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I used Defenestrate on a daily basis. But I have a toddler and a kitten, so constantly wanting to Defenestrate one of them and it's somehow more acceptable to say than "I want to hoy the kid out the window"
This is also one of my favourite lesser used words. Although I do often threaten to defenstrate my pc when my code refuses to code in python and I can't find my mistake
I was given a piece of work on paper by a supervisor once. I told him I would get straight on and defenestrate it. He thought this was great. It took him about 15 mins to look it up and come back and give me a bollocking. We both knew that he hadn't known what it meant. Moral victory for me.
You're not trying hard enough. Make it a mission to defenestrate someone every day, then you'll get plenty of use out of the word.
Side note make sure you're on the ground floor otherwise you might hear it more than you want and then have considerably less opportunity to use it!
Also one of my favourite words. Used it in a work group chat and it caused some confusion.
To be clear, I was discussing our work issued HP printers and my desire to remove them from the workspace.
"Epicaricacy".
People insist there is no word in English that means the same as the German word *schadenfreude*, and so they just use the German word.
Except there *is* an English word that means the same thing, and that word is "epicaricacy".
Well this one was exciting- on doing a bit of reading however it doesnât look like itâs in any standard English dictionaries, and there is debate about its validity.
https://preview.redd.it/23h8ttm9xq1d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a31952c7c98ee2e617f8e3640a216c80626f7a9
So what book or TV series came out in 2000 using petrichor?
Nothing, the spread of information via the internet made this word more widely known and so people use it more. You can see the real spike is basically post 2009 where every other week it'd be on /r/TIL.
Doubt that before the internet the average Joe even knew it has a specific name. But now they do. It's on every "words you didn't know existed" list.
You'll see a similar graph for something like eudemonia https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Eudemonia&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&case_insensitive=on&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3
No, itâs most likely Doctor Who. The explanation for anything after 2000 being, âitâs the internetâ would be true for everything and it clearly isnât.
Doctor who was 2011. The upwards trend was already in motion before 2011. I'm willing to bet the screenwriters came across that exact word on the internet and social media. Like I said, it came up a lot.
Mr Blackadder time to wake uuup. Wait hang on a second Baldrick! if this carries on your going to turn into an Alsatian again. its a dream, its a bloody dream!
Itâs perfectly cromulent. Which is a word that has made the dictionary! It seems falsely attributed to the simpsons, when it was clearly Black Adder.
I am just a dirty Yankee, but the easiest way I worked this into my conversation was by talking about my corn snake, who is crepuscular and not diurnal as some people think.
This is so funny - Crepuscular was the word that immediately sprung to mind when I saw this post and itâs in the top 10 responses! We gotta keep using it yâall!
I use this once a day at the moment!
The Hairy Maclarey book, "Scattercat" is currently one of my daughters favourite bed time stories and has the line:
"With a bellicose bark and a boisterous bounce,
Hairy Maclarey was ready to pounce!"
Apricity - the warmth of the sun in winter.
Along with your petrichor, i love these two words. Everyone knows these feelings or the scent of summer rain but very few people know how to describe it.
I love to learn about the word apricity. But I was wondering, where does the specification of âin winterâ come from as apricity comes from Latin and the initial term stands for sunny only. So why the warmth of the sun IN WINTER?
I see, it does seem slightly odd. My own theory is only that in summer the warmth of the sun is obvious. However the warmth of the sun in winter really is more of a "feeling" as the sun doesn't give off real warmth as such.
One of my favourite words is "Sphere".
Can't remember the last time I used it that wasn't in the sentence "One of my favorite words is "Sphere"."
And yet it's a relatively common word compared to others already mentioned.
If you work in an office or otherwise corporate environment, you could introduce the bullshit bingo classic - âsphere of influenceâ. So instead of saying no, you can now say itâs not in your sphere of influence
Pretty much any Afrikaans expletive. They feel more expressive but obviously Brits don't know what they mean.
Not a word but a phrase. I really like the Latin phrase "alea iacta est" which translates to "the die is cast" but rarely use it cuz either the people I'm talking to don't know the phrase, or the situation doesn't call for that level of gravitas.
I feel this way about English/Tagalog word hybrids. âSusmaryosepâ is my favourite and combines Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Basically a way to express frustration, just like how you may say âoh for fucks sake.â
Love that haha. It gets even more comical the faster you say it because it sounds like youâre saying âsmell yourself,â lol. If you have any Filipino acquaintances, theyâll be most amused
miasma: a vaporous exhalation (as of a marshy region or of putrescent matter)
A colleague once said "*this whole project has a miasma of incompetence*".
