Words that sound funny and nobody knows what they mean

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Words that sound funny and nobody knows what they mean (Page 1)

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Author	Topic: Words that sound funny and nobody knows what they mean
Enjinno9 Self-Made User	posted April 07, 2001 04:10 PM TheMadDefenestrator got me thinking. The funniest sounding words. How about "sesquedepalian"? Or even "zeugma". Come on, people, throw me a frickin' bone here. *browsing unusual dictionaries in absence of friends ------------------ I know where you live. I think. muhaha. [This message has been edited by Enjinno9 (edited April 07, 2001).] IP: Logged
Spifferito Cereal Subunit	posted April 07, 2001 04:46 PM zeug·ma (zgm) n. - 1. A construction in which a single word, especially a verb or an adjective, is applied to two or more nouns when its sense is appropriate to only one of them or to both in different ways, as in He took my advice and my wallet. 2. Syllepsis. Dictionary.com is on my internet speed dial. (edited because now that second definition is bothering me.) [This message has been edited by Spifferito (edited April 07, 2001).] IP: Logged
Spifferito Cereal Subunit	posted April 07, 2001 04:47 PM Humph syl·lep·sis (s-lpss) n. - 1. A construction in which a word governs two or more other words but agrees in number, gender, or case with only one, or has a different meaning when applied to each of the words, as in He lost his coat and his temper. IP: Logged
TheMadDefenestrator Self-Made User	posted April 07, 2001 11:04 PM Syzygy Astronomy. 1. Either of two points in the orbit of a celestial body where the body is in opposition to or in conjunction with the sun. 2. Either of two points in the orbit of the moon when the moon lies in a straight line with the sun and Earth. 3. The configuration of the sun, the moon, and Earth lying in a straight line. The combining of two feet into a single metrical unit in classical prosody. IP: Logged
Spritelord Self-Made User	posted April 08, 2001 04:10 AM re: the first post...did you mean sesquipedalian? as in someone who overuses long words? or did you have something else in mind? ------------------ Toon: Axiom. Peeps are evil. IP: Logged
Enjinno9 Self-Made User	posted April 08, 2001 08:35 AM Um, yeah, I mean sesquepedalian. Oops. It's been a long time since I read Lederer's "Crazy English", and that's where I saw the word. Thank you. ------------------ I know where you live. I think. muhaha. IP: Logged
Spifferito Cereal Subunit	posted April 08, 2001 10:00 AM gives Spritelord a Wet Willy (...siz-ee-jee...) IP: Logged
Enjinno9 Self-Made User	posted April 08, 2001 10:12 AM syzygy. I like it. Even though it sounds more like onomatapoeia than a word. niiiiice. ------------------ I know where you live. I think. muhaha. IP: Logged
Mandarian Self-Made User	posted April 09, 2001 05:14 AM exacerbate To increase the severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate: a speech that exacerbated racial tensions; a heavy rainfall that exacerbated the flood problems. Fun to say because people who aren't listening very carefully hear 'masterbate'. Now who has a dirty mind? IP: Logged
megalita Cereal Subunit	posted April 09, 2001 08:48 AM Consternation Amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates for reflection; terror, combined with amazement; dismay. Huh-huh-huhuh-huh. Sounds like constipation. IP: Logged
Roup Self-Made User	posted April 09, 2001 08:57 AM My current favorite word is "obviate." It's not really that rare, but it just sounds cool. Obviate, obviate, obviate. IP: Logged
Roy G Bivins Self-Made User	posted April 09, 2001 09:00 AM I thought it was obfustication (unnecessarily employing cumbersome verbiage) IP: Logged
RedTwo Self-Made User	posted April 09, 2001 09:20 AM Zymurgy: The branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation processes, as in brewing. Is this one of those syllepsis/zeugma (CYO) things, or is it just a pun?: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. And for internet dictionaries, I prefer here. ------------------ I suppose the difference between fact and fiction is that fiction has to make sense. --Phool for pete's sake, I'm covered in melted duck goo! --AngelFish IP: Logged
TheMadDefenestrator Self-Made User	posted April 09, 2001 11:43 PM any of the generian words are good too, octagenarian, septagenarian and so forth. btw, syzygy, along with rhythm, is the second longest word with no vowels. the first is rhythms, which I feel is just a cop-out IP: Logged
