by Sybil Johnson
From the title, you can guess that I’ve spent a bit of time recently looking at books that list obsolete English words. In this case it was The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable Words Ever Forgotten by Jeffery Kacirk. Yes this is what I do in my spare time!
Here are some of my favorites that I found. I think we should bring some of these back.
abracadabrant – marvelous or stunning
aflunters – in a state of disorder. This describes my desk these days.
baffound – to stun and perplex
biblioklept – one who steals books
bruzzle – make a great to-do
cabobble – to mystify, puzzle, confuse flonker – anything very large or outrageous
gloppened – surprised
quanked – overpowered by fatigue (felt like this a bit this past week) ruly – obedient. We should bring this one back. Unruly is still used today, why not this one?
thrunched – very angry, displeased
trilemma – any choice between three alternatives
wordify – to put into words. This one sounds like something that is quite modern, at least to my ears. So, I’m not a writer, I’m a wordifier!
Excellent words, Sybil. I especially like aflunter and trilemma (now my spellchecker is whining, poor thing). I'm going to try them out in conversation today and enjoy the responses.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, Sibyl. I like "trilemma" and will work it into my conversation during the next few days. The Britishism "pudding" always gives me an instant mental picture of a soft sweet smooth something in a dish, to be eaten with a spoon, before I realize that "pudding" is the generic term for a dessert. Same spelling, different meaning. Let us celebrate our "common language!"
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the post. Pudding always makes me think when I am watching the Great British Baking Show.
ReplyDelete