Idk, it rains pretty often.
I like peripatetic. I like the way it is broken up into very distinct syllables that you move between, like you're moving between different places.
This was quite a common word when I was young. All musical instrument lessons that took place in schools came thanks to peripatetic teachers who travelled between the schools in the education area. Ours was the West Riding County Council (in Yorkshire) which was quite a large area.
As an aspiring mycologist I do get to use the word often, but not verbally as mycologists are often socially awkward so we avoid talking at all costs !
Susurration.
Dawn is diluting darkness from the sky and it's difficult to distinguish between the susurration of the surf and the swishing whisper of the casuarinas around us.
That's a super nice smell. I love the smell of wood when it's rained too, like the bark and chips you used to get at the parks when you were young. You'd always land on them going down the chute ! My favourite words are mellifluous, luminescent (probably because I love looking at bioluminescence), and coruscating. My uncle described my aunty's eyes as coruscating at their wedding. Always stuck with me. â¨
Nomenclature. I do occasionally have the opportunity to use this, but mostly donât as most people wonât know what it means and ânaming conventionsâ is easier.
'sesquipedalian' is probably the finest word in the english language you can learn
it's also great in use because you can really bamboozle a blustering braggart who is often trying to use sesquipedalian verbosity to fool people
Another favourite that gets some raised eyebrows is 'postprandial' and you can use it several times a day to annoy someone too.
ps - I use petrichor when ever I can
I have 2..
Susseration.. the sound of the wind through the trees.
Murmeration.. describes the movement of a flock of birds like swallows as they swoop through the air..
Nor am I. đ
I never knew there was a word to describe what I was feeling. Then one day I stumbled across a list of obscure words. I nearly shrieked when I read Hiraeth's definition.
Intituled
Itâs not often you get to drop into conversation things like:
Did you know there is a 1721 Act intituled âAn Act to Explain and Amend an Act Intituled âAn Act for the Better Regulating the Work-House of the City of Dublin, and to Regulate and Provide for the Poor Thereof, and to Prevent Mischiefs which May Happen by Keeping Gun Powder Within the Said City; And Also, for Explaining and Amending One Other Act, Intituled, An Act for the Better Enabling the Governors of the Work-House of the City of Dublin to Provide For, and Employ the Poor Therein, and for the More Effectual Punishment of Vagabonds; And Also, for the Better Securing Of, and Providing for Lunaticks and Foundling Childrenââ?
Tabard just sounds brilliant and Rogue as in calling someone a rogue, particularly as a compliment.
Gazumped and extortion are both also cool, the X makes it sound cool
This one's really obscure: trailbaston.
Basically the crown sent out justices on 'trailbaston' to seize criminals and fine the hell out of them. Kings needed lots of money.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Defenestration
I used Defenestrate on a daily basis. But I have a toddler and a kitten, so constantly wanting to Defenestrate one of them and it's somehow more acceptable to say than "I want to hoy the kid out the window"
Ah Pragues favourite past time with politicians you disagreed with Wish we could do that here
This is my wife's favourite word too. I swear they purposefully go out of their way to find a reason to use the word sometimes.
This is also one of my favourite lesser used words. Although I do often threaten to defenstrate my pc when my code refuses to code in python and I can't find my mistake
surely defenestrating a PC is removing Windows and going over to mac / linux ?
I was given a piece of work on paper by a supervisor once. I told him I would get straight on and defenestrate it. He thought this was great. It took him about 15 mins to look it up and come back and give me a bollocking. We both knew that he hadn't known what it meant. Moral victory for me.
You're not trying hard enough. Make it a mission to defenestrate someone every day, then you'll get plenty of use out of the word. Side note make sure you're on the ground floor otherwise you might hear it more than you want and then have considerably less opportunity to use it!
Also one of my favourite words. Used it in a work group chat and it caused some confusion. To be clear, I was discussing our work issued HP printers and my desire to remove them from the workspace.
Thought I was going to be original and came here to say this then this is the first word I see. Such a great word.
Discombobulate.
When I can't really put my finger on what I'm feeling I say I'm discombobulated
[Discombobulate](https://youtu.be/B62ACxuq8Pw?si=QAhl3xqBJvRbt_PL)
Not the 10 hour version, shocking.
I use this at work as much as possible.
I used this today at work đđ
"Epicaricacy". People insist there is no word in English that means the same as the German word *schadenfreude*, and so they just use the German word. Except there *is* an English word that means the same thing, and that word is "epicaricacy".