Enjinno9 Self-Made User	posted April 10, 2001 04:13 PM Edgar Allen Poe wrote: "The tintinnabulation of the bells, bells, bells" Tintinnabulation: N. The high, tinkling sound made by small bells. ------------------ I know where you live. I think. muhaha. IP: Logged
Jesse Dangerously Self-Made User	posted April 11, 2001 09:07 AM the letter Y acts as a vowel both times it occurs in szygy. Sesquipedalian, incidentally, literally means "a foot and a half long". It was coined in relation to words as a sort of joke. I like to send people scrambling for the dictionary when I write rhymes. IP: Logged
Roy G Bivins Self-Made User	posted April 11, 2001 09:09 AM but there are 3 y's in syzygy if you spell it right [This message has been edited by Roy G Bivins (edited April 11, 2001).] IP: Logged
Innocent Bystander Self-Made User	posted April 11, 2001 09:53 PM Funicular "a special type of railway which travels up and down steep slopes, with the carriages being pulled by a strong metal rope There's a funicular which goes to the top of the mountain." One trivia night, the final question was "Which of these items would be described as funicular?" That was just plain mean. ------------------ Short and to the point, like a midget who refuses to flank. [This message has been edited by Innocent Bystander (edited April 11, 2001).] IP: Logged
Treasure Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 04:53 AM Physalis Just because it looks rude, but isn't IP: Logged
Roup Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 06:28 AM Priapism is nasty IP: Logged
Knifey-Spooney Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 07:03 AM Niggardly. Some senator almost lost his job over it. I think it means appalling or something like that. I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment. ------------------ "If the Bible has taught us nothing else - and it hasn't - it's that girls should only participate in girls' sports, like hot-oil wrestling, foxy boxing, and such and such." - Homer Simpson IP: Logged
Sandrylene Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 07:14 AM niggardly: adjective, slight in amount, quality or effort, funny then that you say you're too lazy to look it up... IP: Logged
Knifey-Spooney Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 10:22 AM Ha ha ha! That's great. . .maybe I planned it that way? Hmmm? (smirking, raises pinky to lower lip) IP: Logged
tv's Spatch Shuttlecock	posted April 12, 2001 12:47 PM Mastication is not a dirty word; it is right and proper. Everybody masticates. Men masticate, women masticate, dogs masticate too. King Arthur and his knights practiced circle mastication. See why I'd get into trouble in junior high? IP: Logged
Sandrylene Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 12:55 PM depends on whether or not you leave a mess when you're done. =Þ well, i don't know, i'm sure i've had some teachers who'd reprimand me if i didn't make nice and mannerly and blot with a napkin and all that. so that was just obnoxious. oh well. IP: Logged
Enjinno9 Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 05:41 PM The longest word you will ever see unless you are a chemist: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Yes, that is a real word. It means black lung disease. ------------------ I know where you live. I think. muhaha. IP: Logged
Bolingbroke Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 06:11 PM Spatch, "masticated" was one of the favorite words of the Pinafore tech crew, for reasons that might take a while to explain... OK, cool but faintly obscure words... Snickersnee: a long knife. Chantepleur: someone who's singing and crying at once (thanks, "Forgotten English" calendar!) Salubrious: conducive to health, which is funny because it doesn't sound like it. Miching mallecho: it means mischief! Pithecanthropus: an old name for early hominids. Bumboat: a boat that carries provisions for sale to ships in port ------------------ "Oh, I thought that was just a SINGLE entendre." -- nebulous menace IP: Logged
Sandrylene Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 06:33 PM crud!!! i looked up salubrious once, but i've been thinking that it means dirty for a while now because of the root "sal". i totally forgot the real meaning. and i told some people down the hall to say a mantra of praise for salubrious penguins last week. well, i guess it's not as if it makes any more or less sense with the real definition. ------------------ ...which glided gently across the smooth surface of the lake, just the way a bowling ball wouldn't. IP: Logged
