endangered english
words that are fun to sayAs we have already discussed, I have a collection of fabulous but obscure words to share with you. Today's batch, as you will discover, are incredibly fun to say. I consider them worthy of using and remembering, because they are expressive and colourful, and because they make a sentence worth relishing.
These ones are at the top of my list of endangered words that must be protected and promoted. A bit like when humanity decides that earth needs more of the cute animals.
paraffle. noun.
An ostentatious display.
dap. verb.
To dip lightly, skip or skim over water.
nipperkin. noun.
A little cup.
fubsy. adjective.
Rather fat and squat.
curple. noun.
A horse's bum; orYour bum.
darg. noun.
A day's work.
wamble. verb.
To feel nausea; orTo rumble (of a stomach); orTo move unsteadily or with a weaving or rolling motion.
witter. verb.
To speak at length on trivial matters.
quakebuttock. noun.
Coward.
quiddle. verb.
To waste time focusing on little things; orTo work on pointless or unimportant tasks.
quonk. verb.
Noise that disrupts a recording (say of film or radio) because it is made too close to the microphones; orNoise from the audience that disturbs a performance (say of an athlete or singer).
whiffle. verb.
To blow gustily, with irregular force (like wind through trees).
antigodlin. adjective or adverb.
Lopsided, diagonal, askew.“It hurtled antigodlin across the room.”“The earthquake turned everything antigodlin.”
anonymuncule. noun.
An insignificant, unknown writer.
haggersnash. noun.
A spiteful, sniping type.
carriwitchet. noun.
A hoaxing or riddling question; a pun, a quibble.
fustilugs. noun.
Fat and lazy person.
frippery. noun.
Pretentious, showy finery; orPretentious elegance, ostentation; orSomething trivial or nonessential.
macaronic. adjective.
Being a mixture of two languages – like an Italian immigrant who has never learned fluent English.
ragabash. noun.
A lazy, scruffy person.
grimalkin. noun.
An ill-tempered old woman or cat.
Guess what? my mum uses the word frippery! and I like the word witter a lot :) in fact come to think of it mum also uses it in sentences like this: "will you stop wittering on?" so they can't be that endangered except she is english... so maybe it doesn't count?
ReplyDeleteMy dad says "rabbiting on". How'dya like that?
ReplyDeleteAnd, I do find that British people tend to use a few words that we, the Americanised, find old-fashioned. I have a great fondness for British speech. The accents are so diverse and fascinating; and the vocabulary styles vary between regions, "classes", etc. etc.
See what I mean though, these words CAN be used, quite naturally, if you know how to use them!
I can second the British use of "witter" and "frippery" - they're still in (fairly) good health over here :) we should work on saving the others though, they're great! I'm always quiddling, and now, at last, I have a word for it. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteyour right Miki we should work on the others, although I have found some old fashioned words used in Australia that the English don't seem to use so much such as "yield" on road signs...
ReplyDeleteAlso I'm a anonymuncule(not that I've written a novel or anything) and I'm feeling a little wamble today...
Did you know that the spell checker is telling me the old fashioned words are wrong? hmm.. silly computer...
PS my dad also says "rabbiting on" :)