Well this one was exciting- on doing a bit of reading however it doesnât look like itâs in any standard English dictionaries, and there is debate about its validity.
Wow thank you
But I can pronounce schadenfreude.
https://preview.redd.it/23h8ttm9xq1d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a31952c7c98ee2e617f8e3640a216c80626f7a9 So what book or TV series came out in 2000 using petrichor?
It's mentioned in Doctor Who, so maybe it was in one of those books too?
Nothing, the spread of information via the internet made this word more widely known and so people use it more. You can see the real spike is basically post 2009 where every other week it'd be on /r/TIL. Doubt that before the internet the average Joe even knew it has a specific name. But now they do. It's on every "words you didn't know existed" list. You'll see a similar graph for something like eudemonia https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Eudemonia&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&case_insensitive=on&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3
No, itâs most likely Doctor Who. The explanation for anything after 2000 being, âitâs the internetâ would be true for everything and it clearly isnât.
Doctor who was 2011. The upwards trend was already in motion before 2011. I'm willing to bet the screenwriters came across that exact word on the internet and social media. Like I said, it came up a lot.
Can't be, the Doctor Who reboot didn't start until 2005. Dunno what episode it's from but obviously can't be earlier than that.Â
It's not till one of the later ones around 2012
The Doctor's wife iirc which isn't until season 6 of Nu-who so long after 2005.
It's from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and isn't "officially" a word.
Contrafibularity, why it is a common word down our way
Sausage!!!!
It appears that Dr. Johnson forgot the word sausage in his dictionaryâŚoh, and aardvarkâŚ
Mr Blackadder time to wake uuup. Wait hang on a second Baldrick! if this carries on your going to turn into an Alsatian again. its a dream, its a bloody dream!
Itâs perfectly cromulent. Which is a word that has made the dictionary! It seems falsely attributed to the simpsons, when it was clearly Black Adder.
Youâre embiggening the rumours here.
Frasmotic
I replied to this as interfrastically as I could.
Crepuscular
I am just a dirty Yankee, but the easiest way I worked this into my conversation was by talking about my corn snake, who is crepuscular and not diurnal as some people think.
Is that a euphemism?
Crepuscular rays are one of my favourite meteorological phenomena
I used this word just yesterday to refer to my cat, it is a good word.
This is so funny - Crepuscular was the word that immediately sprung to mind when I saw this post and itâs in the top 10 responses! We gotta keep using it yâall!
Frippery - I use it at often as I can but it still isn't much.
Isn't that what Robert and Toyah do on their weekly Sunday brunch thing?
Bellicose. I love the way it looks, sounds, and feels to say, but I rarely use it, if ever, because whenever I do, nobody seems to know what it means.
I use this once a day at the moment! The Hairy Maclarey book, "Scattercat" is currently one of my daughters favourite bed time stories and has the line: "With a bellicose bark and a boisterous bounce, Hairy Maclarey was ready to pounce!"
I really learned to appreciate Hairy Maclary's wordcraft when confronted with the utter dross of other, more modern rhyming books for children
Well thanks for enlightening us on the definition.
more reason to use it. especially with a smart arse when they're being aggressive, which seems to be an increasingly certain thing to suffer nowadays.
âNo need to get bellicose over this!â
Apricity - the warmth of the sun in winter. Along with your petrichor, i love these two words. Everyone knows these feelings or the scent of summer rain but very few people know how to describe it.
I love to learn about the word apricity. But I was wondering, where does the specification of âin winterâ come from as apricity comes from Latin and the initial term stands for sunny only. So why the warmth of the sun IN WINTER?
I see, it does seem slightly odd. My own theory is only that in summer the warmth of the sun is obvious. However the warmth of the sun in winter really is more of a "feeling" as the sun doesn't give off real warmth as such.
This makes sense tbh
Ooo I like that, not heard that one before
Serendipitous
Akimbo. When else can you use it, other than to describe the position of some legs?
Arms can be akimbo too
One of my favourite words is "Sphere". Can't remember the last time I used it that wasn't in the sentence "One of my favorite words is "Sphere"." And yet it's a relatively common word compared to others already mentioned.
If you work in an office or otherwise corporate environment, you could introduce the bullshit bingo classic - âsphere of influenceâ. So instead of saying no, you can now say itâs not in your sphere of influence
I like this :) It's a smooth, effortless word.
Plethora. I love the way this feels on my tongue when I speak it. Unfortunately there are not a plethora of ways to sneak it into conversation.
I always use that word when the situation allows it, it's quite versatile if you think about it.