TheMadDefenestrator Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 09:32 PM I'm masticating right now! oh wait, I just looked it up on dictionary.com well maybe I wasn't masticating.... ------------------ but away from the computer I use my 200 word vocabulary and epileptic motor skills to design fusion reactors and dabble in quantum physics.... really! --Dark Jester IP: Logged
Roup Self-Made User	posted April 12, 2001 09:36 PM One of my favorite words that doesn't have any dirty connotations at all: penultimate I don't know why, I just like it. IP: Logged
genuine artificial Cereal Subunit	posted April 12, 2001 10:44 PM Salubrious means healthful, as I recall. ------------------ Well, if that was the goal you could just put some flanksteak in a blender with some tequila. --Roup (IRC) IP: Logged
Angel Fish Self-Made User	posted April 13, 2001 04:49 AM genarti's right, but one usually uses salubrious in the negative, ie "it's not very salubrious" I use it all the time to refer to anything, anywhere as a 'hole' "her flat's not very salubrious" "That's not a very salubrious area" etc. My favourites are seminal and semantic. (oh and callipygian - having well shaped buttocks) IP: Logged
Anti Em Self-Made User	posted April 13, 2001 08:50 AM I always like the phrase "Subduction leads to orogeny." Sounds SO naughty, but it actually has to do with the movement of earth's tectonic plates. Main Entry: sub·duc·tion Pronunciation: (")s&b-'d&k-sh&n Function: noun Etymology: Late Latin subduction-, subductio withdrawal, from Latin subducere to withdraw, from sub- + ducere to draw -- more at TOW Date: 1970 : the action or process of the edge of one crustal plate descending below the edge of another Main Entry: orog·e·ny Pronunciation: o-'rä-j&-nE Function: noun Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary Date: 1890 : the process of mountain formation especially by folding of the earth's crust IP: Logged
Lord Cavity Self-Made User	posted April 13, 2001 10:11 AM Boanthropy The condition of believing oneself to be an ox Boustrophedon A form of writing that will not be easy to replicate here without some editing the from different is this typing am I which in window the of size the because size of the window in which it will appear. I told you I'd probably have to edit. [This message has been edited by Lord Cavity (edited April 13, 2001).] IP: Logged
Sarcasma Self-Made User	posted April 13, 2001 11:33 AM If anyone can find out the meaning of eelogofusciohippopokunurious, my favourite word from my terribly annoying child days, I would be seriously grateful. (In fact, I'm not even completely sure of the spelling any more. Dang, dang, dang.) IP: Logged
Acsumama Self-Made User	posted April 13, 2001 05:09 PM Phlebotomy! That has something to do with the study of blood circulation. IP: Logged
Treasure Self-Made User	posted April 14, 2001 04:40 AM I've got a thing about the phrase "A holistic approach to maximising income" which I managed to work my way into a job interview (didn't get the job), complete with a cheesy grin & bizarre circle forming hand gestures. ------------------ Form an orderly queue folks IP: Logged
Knifey-Spooney Self-Made User	posted April 19, 2001 08:49 AM Well that bastard, Enjinno9, I thought I had the longest word. . .except that black lung disease can more efficiently be called pnuemonomelanosis. Saves the brain, and the tongue. . . But here's a word that's actually used: laparohysterosalpingo-oophorectomy. Now that's pretty damn long. It means removal through the abdominal wall of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and the ovaries. ------------------ "If the Bible has taught us nothing else - and it hasn't - it's that girls should only participate in girls' sports, like hot-oil wrestling, foxy boxing, and such and such." - Homer Simpson IP: Logged
Self-Made Concurrent Self-Made User	posted April 19, 2001 10:31 AM Brunching Eating breakfast way too late or lunch way too early, without it becoming a totally different meal. Shuttlecock Technical term for badminton birdie. Glomp Quick running hug. ~The Serlf-Made Concurrent IP: Logged
CatScratch Scrappy Doo	posted June 27, 2001 01:18 PM floccinaucinihilipilification floc·ci·nau·ci·ni·hil·i·pil·i·fi·ca·tion 1. Rare. the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language). Damn word was a spelling word in (I think) 3rd grade. Damn the teacher for letting the class pick words. Damn her! IP: Logged

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