I like words. I know a fair few of them. I want to know more. What are your favorite esoteric words?
Words are overrated.
Epeolatry: The worship of words.
Well done!
One that seems to be new to a lot of people: sardonic or sardonism. It is kind of like sarcasm or facetiousness, but darker. The definition is grimfully mocking.
“I was just being sarcastic. Don’t be so defensive and serious.”
“I was being sardonic. Did you take offense to that? Good.”
Callipygian - to have a nice ass.
Fantastic!
I hate saying it, it feels bad in my mouth. Anthropomorphize is kind of fun though.
Why do you hate saying it?
It just feels awkward to say clearly and quickly.
Whenever I say it, I am unsure whether I’ve added an extra syllable.
Palimpsest - it’s like a document that’s been re-used but still shows some of the previous words underneath. Or a bit like a whiteboard that has ‘burnt-in’ marker showing after being erased.
I like it! Thanks!
I recently learned ‘bucolic’ - relating to or typical of rural life. It’s based on the greek word for shepherd.
I read it in a review of the fantastic BBC show ‘The Derectorists’ and found it very fitting.
It’s a good one!
I just thought of one that I’ve never had cause to use in conversation: “philomot,” meaning “having the color of a dead leaf.”
- syzygy
- diurnal
- gnathion
Diurnal’s cool, but its not Crepuscular cool.
True, it’s usually lower temperature by then.
Hey, you should be friends with my Yiddish cephalopod friend.
Encumbered, obsequious, defenestration, solastalgia
Discombobulated!
I love disconcerting
sesquipedalian: • a foot and a half • a really long word • referring to a user of really long wordsYesterday I was trying to think of the difference between audacious and bodacious and I could really use some help with that.
One is about boobs and one is about confidence.
There’s probably some overlap.
That link isn’t clickable for me, but from context I’m guessing it’s a German word, in which case you’re clearly cheating.
I love this!!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Used to be known by pretty much every kid in at least the US.
(Edited to clarify that maybe outside the US also)
Then the french equivalent would be « anticonstitutionnellement » which is the longuest word in the french language (counting lettres).
Was The Sound of Music only popular in the US? I’d assumed it was also popular in Europe given the setting.
Also, this word was an exercise in the gifted classes I got put in in elementary school. The idea was to try to spell it without looking it up.
I don’t know about The Sound of Music (I’ve only seen clips) but supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was popularized here (and maybe elsewhere) by Mary Poppins.
Am I mixing up the movies maybe? It’s quite early here so my brain may not be working at 100%.
I mix those two movies up, too, so you’re at least not alone! They’re both older movies about awesome/magical ladies taking care of kids, if I remember correctly, with lots of music and singing. So I get it.
I haven’t seen it until I was 28. It’s not very popular in Europe, especially DACh, because it’s apologetic for Austrians, showing them as victims of the Nazis, rather then enthusiasts.
It is said to be a propaganda piece made for that but idk
