# Cool Words **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 12, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827 "2020-10-12T19:57:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/121 "2021-01-07T03:55:35Z")
empyrean lugubrious autochthonous eleemosynary ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/122 "2021-01-08T14:41:42Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Ucalegon > > Which also has the one of the very best meanings, right up there with defenestrate: neighbor whose house is on fire. I remember being disappointed when I learned that Ucalegon means “a neighbor whose house is on fire” in the same sense that Hercules means “a really strong guy” or Einstein means “a really smart guy”. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/123 "2021-01-08T15:05:42Z")
Today’s bonus word: tintinnabulous ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/124 "2021-01-10T05:01:21Z")
Cicatrix Valetudinarian ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/125 "2021-01-10T05:08:43Z")
Quintessential ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/126 "2021-01-10T05:53:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Quintessential  Good word. I once knew someone who called it “quintessenal”. I should have pointed out to him he had it wrong, but I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/127 "2021-01-10T07:58:48Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Good word. It’s ok. There are more mellifluous words though. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/128 "2021-01-10T16:15:54Z")
Festoon. I wonder how many people understand the reference to the number “five” in “quintessential”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/129 "2021-01-10T17:27:18Z")
Leeloo could tell you. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/130 "2021-01-28T20:49:38Z")
insinuendo ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/131 "2021-01-31T01:36:44Z")
sverdrup ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/132 "2021-01-31T02:00:28Z")
Escutcheon. Avoid blotting. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/133 "2021-01-31T02:24:15Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > … it was likely a problem with the Magnetron. I second Magnetron. It sounds like a devise to blow up the world from a bad 1950s Sci-Fi movie. And props to you for being able to change the Magnetron. To the OP, great thread but… grub!? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/134 "2021-01-31T03:09:02Z")
Since tintinnabulation has been noted, in another form, a couple of foreign ones that I like are: flâneur zydeco ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/135 "2021-01-31T16:24:29Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > To the OP, great thread but… grub!? Ohhhh, yeah: > **[Everything You Need To Know About Grub Screws | RS](https://uk.rs-online.com/web/content/discovery/ideas-and-advice/grub-screw-guide)** > > This grub screws guide examines their uses, sizes and gauges, explaining how to choose them based on their manufacturing materials and end styles. [![](https://media.rs-online.com/t_large/F0281697-01.jpg) ](https://media.rs-online.com/t_large/F0281697-01.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/136 "2021-01-31T16:27:38Z")
murmur ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/137 "2021-01-31T21:53:42Z")
My HS English teacher was fond of the mouth-feel of “rift”. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/138 "2021-01-31T22:13:29Z")
muffuletta/muffaletta gazpacho [yes: I’m hungry] ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/139 "2021-02-01T08:22:27Z")
transmogrify / transmogrification The first I ever saw or heard this word was in Calvin and Hobbes, and for a long time thereafter I hadn’t seen it anywhere else. I didn’t know it was a real word until today, I happened to be reading one of the Wiki pages about Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, and it used the word, quoting some old text about the changes in the translation over the centuries. So it’s not even a new-ish word. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827/140 "2021-02-01T08:47:00Z")
I’m fond of the mouth-feel of “moon.” > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > > [@hogarth](#): > > > > Micturition syncope > > Hell’s teeth, do I have a story to tell about this Well … ? We’re waiting. > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Kerfuffle I saw this once typo’d as “kerfluffle” (with an extra “L”) and I’ll never go back to the original. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-words/922827.md?page=8)