriacs”
n. –
style of shoe or boot in the 1950s with a sharp and long pointed toe
A close
second to “tittynope” in the eyebrow-raiser category
v. – to
gulp down quickly and greedily
n. – hand
of cards containing no card above a nine
n. –
delusion of a person who believes himself changed into an animal
Clancy's comment: Mm ... How many did you know? I loved the 'doodle sack'.
I'm ...
Think about this!
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