# Where did you learn that word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733 "2007-06-04T18:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/21 "2007-06-05T15:29:45Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] \*Ennui \*- Paul Atreides uses it _Dune_. I had to look it up. [/QUOTE] I remember learning that word very well. Had to look it up after seeing Edward Gorey use it in his delightfully macabre “Gashleycrumb Tinies,” about 26 little kids, named in alphabetical order, who die in various unpleasant ways. “E is for Edward, who died of ennui,” as I recall. When I was 11 or so I called another boy a “slut” once, not knowing what it meant but knowing it was an insult, and was gently corrected by my mom. **Lightray** , I looked up and learned “puissance” after reading it in Thomas Berger’s great Arthurian novel _Arthur Rex_ in high school. Also learned “recreant,” “catamite” and “zounds” from that book. I read a lot as a kid and often knew a word before I knew its pronunciation. For instance, I said “despot” with a silent “t” (like “depot,” I reasoned) before being set right. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/22 "2007-06-05T16:12:04Z")
Pulchritudinous - Bugs Bunny cartoon Pachyderm - Bugs Bunny cartoon Pusillanimous - Bugs Bunny cartoon Give me a while to think about it, and I’ll come up with a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/23 "2007-06-05T16:36:11Z")
For the record (in the order they appear in this thread): **caprice** : an abrupt change in feeling, opinion, or action, proceeding from some whim or fancy; a freak; a notion. **bailiwick** : the area over which a bailiff has jurisdiction **haver** : to maunder; to talk foolishly; to chatter. **disobey** : to transgress the commands of one in authority **cusp** : point formed by two intersecting arcs **phenomenon** : That which strikes one as strange, unusual, or unaccountable **merge** : to join or combine **fuck** : to have sexual intercourse (with). [vulgar slang] **gossamer** : characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy **egregious** : conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible **latigo** : a strap for tightening a saddle girth **epicene** : having an ambiguous sexual identity **inchoate** : only partly in existence; imperfectly formed **ennui** : the feeling of being bored by something tedious **non sequitur** : a reply that has no relevance to what preceded it **desultory** : marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose **philippic** : a speech of violent denunciation **lambent** : softly bright or radiant **argent** : lustrous gray; covered with or tinged with the color of silver **puissance** : power to influence or coerce **soporific** : sleep inducing **ineluctable** : impossible to avoid or evade **anamnesis** : the ability to recall past occurrences **lordosis** : a curvature of the spine forwards, usually in the lumbar region **shibboleth** : a favorite saying of a sect or political group **to relieve oneself** : to urinate **crackpot** : a whimsically eccentric person **despise** : look down on with disdain **vaginal** : of or relating to the vagina **shit** : obscene terms for feces **sodomy** : anal intercourse committed by a man with a man or woman **orgasm** : the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse **carious** : affected with cavities or decay **telic** : denoting the final end or purpose, as distinguished from ecbatic **crepitation** : the sharp sound of snapping noises **etoliate** : ??? **supercallifragilisticexpialidocious** : something about being atrociously precocious **coitus** : the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the man’s penis is inserted into the woman’s vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation occur **fellatio** : oral stimulation of the penis **cunnilingus** : oral stimulation of the vulva or clitoris **jejune** : lacking matter; empty; void of substance **slut** : an untidy woman; a slattern **recreant** : having deserted a cause or principle **catamite** : a boy kept for unnatural purposes **zounds** : An exclamation formerly used as an oath, and an expression of anger or wonder. **despot** : a cruel and oppressive dictator **pulchritudinous** : used of persons only; having great physical beauty **pachyderm** : any of various nonruminant hoofed mammals having very thick skin: elephant; rhinoceros; hippopotamus **pusillanimous** : contemptibly fearful ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/24 "2007-06-05T16:43:38Z")
