WordstoKnow

nilamarthiel:

thetruthyness:

knottahooker:

Snoutfair: A person with a handsome countenance — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Pussyvan: A flurry, temper — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Wonder-Wench: A sweetheart — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Lunting: Walking while smoking a pipe — John Mactaggart’s “Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia,” 1824

California Widow: A married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period -John Farmer’s “Americanisms Old and New”, 1889

Groak: To silently watch someone while they are eating, hoping to be invited to join them

Jirble: To pour out (a liquid) with an unsteady hand: as, he jirbles out a dram —www.Wordnik.com

Curglaff: The shock felt in bathing when one first plunges into the cold water — John Jamieson’s Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808

Spermologer: A picker-up of trivia, of current news, a gossip monger, what we would today call a columnist — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Tyromancy: Divining by the coagulation of cheese — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Beef-Witted: Having an inactive brain, thought to be from eating too much beef. — John Phin’s “Shakespeare Cyclopaedia and Glossary”, 1902

Queerplungers: Cheats who throw themselves into the water in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a guinea each, and the supposed drowned person, pretending he was driven to that extremity by great necessity, is also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket. — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Englishable: That may be rendered into English. — John Ogilvie’s “Comprehensive English Dictionary”, 1865

Resistentialism: The seemingly spiteful behavior shown by inanimate objects —www.ObsoleteWord.Blogspot.com

Bookwright: A writer of books; an author; a term of slight contempt — Daniel Lyons’s “Dictionary of the English Language”, 1897

Soda-squirt: One who works at a soda fountain in New Mexico — Elsie Warnock’s “Dialect Speech in California and New Mexico”, 1919

With squirrel: Pregnant — Vance Randolph’s “Down in the Holler: A Gallery of Ozark Folk Speech”, 1953

Zafty: A person very easily imposed upon — Maj. B. Lowsley’s “A Glossary of Berkshire Words and Phrases”, 1888

RESISTENTIALISM

THE SEEMINGLY SPITEFUL BEHAVIOR OF INANIMATE OBJECTS

okay we need to bring this one back right now

I hope to never be with squirrel good gracious

(via thingssheloves)

accio-coffee:

amandaonwriting:

Benjamin Dreyer is the VP Executive Managing Editor & Copy Chief of Random House Publishing Group. Below is his list of the common stumbling blocks for authors, from A to X. 

• One buys antiques in an antiques store from an antiques dealer; an antique store is a very old store.
• He stayed awhile; he stayed for a while.
• Besides is other than; beside is next to.
• The singular of biceps is biceps; the singular of triceps is triceps. There’s no such thing as a bicep; there’s no such thing as a tricep.
• A blond man, a blond woman; he’s a blond, she’s a blonde.
• A capital is a city (or a letter, or part of a column); a capitol is a building.
• Something centres on something else, not around it.
• If you’re talking about a thrilling plot point, the word is climactic; if you’re discussing the weather, the word is climatic.
• A cornet is an instrument; a coronet is a crown.
• One emigrates from a place; one immigrates to a place.
• The word is enmity, not emnity.
• One goes to work every day, or nearly, but eating lunch is an everyday occurrence.
• A flair is a talent; a flare is an emergency signal.
• A flier is someone who flies planes; a flyer is a piece of paper.
• Flower bed, not flowerbed.
• Free rein, not free reign.
• To garner is to accumulate, as a waiter garners tips; to garnish (in the non-parsley meaning) is to take away, as the government garnishes one’s wages; a garnishee is a person served with a garnishment; to garnishee is also to serve with a garnishment (that is, it’s a synonym for “to garnish”).
• A gel is a jelly; it’s also a transparent sheet used in stage lighting. When Jell-O sets, or when one’s master plan takes final form, it either jells or gels (though I think the former is preferable).
• Bears are grizzly; crimes are grisly. Cheap meat, of course, is gristly.
• Coats go on hangers; planes go in hangars.
• One’s sweetheart is “hon,” not “hun,” unless one’s sweetheart is Attila (not, by the way, Atilla) or perhaps Winnie-the-Pooh (note hyphens).
• One insures cars; one ensures success; one assures people.
• Lawn mower, not lawnmower.
• The past tense of lead is led, not lead.
• One loathes someone else but is loath to admit one’s distaste.
• If you’re leeching, you’re either bleeding a patient with a leech or otherwise sucking someone’s or something’s lifeblood. If you’re leaching, you’re removing one substance from another by means of a percolating liquid (I have virtually no idea what that means; I trust that you do).
• You wear a mantle; your fireplace has a mantel.
• Masseurs are men; masseuses are women. Many otherwise extremely well educated people don’t seem to know this; I have no idea why. (These days they’re all called massage therapists anyway.)
• The short version of microphone is still, so far as RH is concerned, mike. Not, ick, “mic.” [2009 update: I seem to be losing this battle. Badly. 2010 update: I’ve lost. Follow the author’s lead.]
• There’s no such word as moreso.
• Mucus is a noun; mucous is an adjective.
• Nerve-racking, not -wracking; racked with guilt, not wracked with guilt.
• One buys a newspaper at a newsstand, not a newstand.
• An ordinance is a law; ordnance is ammo.
• Palette has to do with colour; palate has to do with taste; a pallet is, among other things, something you sleep on. Eugene Pallette was a character actor; he’s particularly good in the 1943 film Heaven Can Wait.
• Noun wise, a premier is a diplomat; a premiere is something one attends. “Premier” is also, of course, an adjective denoting quality.
• That which the English call paraffin (as in “paraffin stove”), we Americans call kerosene. Copy editors should keep an eye open for this in mss. by British authors and query it. The term paraffin should generally be reserved for the waxy, oily stuff we associate with candles.
• Prophecy is a noun; prophesy is a verb.
• Per Web 11, it’s restroom.
• The Sibyl is a seeress; Sybil is Basil Fawlty’s wife.
• Please don’t mix somewhat and something into one murky modifier. A thing is somewhat rare, or it’s something of a rarity.
• A tick bites; a tic is a twitch.
• Tortuous is twisty, circuitous, or tricky; torturous is painful, or painfully slow.
• Transsexual, not transexual.
• Troops are military; troupes are theatrical.
• A vice is depraved; a vise squeezes.
• Vocal cords; strikes a chord.
• A smart aleck is a wise guy; a mobster is a wiseguy.
• X ray is a noun; X-ray is a verb or adjective.

There are actually a few on here I didn’t know. Very useful!

(via askinnyblackman)