I
Im 80% sure that word appears in Dickson’s book Family Words
Actually, now that I’ve looked it up, I’m 100% certain. There’s a fairly large entry on it that you can find with the “Search Inside” option on Amazon:
It was the subject of the “Word Watch” column in The Atlantic in June 1987, where Prof. Luigi Ballerini of NTYU suggested it came from Italian * acidita*, meaning “acidity”. It’s used in the Woody Allen film Broadway Danny Rose.
By the way, apropos of tghis entire thread is Gellett Burgess’ book that popped up after Dickson’s on Amazon. I’ve head of Burgess in several connections, but not this one – his book **Burgess Unabridged: A Classic Dictionary of Words You Have Always Needed
**
“Agita” as explained by the Word Detective looks like the word “acido” from Italian for “acid” morphed into “agita” when Italians came to America.
I’ve been using “grok” for about 15 years and not once has anyone (those who have no idea who Heinlen is) questioned it.
“Gigrundous” is a word I use frequently. Although not an acceptable word, eveyone seems to understand what I’m saying. It’s a word I made up, however, I am probably not the only one to do so.
“Kerjillion” although, not mine, explains pretty clearly that there’s an assload of something but without the certainty of how much. Clearly more than a trillion, I’m sure.
Isn’t language a beautiful thing?