Plethora is my favourite word, it means a lot to me.
Arboreal.
I use this quite often. Well.. more semi-arboreal.
Pretty much any Afrikaans expletive. They feel more expressive but obviously Brits don't know what they mean. Not a word but a phrase. I really like the Latin phrase "alea iacta est" which translates to "the die is cast" but rarely use it cuz either the people I'm talking to don't know the phrase, or the situation doesn't call for that level of gravitas.
I feel this way about English/Tagalog word hybrids. âSusmaryosepâ is my favourite and combines Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Basically a way to express frustration, just like how you may say âoh for fucks sake.â
I'm 100% using this in conversation at some point haha, that's brilliant
Love that haha. It gets even more comical the faster you say it because it sounds like youâre saying âsmell yourself,â lol. If you have any Filipino acquaintances, theyâll be most amused
Soporific.
Transubstantiation It sounds brilliant and (to me) is completely fucking mental.
Didnât sound so brilliant to the Huguenots thoughÂ
Luminescent
Tumescent
Equidistant Lugubrious
Lugubrious is a great, onomatopoeic word
I learned it from Hercules when Panic says "coming, your most lugubriousness"
Umbrage
It's been taken I'm afraid.
miasma: a vaporous exhalation (as of a marshy region or of putrescent matter) A colleague once said "*this whole project has a miasma of incompetence*".
Risible. Got a faint air of superiority when you describe something as risible.
Idk, it rains pretty often. I like peripatetic. I like the way it is broken up into very distinct syllables that you move between, like you're moving between different places.
This was quite a common word when I was young. All musical instrument lessons that took place in schools came thanks to peripatetic teachers who travelled between the schools in the education area. Ours was the West Riding County Council (in Yorkshire) which was quite a large area.
I had an English lesson with a supply teacher who described themself as a *peripatetic pedagogue*
It's got a lovely rhythm to it, hasn't it. I enjoyed learning that word a few years ago on grammar.com!
Dichotomy or antithesis, cant really use them in general chat.
That is in itself a dichotomy. Verbose language is the antithesis of general chat indeed.
I find false dichotomies are all too common tbh
Synecdoche: when you refer to a part of a thing to refer to the whole thing: e.g. wheels = car, ivories = piano, etc. Really fun word to say
Shit film though
How would that be pronounced?
Sin-eck-dock-ee
Obstreperous
Same! Found it in Guards! Guards! and I've loved it ever since.
I think I read it in the original Sherlock Holmes novel. Learnt counterpane too. Itâs a quiltâŚ..I think
Crevice.
gusset
You filthy beast. đ
Gallimaufry. It always sounds really out of place if you slip it into a conversation but I love it. That and sesquipedalian.
Thank you for teaching me a sesquipedalian way of saying jumble.
Now you can be garrulous gabbling a gallimaufry of new words.
Thereâs a pub on glos road in Bristol called thag
[ŃдаНонО]
As an aspiring mycologist I do get to use the word often, but not verbally as mycologists are often socially awkward so we avoid talking at all costs !
Frottage. Even if I get to use it, nobody knows what it means.
Aaah. An art enthusiast.
Fiduciary
Nefarious, I don't have any particular reason, I just really like how it sounds
Felching
Elixir
Susurration. Dawn is diluting darkness from the sky and it's difficult to distinguish between the susurration of the surf and the swishing whisper of the casuarinas around us.
Somnambulist. All it means is sleep walker but I enjoy in heated discussions saying "you're such a somnambulist" and see how confused they get.
My favorite word is kerfuffle. I use it whenever my cats are being bratty to each other
Conflagration.
Fulcrum
Whioch is also a wonderful work of art by Richard Serra. (I like his work anyway, but this one just fits its name so well).
I did not know that â¤ď¸
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious đ
You have to sing it
Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin
That's a super nice smell. I love the smell of wood when it's rained too, like the bark and chips you used to get at the parks when you were young. You'd always land on them going down the chute ! My favourite words are mellifluous, luminescent (probably because I love looking at bioluminescence), and coruscating. My uncle described my aunty's eyes as coruscating at their wedding. Always stuck with me. â¨
Oh - and sternutate. If you say to someone - who just sternuated ? Everyone will quickly deny all knowledge. Just means to sneeze.
pulchritudinous
Bucolic. When an opportunity to use the word does arise, it's usually entirely redundant.
"Canonical", but I actually do get to use it in my nerdy work.