Here are the scripts I used to get all of those definitions: Copy/paste these into their respective filenames, put both files in c:\windows\system32. From a command prompt you can then type something like _define egregious_ or _define “non sequitur”_ (sorry, Windows only) **define.bat** ```auto @echo off cls cscript //nologo GetDefinition.vbs %1 ``` **GetDefinition.vbs** ```auto Dim objArg Set objArg = WScript.Arguments If objArg.Count <> 1 Then WScript.Echo "USAGE: cscript //nologo " + WScript.ScriptName + " " WScript.Quit 1 End If word = objArg(0) Set definitions = GetDefinitions(word) Count = 0 If Not definitions is nothing Then WScript.Echo "" For each definition in definitions WScript.Echo definition.text WScript.Echo "" Count = Count + 1 Next End If If Count = 0 Then WScript.Echo "No definitions found for """ + word + """" End If ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Function GetDefinitions(word) set xmlhttp = CreateObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP") url = "http://services.aonaware.com/DictService/DictService.asmx" xmlhttp.open "POST", url,false xmlhttp.setRequestHeader "SOAPAction", "http://services.aonaware.com/webservices/Define" xmlhttp.setRequestHeader "Content-type", "text/xml" xmlhttp.send "" + word + "" Set resp = xmlhttp.responsexml If not resp is nothing and not resp.documentElement is nothing Then Set GetDefinitions = resp.documentElement.selectNodes("//WordDefinition") Else Set GetDefinitions = Nothing End If End Function ``` ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/25 "2007-06-05T17:30:42Z")
Alternatively, you can use the [Answers](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/735) extension to Firefox, the just alt-click on a word to see its definition in a popup. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/26 "2007-06-05T19:03:14Z")
[ul] [li] **Asinine** - A friend’s mom who always complained about everything used this word around me when I was 11. I thought it was quite funny.[/li][li] **Bollox** - First read it in MAD magazine.[/li][li] **Charisma** - Learned this one in church.[/li][li] **Debonair** - George Carlin routine where he told an entire story using words that rhyme with “air”.[/li][li] **Evaporate-** I was seven years old when I asked my mom why spilled water will disappear after awhile if it’s not wiped up. She said this is called “evaporation.” When I tried to look it up in my children’s dictionary, I was looking for the word “vaporate”. I didn’t hear the “e” at the beginning.[/li][li] **Mirage** - When I was four years old I asked my Mom why it looks like there’s water on the road but then it disappears when you get close to it. She explained this is a mirage, which is caused by the heat radiating off the surface (or words a four-year-old would understand).[/li][li] **Obliterate** - When we were 11 a friend of mine used this word to describe what he was doing to the dense grouping of mushrooms he was shooting away in the arcade game Centipede. I thought it was just a word he made up.[/li][li] **Pedestrian** - I saw a sign that read “PED XING”. I asked my mom what a “ped” is. She explained that it was short for “pedestrian”, a person walking alongside or across the roadway.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![SiouxChief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SiouxChief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiouxChief)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/27 "2007-06-05T19:03:14Z")
You can also easily look up word definitions in Safari (and other apps) on Mac OSX by double-clicking a word to select, then right-click and choose “Look up in Dictionary”. [QUOTE=bluethree] Pulchritudinous - Bugs Bunny cartoon Pachyderm - Bugs Bunny cartoon Pusillanimous - Bugs Bunny cartoon Give me a while to think about it, and I’ll come up with a lot more. [/QUOTE] Was this from Foghorn Leghorn, by any chance? That rooster had a huge vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/28 "2007-06-05T21:41:31Z")
[QUOTE=SiouxChief] Was this from Foghorn Leghorn, by any chance? That rooster had a huge vocabulary. [/QUOTE] I have to admit that I don’t remember specifically. I think the pulchritudinous pachyderms was in a cartoon with Bugs Bunny and a circus, and pusillanimous might have had to do with Elmer Fudd, but I’m not sure. We looked up words in the dictionary all the time. Dad used to do this to us all the time: Us: Dad, what does ‘pulchritudinous’ mean? Dad: It’s pretty much the same thing as ‘resplendent.’ Us: _groan_ What does ‘resplendent’ mean? Dad: Why don’t you look it up? Dad got a perfect score on the SAT verbal. ---
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/29 "2007-06-05T21:57:42Z")
Well, I don’t want to offend anyone, but I can recall specifically being in the backseat of Dad’s Jeep Cherokee, when my sister’s friend Denise told us she had named her rabbit “jigaboo.” I laughed because I had never heard this before and it sounded like a funny made up word. I didn’t realize it was a racial epithet until I saw it used in some Police Academy movie. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/30 "2007-06-05T22:00:05Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] I have to admit that I don’t remember specifically. I think the pulchritudinous pachyderms was in a cartoon with Bugs Bunny and a circus, and pusillanimous might have had to do with Elmer Fudd, but I’m not sure. We looked up words in the dictionary all the time. Dad used to do this to us all the time: Us: Dad, what does ‘pulchritudinous’ mean? Dad: It’s pretty much the same thing as ‘resplendent.’ Us: _groan_ What does ‘resplendent’ mean? Dad: Why don’t you look it up? Dad got a perfect score on the SAT verbal. [/QUOTE] When asked how to spell something, my mom would say “D-I-C-T-I-O…” ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/31 "2007-06-05T22:54:46Z")
