Here in Webb’s “Weird Words” slot, we like themes.
Indeed, over the past 85 installments, we’ve selected oddball vocabulary based on animals, money, romance, Easter, Christmas, March madness, April Fools’ and even the presidential inauguration. We’ve covered long words, short words, hyphens, doublets, blends and “kangaroo words” — while side-stepping into such other linguistic areas as pronunciation and etymology.
I’ve got plenty of ideas for other themes in the future (anagrams; palindromes; bird-words; terms from names and colors) — and I’d love suggestions from readers, too; email robbwhitefan@gmail.com Please!
But for now, let’s continue what we started nearly two years ago: batches of unusual vocab — with meaning(s), pronunciation, part of speech and other related info.
This week’s selection:
Bohunk (BOW-hunk, noun) – Now considered offensive and thus best avoided, this is an old slang term for a foreign-born person from Eastern or Central Europe — especially an unskilled laborer. Its origin blends “Bohemian” with “Hungarian.”
(Some might ask, “If it’s offensive, then why include it?!” Well: Dictionaries have it! And in my own case, I recently encountered this in an older novel and didn’t know what it meant….)
Doggery (DOG-uh-ree, noun) – More long-ago slang — in this case for a saloon, tavern or other place where liquor is sold. Bearing negative overtones (“that doggery was a real dump!”), it’s often used with the adjective “low.” According to the exhaustive Collins, it can also mean “surly behavior” (i.e., doglike); or “a group of dogs”; or a mob of any sort.
Mycophagist (my-KAH-fuh-jist, noun) – “One that eats fungi (such as mushrooms)” (Merriam-Webster). Can refer to any animal that does this, or to human connoisseurs.
The word comprises two Greek elements: myc(o) (fungus, mushrooms) and phag, meaning “thing that devours.” As you may have guessed, the latter gave us esophagus; and it’s also the source of one offbeat term for a coffin: sarcophagus. Sarx is Greek for “flesh” — so that weird word literally means “swallower of flesh.”
But maybe stick with “casket” when you’re standing at graveside!
Peccadillo (peck-uh-DILL-oh, noun) – Actually a fairly familiar word — but still unique and fun to use — peccadillo means a relatively minor offense or “a trifling fault” (Dictionary.com). The Latin root peccatum (“sin” or “transgression”) also gave us impeccable — a common synonym for “flawless” — along with rarer words like peccant, peccable and peccavi (all related to sin and guilt).
Rebarbative (ree-BAR-buh-tive, adj.) – “Tending to irritate; repellent” (American Heritage). Through a rather complicated etymology, this comes ultimately from the Latin barbe, meaning “beard” (as in barber). It originally had to do with confronting or opposing; and indeed, that action is actually an older meaning of “beard” — when used as a verb. A-I offers this sample sentence: “He bearded the formidable-looking librarian.”
I dunno — isn’t “formidable librarian” kind of an oxymoron?
Spondulix (SPAHN-joo-licks, noun) – Also spelled spondulicks, this is an old slang term for money; the word can be found in fiction by both O. Henry and Mark Twain (cf. Huck Finn — which also contains the phrase “low doggery”).
No one’s certain about origin of spondulix; but the authoritative Online Etymology Dictionary suggests it may come from the Greek spondylos, meaning “seashell” — since some ancient cultures used these for currency. Related in the sense of a small circular object, the original Greek word literally meant “vertebra” — as in the medical condition spondylitis.
So just two weeks after Tax Day, perhaps it’s ok to conclude with a few other comic slang-terms for cash: moolah, loot, bones, greenbacks, boodle and brass — with a heavy tendency toward foodstuffs (bread, dough, gravy, cabbage, clams, bacon, cheddar). And let’s not forget the grand old simoleon, which means simply “dollar.”
See you here next week!
