# What is your favorite esoteric word in your vocabulary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 2, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403 "2010-02-02T16:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/41 "2010-02-03T13:17:42Z")
I wrote a travel story a few years ago and found cause to use the word “verdure,” describing a rich growth of green vegetation. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/42 "2010-02-03T14:02:59Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I was bummed when that movie, “Synecdoche, New York” came out because the word got misused a lot I used to be partial to **oxymoron**. But the word became popular and the original, subtle meaning was utterly trashed. It’s now pretty much useless. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/43 "2010-02-03T14:18:02Z")
I like “huzzah.” It’s an old-school exclamation, related to “hurray!” I’m bringing it back. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/44 "2010-02-03T14:23:14Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > **Communiqué** –that little slip that comes in your fortune cookie I’m surprised nobody got my _Simpsons_ reference yet.☹ ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/45 "2010-02-03T14:25:48Z")
Ubiquitous meaning everywhere. I also like esoteric but I see someone got there first. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/46 "2010-02-03T14:43:19Z")
I like to use the French phrase \*Mise en place \*(pronounced [miz ã plas], literally “putting in place”) meaning “everything in place”, as in set up. Used to describe having all your ingredients ready to go before cooking begins. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/47 "2010-02-03T15:39:02Z")
Velleity: the lowest level of volition. As in, you’ve got something to do but lack the will to make yourself do it. I’m having a velleity about finishing my project, I’d rather surf the web. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/48 "2010-02-03T16:08:28Z")
**empyrean** - the highest heaven, or heavenly **phlogiston** - the element of fire believed to be released during combustion ---
**Author:** ![Taenia\_spp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Taenia\_spp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taenia_spp)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/49 "2010-02-03T16:37:14Z")
Since _The Simpsons_ have already been mentioned, I’m going to nip this one in the bud. However titillating it might be to use, **embiggen** and **cromulent** are NOT valid words. 🙂 _A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man. -Embiggens? I’ve never heard that word before I moved to Springfield. -I don’t know why, it’s a perfectly cromulent word._ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/50 "2010-02-03T16:41:11Z")
Wait a minute, _ **Vorpal Blade** _ is just going to let **Arnold** ’s reference to “snickersnee” pass without comment? (“The Vorpal Blade went snicker-snack / he left it dead, and with its head / he went gallumphing back…”) ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/51 "2010-02-03T18:10:07Z")
**Vespertilian** - relating to, or resembling a bat (the flying creature, not the baseball tool) ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/52 "2010-02-03T18:18:24Z")
As a teen, one bored afternoon, a friend and I went through the entire dictionary searching for the most obscure and silly word - this is what we found: **[Gaberlunzie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaberlunzie)** - A medieval Scots word for a licensed beggar. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/53 "2010-02-03T18:45:37Z")
Concatenation. Used for a series or chain of events, each of which is dependent upon or connected to the last. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/54 "2010-02-03T22:08:34Z")
Just now, looking to see why one coudn’t use [cattle grid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_grid) instead of fencing (nah, wouldn’t work), I learned the new word **Skeuomorph** : [“a derivative object which retains ornamental design cues to structure that was necessary in the original”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph) I’d always wondered the purpose of that teeny little handle on the maple syrup bottle. If the cupboard was already chock full, or if you didn’t want a syrup stain on the shelf, you could dangle it with the coffee cups, or from your [banana holder](http://dailygoods.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/monkey-banana-holder.jpg). But, it is merely a **Skeuomorph** , and I a ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/55 "2010-02-04T01:28:37Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > **Vespertilian** - relating to, or resembling a bat (the flying creature, not the baseball tool) Ah yes, that reminds me: **Turdiform** - like a thrush. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/56 "2010-02-04T02:01:42Z")
Embuggerance. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Bobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@King\_Bobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Bobo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/57 "2010-02-04T02:03:30Z")
I am quite fond of the word _virga_ which means precipitation which evaporates before it hits the ground. We here in Calgary, AB, hear this word often on our weather reports; it is very dry here and often we have rain clouds which seem to leak and form veils in the sky, but no moisture ever reaches the ground. I does make for some lovely vistas, especially when the sun is low in the sky and seems to shine through the moisture veils. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/58 "2010-02-04T03:06:09Z")
_Weltanschauung_ (Ger., worldview). ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/59 "2010-02-04T05:44:42Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > **Décolletage** : permitting me to be lascivious and erudite in one fell swoop. Pictures, please. hh ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/60 "2010-02-04T05:49:36Z")
I got to use two of my old standbys within the last two weeks, but they have eluded me, just now. The only one that comes to mind right now is ‘chiarascuro’ the visual artistic device that gives atmosphere by emphasizing shadows…kinda) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403.md?page=4)