Overmorrow refers to the day after tomorrow and I feel like it comes in quite handy for example.
perambulation is a good one. My morning walk isn’t quite grand enough to be called a ‘constitutional’; nor scenic and leisurely enough to be called a ‘stroll’; nor yet social enough to be called a ‘promenade’; ‘perambulation’ is just the ticket.
I thought the morning constitutional was taking a shit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins
Just because it sounds cool.
Sounds useful in Minecraft. Like you put a sign in a cave “exit widdershins” to tell people to follow the left wall.
In an emergency, you can also exit widdoutershins.
Yesss. I love this word and use it whenever I can
Widdershins start my hair, your Spooktober decorations are so spooky!!!
Sounds like a creature that would have a lot of creepypasta written about it.
Sonder (noun): the feeling one has on realizing that every other individual one sees has a life as full and real as one’s own, in which they are the central character and others, including oneself, have secondary or insignificant roles: In a state of sonder, each of us is at once a hero, a supporting cast member, and an extra in overlapping stories.
This one always makes me smile, because it’s from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. It’s just some guy’s blog in which he comes up with new words to express experiences and emotions that are difficult to describe, and that specific one has thoroughly broken containment
That was lovely, thank you for that.
Sonder
Literally means “special” in German
Shemomedjamo - Georgian word meaning to eat past the point of fullness because it tastes so good or as I heard it, “I accidentally ate the whole thing.”
I was sure Harry Potter said it one time when he cast a spell.
SHEMOMEDJAMO!
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That list is going to send me down a rabbit hole looking for the etymology of words
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Feel like tenebrous being on a list of obscure words is tenuous, but maybe I just have esoteric interests.
Darth Tenebrous
Kakistocracy: “a state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens.”
See also kleptocracy: rule by thieves. I not infrequently refer to our government as a kleptocratic kakistocracy
- Paramour
It sounds fancy, but means a casual lover. A fuck buddy. A friend with benefits. Though it can also carry the implication of being an out-of-wedlock lover, as it dates back to a time where having a fuck buddy was almost certainly a sign of married infidelity.
- Kith
Means one’s friends and other people they are close to that aren’t family. Often paired with “kin”. Kith and kin. Friends and family.
A paramour is an “other lover”. Para = beside, amour = love. It’s not a casual fuck buddy, it’s your cheating partner. I’m surprised to hear you say it’s unknown as a word these days? Seems like just a normal word to me, albeit one I’m happy to go without using as cheaters suck.
Interesting. The only two references I’ve ever heard to Paramour are the band and the achievement in Mass Effect. I’m now wondering if the devs of that series knew exactly what it meant (infidelity) because you get the achievement for having any relationship. Maybe it’s because you can’t remain loyal to your original partner to get it in all three games with one playthrough.
Right, I think that achievement only happens in the sequals.
I don’t remember for sure about the old games, but the Legendary Edition has one for each game.
Propreantepenultimate. Fifth to last.
- Ultimate
- Penultimate
- Antepenultimate
- Preantepenultimate
- Propreantepenultimate
I use penultimate all the time and most people have no idea what I mean! We need to bring back the Latin based words
That means the item right before the last item, right?
Yep. That’s actually how we say last and whatnot in Spanish: último is last and penúltimo is 2nd to last
I knew the first three, but not four and five. TIL
Hmm the grammar checks out 👍
Ah so that’s why in the Tropico games your assistant was Penultimo! He’s the second to the ultimate leader, El Presidente!
Really the only city building series that correctly identifies who directs the construction and destruction of every visible peice of infrastructure or building. And who randomly arrests or frees people for any reason they like :)
Widdershins. It means counter to the sun’s direction , and was seen as inauspicious. Counter-clockwise, before clocks.
I only know the term from Disc World, is that a real world term or just one of the many whimsical terms Pratchett coined in the books
It’s real! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins
Borborygmus I use often enough, but it’s not widely known. It’s the gurgling sound produced by the movement of gas through your intestines.
