A Caboodle of Fun & Fancy Words
J
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..
Gardyloo:
A silly, fun-to-say word to be sure! But, if you were an 18th-century Scotsman walking down the street and heard it being hollered, you’d make an abrupt move away from any window you might be passing under.
It comes from the French expression, “Prenez garde a l’eau!” Which literally means ‘beware of the water.’ But in 18th-century Edinburgh it’s a warning that the person doing the hollering is about to empty their chamber pot out the window.
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Collywobbles:
It’s what happens when you eat your entire bag of trick-or-treat candy in one sitting – you get the collywobbles. So, take your mom’s advice about making your goody stash last, and avoid the bellyache this Halloween.
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Floccinaucinihilipilificate:
Your mom might do this when she thinks about your video games. Or you may do it when you catch a glimpse of her reality TV shows. And it’s pretty likely you would both do this when looking at a Pet Rock.
It means the act or habit of deciding something is not at all important or useful. Coined in the 18th century, this word is comprised of four Latin terms that all mean something of little or no value. Science fiction author Robert Heinlein used a form of this fun and fancy word in his 1951 work The Puppet Masters:
Digby was a floccinaucinihilipilificator at heart—which is an eight-dollar word meaning a joker who does not believe in anything he can’t bite.
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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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