# Gimme your great words **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 1, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991 "2015-07-01T21:14:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/41 "2015-07-03T12:09:53Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It hasn’t made it into official dictionaries but I find this an incredibly useful and descriptive word in this day and age: **[Wharrgarbl](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=WHARRGARBL)**. Why would we need a new word for that when we already had the perfectly acceptable [grawlix](http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/Grawlix.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/42 "2015-07-03T12:28:41Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Sussurance - the sound \*is \*the meaning. > Syzygy. > Zymurgy. > Frustum. > Lustrum. > Kefalograviera. > Interstices. > Trilemma. I now have the names for my next eight cats. Or, this could be the new [del]Seven[/del] Eight Dwarves. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > One bored day at work, I came across [persiflage](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/persiflage). I don’t work it into conversation nearly as often as I should. A friend and I used to use this word all the time, but as a substitute for “person,” as in, _“She’s a very important persiflage.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/43 "2015-07-03T12:42:49Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Why would we need a new word for that when we already had the perfectly acceptable [grawlix](http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/Grawlix.htm)? Grawlix is something completely different, although it’s a great word in itself. Also from that link: > [@](#): > > ‘Emanata’ are lines drawn around the head to indicate shock or surprise. ‘Grawlixes’ are those typographical symbols that stand for profanities. ‘Agitrons’ are wiggly lines around a character to indicate shaking. ‘Plewds’ are sweat drops that convey worry. ‘Squeans’ are tiny starbursts or circles that represent intoxication or dizziness. ‘Solrads’ are lines that radiate from a light bulb or the sun to indicate luminosity. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/44 "2015-07-03T12:53:31Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Interstices I published a blog entry about interstices and interstitial things just yesterday morning. Are we in the Matrix? It need a RAM upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/45 "2015-07-03T15:09:28Z")
A great many of my favourites are already listed but here are a few more: lambent- softly lit. I always thought this was one of those words that sounds exactly like what it is. slump- geology term for downward intermittent movement of rock debris, usually the consequence of removal of buttressing earth at the foot of a slope of unconsolidated material. iconoclast- One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/46 "2015-07-03T15:37:42Z")
I once bought a dictionary of slang.There are probably three pages of synonyms for “intoxicated with alcohol,” of which the first of this particular group is “woofled” I’ve also been rather fond of “gubernatorial,” and “diabolical,” although of course, those aren’t so obscure. But I still like them anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/47 "2015-07-03T15:42:45Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > lambent- softly lit. I always thought this was one of those words that sounds exactly like what it is. Reminds me of _tenebrous_, dark or poorly lit. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/48 "2015-07-03T15:48:29Z")
Same with _crepuscular_, relating to twilight ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/49 "2015-07-03T16:12:03Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > Same with _crepuscular_, relating to twilight Hmmm… that sounds like it should mean what happens to muscles when you get old and out of shape\*, i.e., your biceps turn to crepe-y skin. Use in a sentence: \*“He used to be a body builder, but now he’s all crepuscular.” \* \*Don’t mean to imply that being old inevitably means being out of shape. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/50 "2015-07-03T16:16:15Z")
> [@Hopeful\_Crow](#): > > My favorite is yardang, which is a sharp irregular ridge of compact sand lying in the direction of the prevailing wind in exposed desert regions, formed by the wind erosion of adjacent material that is less resistant. > > Or something a redneck pirate might say. For ice there’s sastrugi, although the ridges run perpendicular to the wind direction. I got to use the word about a week ago, when a client wanted me to create a CG ice surface and after he finished explaining what he had in mind I said: “ah, you want sastrugi!”… maybe he thought I was inviting him for lunch at a trattoria. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/51 "2015-07-03T17:13:17Z")
I like my sastrugi with sour cream and red cabbage… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/52 "2015-07-03T17:23:48Z")
Really? “Sastruga” was [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com)’s word of the day once, last winter, though as noted it ended with an A instead of an I. Maybe that’s the plural…? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/53 "2015-07-03T21:43:51Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > slump- geology term for downward intermittent movement of rock debris, usually the consequence of removal of buttressing earth at the foot of a slope of unconsolidated material. Reminds me of another favorite, “angle of repose”; the angle at which you can pile a granular material before it slumps. It’s why you can’t build a sand castle out of dry sand. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/54 "2015-07-03T23:13:59Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Reminds me of another favorite, “angle of repose”; the angle at which you can pile a granular material before it slumps. It’s why you can’t build a sand castle out of dry sand. _[Angle of Repose](http://smile.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-Wallace-Stegner/dp/1101872764/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435965003&sr=8-1&keywords=angle+of+repose)_, title of a novel by Wallace Stegner. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/55 "2015-07-03T23:56:40Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Really? “Sastruga” was [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com)’s word of the day once, last winter, though as noted it ended with an A instead of an I. Maybe that’s the plural…? Sastruga is the singular. I picked it up years ago while reading early Antarctic explorer’s accounts, like “The Worst Journey in the World” or “Home of the Blizzard”. ---
**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:** [July 4, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/56 "2015-07-04T04:07:03Z")
It’s not an actual in-the-dictionary word, but I’ve been loving “shitbird” a lot lately. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/57 "2015-07-08T21:21:59Z")
I also love “wherewithal,” which basically means everything that is necessary to do something; i.e., I’d revive Chess on Broadway if I had the wherewithal. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/58 "2015-07-08T21:53:04Z")
Interesting. I have always used it strictly in the “having the mental/attention/energy resources to do something”. As in, “I’d make a margarita but I don’t have the wherewithal.” Never occurred to me to include the limes and tequila. Reminds me of the nice old-fashioned usage of “altogether”, meaning naked. As in “the goddess Juno in her altogether.” Or “the altogether”, sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/59 "2015-07-09T14:32:07Z")
Fun legal word: **Usufruct**. Having the right to use and enjoy the fruits of another person’s property without destruction or waste of the property. A person with such a right is a **usufructuary**. **Arquebus** - a very early muzzle-loading firearm. Like, 200 years before the Pilgrims. **Cordwainer** - a shoemaker. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991/60 "2015-07-09T14:48:33Z")
Vexillology: the study of flags. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-your-great-words/723991.md?page=4)