# Unusual words you use **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585 "2002-11-19T19:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/21 "2002-11-19T22:16:37Z")
Everything’s Jake! I gotta reconnoiter. He’s all jacked up on hooch! ---
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/22 "2002-11-19T22:47:36Z")
I use callipygian whenever I can, because I think it is a cool word. (First saw it in description of Brittany Shields). ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/23 "2002-11-19T23:01:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Knowed Out \* > \*\*Me and my friends invented **puling**. It’s a contraction of puny and mewling. \*\* Someone else has beaten you to it, I’m afraid. If it makes you feel better, your meaning is fairly close to the one everybody else uses. From the online Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: > [@](#): > > Main Entry: pule > Pronunciation: 'pyü(&)l > Function: _intransitive verb_ > Inflected Form(s): **puled** ; **pul·ing** > Etymology: probably imitative > Date: 1534 > : WHINE, WHIMPER Shakespeare used it as well. From _Two Gentleman of Verona_, Act II, Scene 1: > [@](#): > > **VALENTINE** > Why, how know you that I am in love? > > **SPEED** > Marry, by these special marks: first, you have learn’d, like Sir Proteus, to wreath your arms like a malcontent; to relish a love-song, like a robin redbreast; to walk alone, like one that had the pestilence; to sigh, like a school-boy that had lost his A B C; to weep, like a young wench that had buried her grandam; to fast, like one that takes diet; to watch, like one that fears robbing; to speak **puling** , like a beggar at Hallowmas. You were wont, when you laughed, to crow like a cock; when you walk’d, to walk like one of the lions; when you fasted, it was presently after dinner; when you look’d sadly, it was for want of money. And now you are metamorphis’d with a mistress, that, when I look on you, I can hardly think you my master. ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/24 "2002-11-19T23:24:06Z")
f.uckery as in look at all this f.uckery (comotion) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/25 "2002-11-19T23:39:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scupper \* > **"Wilkommen" with a German accent, has somehow come to mean “you’re welcome” to me, despite the fact that I speak no German. Similarly, “Was ist das?” has come to mean “What’s wrong?” to me, despite the fact that it actually means "What is that?"** You’re so close on both counts! _Wilkommen_ = “welcome” (as in “Welcome to my home”) _Bitte_ = both “please” and “you’re welcome” _Was ist los?_ = “What’s wrong?” * * * Me, I use goofy words all the time. The one that comes immediately to mind is “It’s a little **froggy** (foggy) out today.” Just to be goofy, I guess, although I think it morphed from a goofy tape recording my friend’s brothers made when they were kids, inwhich they made up a story involving an unfortunate frog. ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/26 "2002-11-19T23:46:09Z")
Wonky. Typically used to describe servers that are experiencing unknown problems that I don’t want to fix. Generally accepted, technical explanation the PC illiterates in my office understand. My Monday morning state-of-mind. Syl ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/27 "2002-11-19T23:52:11Z")
Lots of them, though most of them are phrases. Two of them are phrases which those who know me would instantly identify with me, even though I invented neither of them: **shit in one sock** , a derivation of having one’s shit together, and **sport f** king\*\* meaning, of course, recreational sex. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/28 "2002-11-20T00:06:00Z")
Well, I’d have to say that I’m wordy enough… so let’s see… ethereal (I remember using it once in church, and my friend came up to me afterward, and said he liked that word I used) defenestrate loquaicious zoinks! (expression of surprise) F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/29 "2002-11-20T00:17:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Winston\_Smith \* > \*\*Do you happen to collect German Helmets and pornographic pictures of your ex-wives? If so, I work for you. Small world. \*\* I didn’t actually spray coffee all over my computer when I read this, but I came damn close. 😃 I think I surprised someone by using the word “paragon” in casual conversation. “Merrily” as in “so I went merrily about my way.” Willy-nilly ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/30 "2002-11-20T02:22:29Z")
