What new word did you learn today?

[Rath Darkblade]

fucktion - what someone hanging on by a thread does

Um, was this meant to be in the "Wonky Dictionary" thread? I tried googling this word and couldn't find it, except in Urban Dictionary as "A tale of sex that never actually happened." (So ... anything by E. L. James, then? Got it)

 

[Louanne Learning]

I tried googling this word and couldn't find it,

Sometimes Google is behind.

i came across this word in a post my sister forwarded to me on Instagram. And actually, the whole word is "barelyfucktioning"

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Ah. Sounds like a good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon word.

We need more of them. Like ... Earsling (pron. Ars-ling): Moving backwards, or "going in the direction of your arse".

And while this word isn't quite Anglo-Saxon (and dates 'only' from 1536), how about:

Crapulous. The crap feeling you get from eating and drinking too much. As in, 'I'm not hungover. I'm just crapulous.' (It comes from the Latin word crapula, which simply means “intoxication.”)

 

[Also]

Um, was this meant to be in the "Wonky Dictionary" thread? I tried googling this word and couldn't find it, except in Urban Dictionary as "A tale of sex that never actually happened." (So ... anything by E. L. James, then? Got it)

It may originally have been misheard from someone with a head cold and severe congestion.

 

[Trish]

The crap feeling you get from eating and drinking too much

I think this is called "meat sweats"

 

[Stuart Dren]

I only ever thought of smut in its most common use today...

noun: smut; plural noun: smuts

1. 1.
   a small flake of soot or other dirt.
   "all those black smuts from the engine"
   
   
2. 2.
   a fungal disease of grains in which parts of the ear change to black powder.
   "a few bad crop years with smut and drought and frost"
   
   
3. 3.
   obscene or lascivious talk, writing, or pictures.
   
   "porn, in this view, is far from being harmless smut"​
   
   Which leads to...
   

   smutter​

   noun​

   smut·ter
   ˈsmətə(r)
   
   plural-s
   : one that smuts
   specifically : an operator of machinery for cleaning smut and other impurities from grain
   

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Heh. Well, you won't find the first meaning unless you're reading/writing about old-fashioned coal-powered trains, of course, 'cos it's all electric these days.

As for the third one - well, there's a song about it.

But the word 'smutter' reminds me of another English word that comes from Yiddish/Polish: Schmatta (or Schmatte), which literally means a "rag", but commonly refers to old, torn clothing or a worthless piece of fabric. It is frequently used to disparage low-quality clothing or, figuratively, to describe a person treated as a "doormat".

It also refers to the garment industry itself. "Oy Moishe*, you still workin' in de ole schmatte place?"
"Ay Aaron, but it gives me such joy to see dem little ones walkin' outta here in they nice new suits!"

_____________________
* The Yiddish form of Moses.

 

[Riddley Walker]

Sepulturero - gravedigger

 

[Riddley Walker]

psychopomp
creatures or entities responsible for escorting newly deceased souls to the afterlife


(i had no idea there was an over all name/word for these types of deities!)

Nah - "psychopomp" is what pretentious councilors advise.

 

[JT Woody]

Sepulturero - gravedigger

Also known as a "resurectionist"

 

[JLT]

But the word 'smutter' reminds me of another English word that comes from Yiddish/Polish: Schmatta (or Schmatte), which literally means a "rag", but commonly refers to old, torn clothing or a worthless piece of fabric. It is frequently used to disparage low-quality clothing or, figuratively, to describe a person treated as a "doormat".

I think that the word "smut" in the sense of "pornography" derives from the German word "schmutz" which literally means "dirt." It's probable that the word has also crept into Yiddish. It may also be significant that one of the first words I learned in Germany was "schmutzig" which means "dirty"...referring to my hands after playing in the mud.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

This word is fantastic, and needs to be brought back:

Bedswerver. Rather than saying "cheater" or "adulterer", why not the more whimsical "bedswerver"? Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" defines a 'bedswerver' as “one that is false to the bed; one that ranges or swerves from one bed to another.”

This may or may not have been a Shakespearean invention, but one of its first and most notable appearances was in his play The Winter’s Tale (originally published in the First Folio of 1623).

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Bedswerver sounds like the person in control of directing the bed during bed races.

 

[Louanne Learning]

equable -

1. marked by lack of variation or change

2. marked by lack of noticeable, unpleasant, or extreme variation or inequality

 

[Trish]

Hiraeth (pronounced HEE-reyeth) is a unique Welsh word describing a deep, melancholic longing or homesickness for a home, place, time, or person that is lost, gone, or may have never even existed, blending nostalgia, grief, and yearning for a belonging that feels irretrievably distant. It's more profound than simple nostalgia, encompassing a sense of incompleteness and an ache for roots or an idealized past, often tied to Welsh heritage and landscape.

 

[Night Herald]

This word is fantastic, and needs to be brought back:

Bedswerver. Rather than saying "cheater" or "adulterer", why not the more whimsical "bedswerver"? Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" defines a 'bedswerver' as “one that is false to the bed; one that ranges or swerves from one bed to another.”

This may or may not have been a Shakespearean invention, but one of its first and most notable appearances was in his play The Winter’s Tale (originally published in the First Folio of 1623).

It's great, yeah, and I'll be sure to find a home for it in my writing. Thanks for sharing that.


The other day I looked up the definition of a word I've been hearing around lately:

Galumph: to move clumsily or heavily.

I'm already a fan. My characters will be doing a fair bit of galumphing henceforth. They'll commit acts of galumphery.