Limaceous I almost never use, but I enjoy it anyway. It means characteristic of or pertaining to slugs.
And lastly, tawdry is one of my favorites meaning showy but cheap and poor quality.
I don’t think tawdry is archaic. A little uncommon, but still in use.
At least 20 years of having slugs as a special interest and I never heard the word limaceous?? Thank you for correcting this!
Now to find out if it actually has specific academic usage and the biologists will execute me if I use it regarding slugs outside the superfamily Limacoidea.
The are all great, but tawdry is fantastic!
Rolls of the tongue, and we all come across several tawdry things/people in a given day.
Not a word, but there’s a specific phrase uttered when you casually pass by someone working, stop for a chat, and then genuinely wish them well with their work as you leave.
This phrase does not exist in English:
- “Break a leg” is close, but more reserved for some grand performance
Nor does it exist in German:
- “Viel Spass/Glück” (Have fun, Good Luck) is also close, but has an element of sarcasm and/or success through chance.
- (Edit) “Frohes Schaffen” (Happy ‘getting it done’) is pretty spot on.
In Turkish, you just say “Kolay Gelsin”, meaning “May the work come easy so that you finish sooner”.
Its such a useful unjudgemental phrase, easily uttered, that I’ve seen nowhere else. Maybe other languages have it too.
“Break a leg” is close, but more reserved for some grand performance
So in Estonian we have a bunch of those I don’t remember because nobody uses them anymore. But the main one everyone knows is “Kivi kotti” (literally, stone/rock in your bag, but much like with “break a leg”, you actually wish them well). It’s still basically “good luck” but not so much for grand performances, it could just be for your first day of work, or going fishing (the real origin I guess). There’s also “Nael kummi” which is “nail in your tire”, which is reserved for people driving somewhere.
“Good luck with/have fun with that!” In a pleasant tone while gesturing towards the act being done is enough, I’ve found
Unless it’s clearly like, WORK, work, then something like “don’t work too hard, there!” Is common
The tone of it is the same, but there’s also a sarcastic interpretation of it though, and it can be applied liberally to lots of non-work situations
I will steal that one!
I use “have fun” completely unironically all the time. One time my partner’s (Pakistani) carer thought I spoke Arabic because Afwan is apparently an Arabic salutation meaning approximately the same as “cheerio”, “goodbye”, or “you’re welcome” in English. He also turns up around half one every day for added amusement
Dutch: ‘Werk ze’
Indubitably!
It means most certainly, beyond questioning.
And it’s fun to say!
Ah, I grew up listening to Adventures In Odyssey and one character said that all the time. Beautiful word.
I love that word. I don’t know where I even learned it first, but I sometimes throw it back out there. It’s so fun!
I like that it’s root is fairly plain to see.
That’s un-doubt-able - indubitable.
I think it’s used more often in computer science, but the difference between contiguous and continuous. Continuous means “without end” and contiguous means “without break.”
As in the continuous United States 🦅🦅🦅
Gandalf brought an extra eagle because he didn’t know if Smeagol survived.
Look, you cant just go around throwing mind-bending wisdom like that into a random thread.
🫡
Gloam/gloaming
The onset of twilight/becoming gloomy
It’s German but ‘Rucksackriemenquerverbindungsträger’, the thing between the straps of a backpack that you can connect to lighten the load on your shoulders.
I made the word up but I use it pretty often.
Well … I knew exactly what you meant, as you know what I mean when I say: “Rucksackriemenquerverbindsungsträgerersatzschnalle” and I think it’s beautiful.
Also: “Getriebeschmiernippel”
The chest strap?
Defenestration. Throwing someone out of a window. Example the defenestration of prague
I like to make the joke whenever someone mentions a Russian doctor falling out of a window or something:
There’s defense and there’s defenestration.
See also, defenestration trilogy
It’s composed of de- an fenestra, the latter meaning window.
So literally de-windowing
