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A lot of these words strike me as arcane and obscure. Keep them in the OED, mention them in articles like this, but I don't see them having a lot of practical u
by klenwell 9y ago
A lot of these words strike me as arcane and obscure. Keep them in the OED, mention them in articles like this, but I don't see them having a lot of practical usage.
I do have a special affection for the words fingerpost and mountweazel. I'll often use mountweazel as a sort of easter-egg/test page in my new web projects (e.g. https://sweeperscalendar.com/mountweazel https://sweeperscalendar.com/mountweazel)
I think Cassandra is a more deserving epithet for women nowadays than Xanthippe.
Finally, a few favorite terms of mine somewhat in this vein:
- ramshackle
- crackpot
- dogeared
- touchstone
None of these words are lost but they are expressive and exemplify a kind of poetry that words can sometimes capture.
- ohjeez 9y agoYou don't want a word to capture the wonderfulness of lazing around on Sunday morning? _What kind of monster are you?_ "The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as the difference between lightning and the lighting bug." —Mark Twain
- klenwell 9y agoWhat find of monster? A frumious frowster who, while he certainly appreciates the rightness of such a term, would argue that it's already lost. I've certainly never seen the word used before and fully never expect to hear it again. On the other hand, I do come across the French expression, "la grasse matinée"[0], (even in an English context) every once in a while and would expect to hear "I enjoyed a nice fat morning in bed" before I ever hear something like "I had a grand old frowst". Now then, back to my regularly-scheduled frowst. [0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:French_idioms#F https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:French_idioms#F