Word Play — The Sequel

by Tom Conger

            Tom Conger

Moving on in the world of words, we offer more amusing contrivances which may or may not be in the common lexicon. For this installment we are indebted to Weird And Wonderful Words edited by Erin McKean (illustrations by the estimable Roz Chast), Oxford University Press 2003.

You may want to designate this writer as a nihilarian – a person who deals with things of no importance . . .
batie-bummil – a useless bungler (obsolete Scottish word) – (see: this writer…)

bromatology – a treatise on food, the kind of cookbook with recipes for food that is good for you, instead of food you actually want to eat. (bromo, btw, is Greek root for food)

cockagrice – “an unappetizing dish (to modern palates) made of an old cock and a pig boiled and roasted together.” Grice = old word for pig. (not sure if the recipe could be found in your kitchen bromatology…)

longicorn – “a kind of beetle with very long antennae, The word comes from Latin words meaning ‘long’ and ‘horn,’ and it is a good example of a word with a perfectly serviceable etymology that still sounds made-up.”

nippitate – obscure word meaning “good strong ale,” sometimes found with faux Latin endings such as nippitatum and nippitati—but rarely found in modern discourse (nor saloons) . . .

pishachi – “a female devil or ghost, especially one that dislikes travelers and pregnant women.” These rarely beset RVM residents, but we suspect possible connection of the latter propensity to current shelter-in-place strictures . . .

snollygoster – “a dishonest politician [possibly redundant], especially a shrewd or calculating one.* A connection has been proposed between this word and snallygaster, a mythical monster in Maryland invented to frighten freed slaves. However, the first evidence for snallygaster follows snollygoster by about a hundred years…” but thought you oughta know.
*(see exauctorate – “to depose or oust from office, to deprive of authority”—from the Latin)

woofits – “an unwell feeling, especially a headache; a moody depression; a hangover. In one citation this is called ‘that dread disease that comes from overeating and underdrinking”… possible connections with the year 2020 have not been ruled out . . .

Readers are encouraged to submit to The Complement their own weird/wonderful selections, including any which they may have made up themselves