There Oughta Be a Word…

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Posted by Marian Lizzi

As I turned on my computer this morning, I had the following thought: There really should be a word for the heady stew of emotions stirred up by the fact that I have to write yet another blog post this week.

But I digress.

If you love words like I do (and let’s be honest, we all know that you do), you’ll delight in the obscure, antiquated, and oddly specific elements of our weird language featured in Ammon Shea’s Reading the OED. Yes, the book has been out for a while now. But will gems like the following ever get old? (Please say no, or else this post will be dead in the water.)

Apricity: The warmth of the sun in winter.

Cimicine: Smelling like bugs.

Jocoserious: Half serious and half in jest. (Also, how I live my entire life.)

Lant: To add urine to ale, in order to make it stronger. (Possibly big in Germany.)

Psithurism: The whispering of leaves moved by the wind.

Tacenda: Things not to be mentioned. Says Ammon: “The incident with the broccoli. Your Aunt Tilly’s first husband. Where that scar really came from.”

Yepsen: The amount that can be held in two cupped hands.

What are your favorite language finds? Comment, email or tweet me. It will happify me greatly!

And stay tuned for Ammon’s next engaging tribute to a big book no one reads….wait for it…The Phone Book.

Reading the OED is on sale now.

Posted by Perigee Book Marks at 12:08 PM in Books, Language and Trivia, Marian Lizzi | Permalink

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love this book - and love words. I wrote about neologisms and portmanteau words on my B&N blog post this week.

Gotta ask: What do you think of . . . "onpassing" for email forwarding? I have to put it in the same category as "jeggings"!

Posted by: ellen | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 12:52 PM

Thanks for the comment, Ellen! 'Onpassing' is news to me, and yes, fairly ridiculous. And you know how I feel about 'jeggings'!!

Posted by: Marian Lizzi | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 02:16 PM

um, I should of course have linked the "onpassing" blog -- whoops: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unabashedly-Bookish-The-BN/The-Onpassing-Mockingjay-or-What-Is-Happening-to-Our-Language/ba-p/593297

Posted by: ellen | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 04:23 PM

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Thursday, July 29, 2010