Words, glorious words
Through Green Fairy, Iâve just discovered Wordsmithâs wonderful Word-a-Day site. She mentioned a couple of brilliant words that I hadnât heard of before. Iâm now going to have to find excuses to slip them into casual conversation:
Strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say âto hell with itâ
Sphallolalia - Flirtatious talk that leads nowhere
Sphallolaliaâit even sounds seductive.
I love words, and one of my favourite books is a dictionary of words for which no words exist: the excellent Deeper Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. All of Douglas Adamsâ books make me roar out loud with laughter, but this one is useful and funny. For example, havenât you always wanted a word for âan agonizing situation in which there is only one possible decision but you still canât take itâ (Abalemma, n.)? Itâs one of those books that makes you constantly read bits out to anyone else who happens to be in the room (there ought to be a word for that but there isnât), so I could quote sections ad nauseam, but Iâll try to restrict myself to just a few favourites:
Ardslignish (adj.) Descriptive of the behaviour of Sellotape when you are tired.
Dalmilling (ptcpl. vb.) Continually making small talk to someone who is trying to read a book.
Nad (n.) Measure defined as the distance between a driverâs outstretched fingertips and the ticket machine in an automatic car-park. 1 nad = 18.4 cm.
Peoria (n.) The fear of peeling too few potatoes.
Scosthrop (vb.) To make vague opening or cutting movements with the hands when wandering about looking for a tin opener, scissors, etc., in the hope that this will help in some way.
Throcking (ptcpl. vb.) The action of continually pushing down the lever on a pop-up toaster in the hope that you will thereby get it to understand you want it to toast something.
Iâm in complete awe of Adams and Lloyd for being so perceptive; I instantly recognised the concepts in this book, but would never have thought of them myself. It makes me even more sorry that Douglas Adams will never write anything else.
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bitweever: I like the âsnigletsâ!
Howard Jones: I can just picture you sitting out in the corridor, laughing your head offâdid the teacher let you keep the book while you sat outside?
ThoughtBadger: As someone (I forget who) said: âIâm marriedânot dead". Mild flirting is almost subconscious
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I miss Mr. Adams as well.
Here in the States, there was a show in the early to mid 80's called Not Necessarily the News. It was mostly forgettable, except for one segment named 'Sniglets'. They're generally pretty good:
BOVILEXIA (bo vil eks' e uh) n. The uncontrollable urge to lean out the car window and yell "Moo!!" every time you pass a cow.
ELECELLERATION (el a sell er ay' shun) n. The mistaken notion that the more you press an elevator button the faster it will arrive.
There's more here (or just Google for 'Sniglets')
by bitweever @ 08/04/2004 8:04 pm • Permalink •
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The original (little black book) version of the Meaning Of Liff resulted in me being made to sit out in the corridor reading during 'silent reading' in English classes at school. Must dig it out, now you've mentioned it...
by Howard Jones @ 08/04/2004 8:05 pm • Permalink •
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Smoothie operator I believe I had my first modern smoothie on Nantucket Island back in the summer of 1998; my cousin was working at The Juice Guys café and I went there fairly often to see how she was doing. They offered...
by Fuddland @ 09/04/2004 12:05 am • Permalink •
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Sphallolalia - Flirtatious talk that leads nowhere
A lovely word, but surely much of the definition is redundant. Nearly all flirtation leads nowhere. That's the point of it. It's fun but it's safe. The moment it goes beyond that, you are hitting on someone. Or maybe this is the point of view of someone who has been in a monogamous relationship for the last 20 odd years. And I don't think I would be have been able to stay in that relationship if I could not express my appreciation of all the other wonderful women in the world with the occasional bit of flirtatious banter. Hurrah for flirting!
PS In case you were wondering of course you are wonderful bsag!
by ThoughtBadger @ 09/04/2004 9:04 pm • Permalink •
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