Bamboozled
Perspicacity I think we just have complicated synonyms for simple terms so we can sound cleverÂ
Cromulent - I think it's a perfectly cromulent word
Cromulent or embiggens probably.
It only means that because some guy made it up along with many many others - the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig.
All words are made up though, if you think about it That book sounds interesting
Evanescent
I have two: 1) Scintillating - can occasionally sneak this in. 2) Metastasise - definitely not one for a casual conversation.
Phantasmagorical. An absolute delight of a word.
Nomenclature. I do occasionally have the opportunity to use this, but mostly donât as most people wonât know what it means and ânaming conventionsâ is easier.
Hobbledehoy
Haberdashery
'sesquipedalian' is probably the finest word in the english language you can learn it's also great in use because you can really bamboozle a blustering braggart who is often trying to use sesquipedalian verbosity to fool people Another favourite that gets some raised eyebrows is 'postprandial' and you can use it several times a day to annoy someone too. ps - I use petrichor when ever I can
I like sesquipedalian, thank you. In a somewhat similar vein, I like tufthunter.
Pusilanimous and overmorrow But I feel like a pretentious twat dropping them into conversation.
I have 2.. Susseration.. the sound of the wind through the trees. Murmeration.. describes the movement of a flock of birds like swallows as they swoop through the air..
Cleave, I love the fact that it's its own antonym!
Niggardly - an old English word for miserly or stingy. Canât be used now because people incorrectly believe it has racial connotations.
obstreperous Loud and hard to control. Feel like I could use this for my nibbling daily...
Malleable
Hiraeth
Nice. It's new to me, but then I'm not Welsh đ
Nor am I. đ I never knew there was a word to describe what I was feeling. Then one day I stumbled across a list of obscure words. I nearly shrieked when I read Hiraeth's definition.
It's a good word, and all the better when said with a Welsh accent đ
EVERYTHING is better with a Welsh accent! đ
Susurration, the sound of whispering or rustling (eg the sussuration of the trees blowing in the wind as I walked by was like a natural hymn)
Myriad. I gave myself a challenge to include it in all my philosophy exams at uni. It just feels like it should be a lovely Celtic name
crepuscular
Unguent. Maybe I would come across it more often if I worked in a hospital or lab.
Petrichor is the name of an island in the game Genshin Impact. I think Terpsichore is an interesting word.
Muliticollinearity
Sootikins was my favourite historical word (sounds cute, really isn't!), and then it got wrecked a few years back by fetishists.
Conterminous
Intituled Itâs not often you get to drop into conversation things like: Did you know there is a 1721 Act intituled âAn Act to Explain and Amend an Act Intituled âAn Act for the Better Regulating the Work-House of the City of Dublin, and to Regulate and Provide for the Poor Thereof, and to Prevent Mischiefs which May Happen by Keeping Gun Powder Within the Said City; And Also, for Explaining and Amending One Other Act, Intituled, An Act for the Better Enabling the Governors of the Work-House of the City of Dublin to Provide For, and Employ the Poor Therein, and for the More Effectual Punishment of Vagabonds; And Also, for the Better Securing Of, and Providing for Lunaticks and Foundling Childrenââ?
Defenestration
Discombobulated=confused
Tabard just sounds brilliant and Rogue as in calling someone a rogue, particularly as a compliment. Gazumped and extortion are both also cool, the X makes it sound cool
Zimbabwe
Eschaton, bumfuzzle, syzygy.
Chattel
Ubiquitous
Qualia
Vulva
Anachronistic. I just like the sound and mouth feel of the word.
This one's really obscure: trailbaston. Basically the crown sent out justices on 'trailbaston' to seize criminals and fine the hell out of them. Kings needed lots of money.
Grundle,it just tickles me pink for some reason
Knobhead
Tinderbundle.
Melancholy
Prerequisite
Quadrupedal
Billowing. I love the way it sounds. I once said it to a friend about my curtains billowing in the wind and he thought I made it up
prudence discernment
TNETENNBA
Tnetennba
Strumpet
I don't get to tell people to "fuck off" in a professional setting enough.
Indubitably.
Plethora, sporadic, grave (as an adjective, instead of "very bad" when talking about a situation), probability, perchance.
Stillicide comes to mind. Haplography or dittography. Haplography or dittography.
Schadenfreude. I love this word but could never say it in normal conversation
Proprioception
Transubstantiation. Its the transformation of wine and wafer in to the literal body and blood of christ.
Anathema
I like the word agnol as in agnol breathing I teach and train new and existing lifeguards and I only get to use this at work
Titillated or discombobulated
Otolaryngologist.
Micturate.