A Caboodle of Fun & Fancy Words
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ust as Mary Poppins taught us, words can be fun! Remember supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? And let’s not forget King Lear’s flibbertigibbet. Then there’s the magical incantation abracadabra.
But these are just a start, take a gander below.
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Discombobulated:
The word discombobulate sounds like you feel when discombobulation takes place. If you’re so confused and flustered you can’t think straight, you’re discombobulated. And what you need… is to get recombobulated. Which is easier said than done. It’s a bit of a tongue-twister so it isn’t that easy to say, much less do.
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Bamboozle:
It means to be hoodwinked, flimflammed, hornswoggled — all fun & fancy words that mean to be tricked, deceived in underhanded ways. Like the way Tom Sawyer bamboozled his friends into whitewashing that fence for him, so he could play all day.
It may be a Fun & Fancy Word, but being bamboozled can be very serious.
Discover why this locution is more important than ever.
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Hobbledehoy:
An adolescent boy whose transition to adulthood is as gawky and awkward as the word hobbledehoy itself. Think Neville Longbottom in his first year at Hogwarts.
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Zaftig:
Zaftig means to be beautifully full-figured, voluptuous, and curvaceous – like Ashley Graham, Danielle Brooks, and Christina Hendricks. Also termed Rubenesque, after the sensuous goddesses depicted in the paintings of Flemish Baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens.
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Malapropism:
They’re always hilarious. That is, unless you’re the one guilty of the ludicrous misuse of a word in place of one that sounds similar, then it’s embarrassing. Just ask heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, who said he was “fading into Bolivian” (instead of oblivion).
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Abibliophobia:
It means the fear of running out of things to read, and given your obvious interest in books, you may suffer from this frightful word. If so, alleviate your fear by availing yourself of the resources for free banned books on the bottom of our home page.
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Sycophant:
Also known as a “suck-up,” “bootlicker,” or “toady.” A sycophant is a fawning parasite who gets in the good graces of their target with groveling, ego-stroking praise. Some literary sycophants are: Othello’s Iago, Uriah Heep from David Copperfield, and nearly everyone who works for Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada.
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Liminality:
A state that’s betwixt & between. No, not Colorado in relation to Utah and Kansas. Liminality is the middle phase in rites of passage, the transition from one mode of being to another. From childhood to adulthood, for example. From living the single life to being married. Or from partying it up in college to paying off student loans. Liminality is full of potential, but disorienting because you’re no longer this but not yet that. In short, your average high school experience.
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Widdershins:
You could just say counter-clockwise, or that something’s moving in the wrong direction. But that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun… now would it?
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Autodidact:
Do you suffer from autodidactism? Do you have an insatiable thirst for knowledge? Do you take pleasure in learning everything you can about things you are interested in? Are you a self-learner? If so, congratulations, you are an autodidact.
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Pulchritudinous:
Although pulchritude sounds like something you’d scrape off your shoe, pulchritudinous actually means beautiful. Not just attractive, good-looking or “hot,” but overwhelmingly beautiful, to the point of leaving onlookers awestruck.
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Gobsmacked:
No… gobsmacked is not a never-ending candy made by Willy Wonka. It means to be utterly astounded, astonished, overwhelmed by surprise. Like you’ve been slapped in the face. Gobsmacked is how Brad Pitt described himself when he won his best supporting actor Oscar for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
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#the art of reading #liminality
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