The Most Ridiculous Word
English has an estimated 1 million words, so it's no surprise that some of them would have to be a bit on the ridiculous side, is it?
What's the most ridiculous word you know?
Susan Letham posed this interesting question in an article called, "Wordwork: The Perfect Choice." (Susan is a British writer and creative writing tutor. Her site is: http://www.Inspired2Write.com )
So ... what's the most ridiculous word you know? Here are a couple of contenders from my list of favourites:
absquatulate - run away; usually includes taking something or somebody along (onelook.com)
footle - act foolishly, as by talking nonsense (onelook.com)
mammothrept - a child brought up by its grandmother; a spoiled child (onelook.com)
Add yours by clicking on the Comments below. The words must be "real" words, found in "real" dictionaries ... not just in lists of made-up words!
Feel free to add any interesting information about the origins of your word. (See my posting on Tragedy for an example of weird origins!)
What's the most ridiculous word you know?
Susan Letham posed this interesting question in an article called, "Wordwork: The Perfect Choice." (Susan is a British writer and creative writing tutor. Her site is: http://www.Inspired2Write.com )
So ... what's the most ridiculous word you know? Here are a couple of contenders from my list of favourites:
absquatulate - run away; usually includes taking something or somebody along (onelook.com)
footle - act foolishly, as by talking nonsense (onelook.com)
mammothrept - a child brought up by its grandmother; a spoiled child (onelook.com)
Add yours by clicking on the Comments below. The words must be "real" words, found in "real" dictionaries ... not just in lists of made-up words!
Feel free to add any interesting information about the origins of your word. (See my posting on Tragedy for an example of weird origins!)
posted by Jennifer | 10:27 am
29 Comments:
methylchlorisothiazolinone
methylchlorisothiazolinone!
Who'd have thought this was one of the (many) chemicals in that sweet-smelling face cream you've just slathered all over your skin?
My quick search on google reveals that it's actually a preservative ... I wonder if it's also in Macca's burgers ... Yum!
OH it was a god send to come across your site. You can only imagine, at how many request, and beggings you must attract from people to visit their yarns, for advice.
However, desiring to be apart from them, I hope you would drift by my little efforts some time, to gander at mine.
I've been drudging away on THE NEPHILIM AGE for quiet some time. It is my life story retold in the genre of fantasy; merging scripture with a Tolkien-esk flare.
http://
www.freewebs.com/neph_0/index.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/neph_0/index.htm
http://thenephilimage.blogspot.com/
D. DeLane Snow
THE NEPHILIM AGE
Hi Falconmyst,
Hmmm ... not quite the response this post was designed to elicit, but your book sounds interesting :)
botherationI am in the United States and I heard this in an Indian movie. It doesn't sound like a real word to me. Maybe they use it in the UK?
This is a real word, all right. It means:
something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness; the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed
It's used out here in Australia, too, but usually in a sort of toungue-in-cheek way. When something happens that is really annoying, instead of swearing like a trooper, some people will exclaim, "Botheration!"
Awesome blog! I've added it to my list of "favourites"! What's especially neat is that you're in Australia! We're sadly lacking in the literary culture department, I'm afraid.
I also have a writing blog. You can find it at:
www.livejournal.com/~heart_words
Cheers!
I dislike garnisheed. That extra e freaks me out.
I've always loved this word but it's pretty ridiculous...
fustigate - which essentially means to bitch and moan, querulously, as one never satisfied with anything is wont to do.
Which reminds me, there's also something about the word wont that drives me up a tree. It's so similar to "won't" and looks at first glance to be the word "won't" mistyped; the even more ridiculous thing, though, is that the meaning of it is so connected to the notion of being likely to want to perform some act (I have never seen it in any context other than as part of the phrase "is wont to do".) You'd think somehow it would have been, as they say in the computer code world, "deprecated", in favour of merely saying "wants to do".
defenestration- to throw out of a window
calypgian- having a shapely buttocks (My english teacher, before revealing the meaning, asked us to give him an opinion on who had a calypgian figure. Later, he showed us an article about J Lo and a reference to her having a calypgian figure.)
hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
the fear of long words
Nihilarian
a person who deals with things that lack importance
how about pneumononoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - a type of lung cancer i guess
mousy, doesn't it sound a bit ridiculous? But its there in the dictionary...
I thought its like words that has an irony, like sandwich we all know that we dont each sand. French Fries were not invented in France. No egg in eggplant
email me please, for other words discreet18@ymail.Com
Syzygy.
This is a term used in astronomy for when the sun, earth and moon (or a planet) are aligned, as with a full moon or new moon.
(It's pronounced "sizijy")
I just love it when dictionaries attempt to define the word "a". I always find that amusing.
Formicate - to swarm like ants
It's so much fun using it just to see people's expressions when they mishear you. Although I must say, I find the assumed misheard word to be all but a synonym of it... =D
pnuemanoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanaconiosis = a lung disease caused by inhaling silicone dust. quomotoconquizist = a man or woman who absolutely everything for money. zanzizanzizanzitate = any number to the eighth power.
smegma
only look this word up if you want to not be able to be sexually aroused for the rest of your life.
Befuzzeled
Cineamuck = the sticky muck left from others, found under your feet when viewing an action film
Oxymoron. Something that contradicts it's self, like a deafening silence.
The most complicated and strange word in an English dictionary would be IT. This is from the perspective of Non-English foreigners learning English.
How do you define it?
What is it?
You can spell it, but what is....it?
It is everything!
Derp-
Response for if something or someone did something so utterly retarded or screwy, You literally have nothing else to say, Derp is what you say when you have nothing to say.
flibbertigibbet n. a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. http://dynamo.dictionary.com/46009/twelve-absolutely-ridiculous-words?rf=y
I'm partial to [takes a long breath]
Pnuemonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
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