**dildo** - Heard it at Little League practice, decided it was some funny new insult, and called my sister one at dinnertime. My parents let it go after it became clear I didn’t know what it meant. After dinner I checked my dictionary, then the unabridged one. Ooohh, that’s why they were shocked :eek: Most recently I picked up **palaver** from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. ---
**Author:** ![Public\_Animal\_No.9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Public\_Animal\_No.9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Public_Animal_No.9)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/32 "2007-06-06T00:03:42Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] Pulchritudinous - Bugs Bunny cartoon Pachyderm - Bugs Bunny cartoon Pusillanimous - Bugs Bunny cartoon Give me a while to think about it, and I’ll come up with a lot more. [/QUOTE] Accoutrements - Daffy Duck: “Pardon me whilst I adjust my accoutrements.” ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/33 "2007-06-06T00:17:21Z")
_Onomatopoeic_ From the book, Christine, by Stephen King: “Oh God, what an onomatopoeic family, I thought. For Christ’s sake don’t put a bank-shang-a-lang on them, Pops–they might make poopy kaka in their pants.” I loved that quote so much, but I had to look up onomatopoeic before I could truly appreciate it. I think that was in fifth grade. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/34 "2007-06-06T00:46:06Z")
Defenestrate - In a comic in an issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Some guy was being sentenced to death by immediate defenestration. Cool word. Then I told my dad about it and he told me about [The Defenestration of Prague.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague) ---
**Author:** ![SiouxChief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SiouxChief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiouxChief)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/35 "2007-06-06T15:27:38Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] Defenestrate - In a comic in an issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Some guy was being sentenced to death by immediate defenestration. Cool word. Then I told my dad about it and he told me about [The Defenestration of Prague.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague) [/QUOTE] Ooh, my new favorite word. New novel idea for Sue Grafton: “D is for Defenestration” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/36 "2007-06-06T15:37:42Z")
I learned “plethora” after having no idea on the PSAT. Come to think of it, I think I learned quite a few words studying for the PSAT. And I figured out “implode” while taking the PSAT. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/37 "2007-06-06T16:00:55Z")
When I was a Boy Scout camp counselor, far from any dictionary that the Scouts might consult, I had a sign up in the waterfront area: “Defenestrating prohibited.” When the boys asked me what it meant, I just smiled. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/38 "2007-06-06T16:38:03Z")
> [@](#): > > I saw a sign that read “PED XING”. I asked my mom what a “ped” is. She explained that it was short for “pedestrian”, a person walking alongside or across the roadway. As I wrote in a long-ago thread, Ped Xing was the ancient Chinese inventor of the Crosswalk, and to this day they commemorate it by writing his name in Pinyin at many such crosswalks. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/39 "2007-06-06T17:28:45Z")
[QUOTE=E. Thorp] Like the OP – and, I suspect, nearly every American who knows the word – I learned “haver” from The Proclaimers. [/QUOTE] Me too! I have a cover of that song somewhere, too, and it’s hilarious because it goes “When I haver–WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS!!!–I’m gonna be the man who’s havering to you” or something. It’s awesome 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aioua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Aioua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aioua)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733/40 "2007-06-06T18:06:37Z")
_Reciprocity_. Learned form one of my favorite english teachers who, while we were all writing short stories or something (him included), exclaimed out loud that he couldn’t remember the word and tried to give us a definition. But it is such an akward word that he could barely define it–and none of us knew it anyway. He came in the next day and prouldy spelt out reciprocity on the board. Oddly enough, I still have a hard time remembering the word. It usually goes like “what’s that word that’s so hard to remeber? … ah! I can’t remember!” It’s almost impossible to actually use in a non-technical sentence. My favorite use (which I basically made up) is “This reciprocal saw reciprocates with greater reciprocity than the old model.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-that-word/406733.md?page=3)