WASTE NOT - WANT NOT
Left-Over Posts? Snippets Not Quite Meaty Enough On Their Own To Make A Satisfying Post?
This Is The Place To Come To Use Them Up.

Sunday 14 March 2010

Whoever it was who recommended The Virtual Linguist...


Thank you!


From The Virtual Linguist, March 10, 2010
cynanthropy: a type of madness where you believe that you are a dog
dasypygal: having hairy buttocks
furfuraceous: covered in dandruff or bran-like scales
ichthyomancy: fortune-telling by studying fish entrails
jenticulate: to have breakfast
omphaloskepsis: contemplation of the navel
phobanthropy: morbid dread or strong dislike of mankind
qualtagh: the first person you meet on leaving the house, especially on New Year's Day
snollygoster: an unprincipled person, especially a politician


I had a good time emailing that list to several people. Only two, linguaphiles like myself (and the rest of you), responded. One of my respondents is a server in a chain restaurant, and says that she sometimes offers her guests "ante-jenticular orange juice," and when asked for explanation, says it's the opposite of post-prandial. She notes that "You have to pick the right guest..."


The only word on that list that I imagine myself using, ever, is the last, surrounded and controlled as I am by snollygosters.