Well, **Fionn** , if you HAD sprayed coffee all over your computer, but you sprayed it out of your nose, then in my parlance you would have **snarf** ed. A similiar term would be **yarf** , meaning to puke. And I tend to spell “puke” as “pewk” just because it makes it cuter. Other terms - the infamous **sporgasm** , a SPontaneous Orgasm, i.e., you’re walking down the street and you just… have one. (or, you fake one in public for the amusement of your friends and freaking out of others. 🙂 ) Opposite of this would be the **plorgasm** , a PLanned Orgasm. Mix the two together and you’ve got a **splorgasm** , although I’m still not sure on how you get a Spontaneous Planned Orgasm… anyone got ideas on that one? 😉 Also, if something is really crappy, I tend to say that it “sucks big hairy monkey balls.” I also add “-tastic” and “-ficated” to various words. So… let’s say I was describing my first time having sex, I might say I got de-virgificated and it was bam-tastic. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/31 "2002-11-20T02:56:27Z")
Waka-ding-hoy Straight out of “American Flagg” ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/32 "2002-11-20T03:08:29Z")
I was just talking to **dantheman** , and I mentioned that I might castigate him were I in the mood to do so. (I’m not, by the way) Then he came back at me with this: > [@](#): > > noooooo i’m uncastigable! Is that even a word? Then again, who knows. Sometimes I make up scores of words, or my friends have. Pity I can’t remember a one of them right now. F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/33 "2002-11-20T03:26:58Z")
I use a lot of words that don’t flow in daily conversation (rugose, crenulated, ooioid, imbricate, arcuate, thalweg, impedance, conductivity, coeval, migration, _anon_…) that I suspect are not sought by the OP. You can just read my posts to see what others I seem to prefer. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/34 "2002-11-20T03:34:55Z")
Lately, in work, I’ve resurrected the word “Groovy”. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/35 "2002-11-20T04:27:09Z")
I used to babysit for a four-year-old who said “somewheres” instead of “somewhere.” It was so cute, I adopted it. As in, “That book has to be around here somewheres” That four-year-old is now 27, but I still say it. ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/36 "2002-11-20T04:40:06Z")
Oh goodness. For some reason, I have an overdeveloped vocabulary that rears its ugly head at the strangest times. Yesterday, for instance, I actually used “loquacious” in a casual conversation that had almost nothing to do with anything. I also tend to talk about certain people being “firebrands” and about “innocuous” things and about one thing “correlating” to another. People look at me funny sometimes - that’s usually when I know that I’ve said something that is outside their typical daily vocabulary. I a TV newsroom, it’s fun to get caught by a writer saying something out of the ordinary - it’s even more fun to find that you’ve stumped the sports anchor with a seemingly trivial word like “ignominious.” ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/37 "2002-11-20T07:26:41Z")
Most of the words on here that are actual words, I use. When they come up… which is seldom, but it does occur. My work- **Col’ Muncle.** See, I have this large Philipino friend who likes to prove how tough he is by doing macho sports like arm wrestling and playing mercy with folks. One day he decided to play mercy with me. After he cranked my wrists, I tried to say “Doh!”, “Mercy!”, “Uncle”, and one of our favorite explitives of the time, “Monkey!”. It all came out at once, as “Col’ Muncle!”. He fell over laughing, and we’ve been using Col’ Muncle ever since, although often shortened to just Muncle. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/38 "2002-11-20T08:31:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dinsdale \* > \*\*I’m feeling kinda punk (unwell). > > Something seemed hinky (strange) about it. \*\* I’ve recently been cruelly mocked by dear friends for saying both “hinky” and “punky”; I use “hinky” the way you do, and “punky” the way you use “punk.” I’ve no idea where I got “hinky,” but “punky” I picked up from my father. ---
**Author:** ![Reuben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@Reuben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reuben)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/39 "2002-11-20T11:58:14Z")
**Discombobulate** (_diss-com-bob-you-late_) To throw into a state of confusion. As in, “He’s a bit discombobulated at the moment”. Yes I really do use this word! Comes from being a crossword geek. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585/40 "2002-11-20T12:50:14Z")
My family used to play Scrabble a lot. My father developed a habit of accusing people, when they played words that blocked whatever he had planned for his turn, of “clumbering up the board”. Presumably “clumber” was a conflation of “clutter” and “lumber”. At any rate, my father was convinced it was. Well, we were a household full of word geeks, so we looked it up in the dictionary, didn’t we? Turns out “clumber” is a word - specifically, it’s a certain breed of spaniel. Did we let my father live this down? Of course not. “Gosh, dad, I’m sorry, was I spanielling up the board again?” Personally, I like sesquipedalian words. It’s helpful to have a large vocabulary - that way, you can be sure of finding the _mot juste_ for any given occasion. It obviates any need for circumlocution. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-words-you-use/137585.md?page=3)