posted
There's a word that always puts a smile on my face. And that word is crapulous. As in:
Dude... went out last night... had like 10 tequila shots... anyway, yadda yadda yadda, I'm feeling really crapulous today.
Try it with your friends!
Origin: "It comes from the Latin crapulosus and has given rise to a whole family of words: crapulence, crapulency, crapulent, crapulental and so on."
I'd like to devote this thread to inane words of the English language. The more outrageous, the better! Please provide a sentence and a link regarding the origin, if you can find it.
lugubrious - Pronunciation: lu-'gü-brE-&s also -'gyü- Function: adjective Etymology: Latin lugubris, from lugEre to mourn; akin to Greek lygros mournful 1 : MOURNFUL; especially : exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful
After being refused a cookie, the young child put on an air of lugubrious discombobulation.
Those words make a wonderful phrase!
Posts: 894 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
It's not terribly exotic, but I love the word conspicuity:
\Con`spi*cu"i*ty\, n. The state or quality of being clear or bright; brightness; conspicuousness. [R.] --Chapman.
I first heard it during a road trip with my Mom, at night... a semi was coming at us and she said "Look at all the conspicuity lights on that truck!" And she had the little grin on her face that told me that she had only brought it up because she liked using the word. Plus, it's fun to say.
avuncular 1. Of or pertaining to an uncle. 2. Resembling an uncle, especially in kindness or indulgence.
I just realized if you say it enough times you start to sound like a benevolent Count Dracula... "I von't keel her".
Posts: 236 | Registered: Sep 2004
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adj 1: noisily and stubbornly defiant; "obstreperous boys" 2: boisterously and noisily aggressive; "kept up an obstreperous clamor"
My choir director always used this one. He'd say something like "Try that on that measure there and we'll leave it like that unless it's too obstreperous..." So funny. He also used lugubrious, so I knew what it meant already. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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Main Entry: tin·tin·nab·u·la·tion Pronunciation: "tin-t&-"na-by&-'lA-sh&n Function: noun Etymology: Latin tintinnabulum bell, from tintinnare to ring, jingle, from tinnire 1 : the ringing or sounding of bells 2 : a jingling or tinkling sound as if of bells
Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells --"The Bells", Edgar Allen Poe
posted
Turgan, great word, but it has to be in Webster's or some accredited dictionary. I couldn't find it at dictionary.com, however, aGoogle search brought up some interesting hits!
xnera, I'm really freaked out right now. Did you just read my mind? I was going to use tintinnabulation in my next post!
Posts: 236 | Registered: Sep 2004
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