# Anecdotard: A word I must use more often. Your fave under-used words? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 8, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255 "2023-08-08T16:19:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/1 "2023-08-08T16:19:05Z")
Things I learned today: An _ANECDOTARD_ is a teller of foolish or pointless anecdotes. The term ‘anecdotage’ dates back to the early 19th century. ‘Anecdotard’ itself appears shortly after that. For some, it refers only to old people doing this, but more often in recent times it can be applied to tedious/failed raconteurs of any age. I discovered all that when the term came to my mind while reading a post complaining about people supplying anecdotes instead of data to prove points. For a brief moment I thought I was an original coiner of that term, but googling proved me wrong, having missed that mark by 200 years. Oh well, the term still only had 700 or so google hits. Anyway, a search of the SDMB showed no previous use of the term and now I am vowing to use it regularly here and elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/2 "2023-08-08T16:28:16Z")
Oh lord. Should I use that as my tagline? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/3 "2023-08-08T16:31:16Z")
Pulchritude. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/4 "2023-08-08T16:33:10Z")
Zarf (shut up, Discourse) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/5 "2023-08-08T16:49:46Z")
Scurrilous. It just sounds dirty. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/6 "2023-08-08T17:10:55Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > An _ANECDOTARD_ is a teller of foolish or pointless anecdotes. How about _anecdocent_ as its antonym? ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/7 "2023-08-08T17:21:58Z")
I thank our 43rd President for **misunderestimate**. It’s very flexible. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/8 "2023-08-08T17:32:05Z")
Pusillanimous ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/9 "2023-08-08T17:42:09Z")
Sesquipedalian. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/10 "2023-08-08T18:03:52Z")
[Insinuendo.](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insinuendo) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/11 "2023-08-08T18:30:34Z")
I dunno. I’d expect someone to claim anecdotard somehow maligned the intellectually disabled, due to its similarity to retard. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone other than me say the words **sanguine** and **behoove** , both of which are pleasant to utter and express fine, relatively frequently applicable concepts. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/12 "2023-08-08T18:43:56Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone other than me say the words **sanguine** and **behoove** It behooves me to sanguinely reply that I’ve used both words with some frequency over my lifetime. As in repeating the Motto of the _National Uvula Society_ to a patient: “It’ll behoove ya to care for your uvula!” and my own observation regarding a patient in the ER once time: “I am sanguine I can keep him from exsanguinating”. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/13 "2023-08-08T18:45:48Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > How about _anecdocent_ as its antonym? Now I want to become a docent in the Museum of Anecdotes… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/14 "2023-08-08T18:52:01Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I dunno. I’d expect someone to claim anecdotard somehow maligned the intellectually disabled, due to its similarity to retard. They could claim it, but it’s a further stretch than saying “Niggardly” is a racial slur. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone other than me say the words **sanguine** and **behoove** , both of which are pleasant to utter and express fine, relatively frequently applicable concepts. I use “behoove”, when it behooves me. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/15 "2023-08-08T18:56:11Z")
I take _umbrage_ regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/16 "2023-08-08T19:21:40Z")
I often use the phrase “I misremembered” when in actuality I should have said “I made up that shit.” ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/17 "2023-08-08T19:27:05Z")
Velleity. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/18 "2023-08-08T19:35:08Z")
I like _corpulent_. I like _skulduggery_ and _skulduggerous_. And recently someone posted the word _higgledy-piggledy_ in a thread here, and that one caught my eye; great word! ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/19 "2023-08-08T19:53:30Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > … behoove … The parents of a childhood friend of mine introduced me to this word, saying something like, “It would behoove you to take a jacket.” I’d only heard them say it and made an ass of myself telling people “It would be hoo of you to [this or that].” ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255/20 "2023-08-09T00:40:35Z")
Walking the beach this evening discussing fox behavior, I described them as crepuscular, which I think is a nice word. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anecdotard-a-word-i-must-use-more-often-your-fave-under-used-words/988255.md?page=2)