This morning on NPR I heard a story about Ammon Shea’s new book, One Man, One Year, One Mission: Read The OED. The following is a selection of the words Ammon Shea named as his favorites in reading the Oxford English Dictionary:
- antapology – a response or reply to an apology
- bedinner – to treat to dinner
- conjugalism – the art of making a good marriage
- debag – to strip the pants from a person
- dilapidator – a person who neglects a building and allows it to deteriorate
- gymnologize – to dispute naked, like an Indian philosopher
- miskissing – kissing that is wrong
- paracme – the point at which one is past one’s prime
- quisquilious – of the nature of garbage or trash
- rapin – an unruly art student
- ruffing – the stomping of feet as a form of applause
- sanculottic – clothed inadequately, or in some improper fashion
- secretary – meant, during 4th c. “one privy to a secret”
- twi-thought – a vague or indistinct thought
- unlove – to cease loving a person
- vocabularian – one who pays too much attention to words
- xanthodontous – having teeth that are yellow, as do some rodents
- yuky – itchy; also, itchy with curiosity
- zyxt – to see
Pooh says:
So KW and the Commander could have quisquillious discussions? Hopefully not while sanculottic, or dear me, while gymnologizing!
The book sounds interesting. More interesting than actually reading the OED straight through, certainly.
Thanks for the list, M; I only caught part of the story and wished I’d caught all the words Shea highlighted. Not that I’m a vocabularian, you zyxt.
I heard the last part of this article on my way in. I imagined that if I were at the cabin in the kitchen listening to it with Harry I would have said ‘don’t get any ideas!’