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Obscure words that we should use

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    #26
    Pudenda.

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      #27
      Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
      Some bloke once accused me of having 'swallowed a dictionary' for using the oh-so-oblique expression 'trials and tribulations'. Always good to be put in one's place by the limitations of somebody else's education.

      A friend of mine is presently obsessed with the term 'persiflage', and tends to use it more frequently than is absolutely necessary. It's a nice word, though.
      And it can be used in French too...

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        #28
        and Dutch.

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          #29
          A blogger I regularly read uses the word picayune quite a bit. Had to look that up but it's a great word for describing really small, almost worthless claims.

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            #30
            I didn't realise flibbertigibbet was obscure.

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              #31
              New Orleans’ newspaper of record

              Last edited by ursus arctos; 03-12-2018, 18:12.

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                #32
                Cockamamie has the most incredible etymology. "From French décalcomanie (“process of transferring designs onto surfaces using decals”)."

                So, cockamamie is named after those little cheap transfers kids in NYC (I think that's correct) used to buy at corner shops and used to put on their arm or their wall or something like that.
                Last edited by diggedy derek; 03-12-2018, 18:26.

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                  #33
                  Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                  Pudenda.
                  Is that like addenda to a porn novel?

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                    #34
                    Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                    Pudenda.
                    When I was at school, it was nigh impossible to find a toilet cubicle without the word 'PUD' scrawled on it.

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                      #35
                      Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
                      Is that like addenda to a porn novel?
                      Don't think so. It's another word for external genitalia.

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                        #36
                        I’m rewatching Miller’s Crossing. It has some quality old-timey slang, like “the high hat.”

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                          #37
                          My dad almost choked when I used the word 'smut' once. He said it was a word his mother would have used.

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                            #38
                            dd, American “decals” are the kind of thing one would apply to scale models, rather than to the skin, and could be the result of serious research and design. They are printed on clear film, and traditionally needed to be soaked in water to separate them from the backing paper.

                            We called the skin stuff “transfers”, or later “temporary tattoos”.
                            Last edited by ursus arctos; 03-12-2018, 21:33.

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                              #39
                              Obfuscation is my favourite and if you don't know what it means then that is a very good definition of it, because it means to deliberately mislead.

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                                #40
                                Obtuse is surprisingly rare these days, especially considering how many people are.

                                On transfers, we used the same word for the ones you put on Airfix kits, “rub down” ones to go on paper, and temporary tattoos.

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                                  #41
                                  Ignominious isn't especially obscure but as a ten-year-old I used it as often as possible, because it was Richmal Crompton's favourite word. It appeared about once a chapter in every William book I read. Sadly it was several months before I realised I was mispronouncing it "ignominous." Fortunately no one appeared to notice.

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                                    #42
                                    Contiguous, meaning sharing a common border. I first discovered it while researching some local football history, which revealed that there used to be something called the Buckinghamshire and Contiguous Counties League.

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                                      #43
                                      Hirsute isn't used half as much as it should be.

                                      My Mum's last job pre-retirement was as a Legal Secretary. The lawyer she worked for clearly thought he knew the word but didn't. He once dictated a letter which began:

                                      Dear Mr. [ ]

                                      Hirsute, we will be unable to take on your case.

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                                        #44
                                        Trying to work out what word he did mean there.

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                                          #45
                                          Transpontine, meaning 'on the other side of a bridge or sea.'
                                          Traditionally used in Britain to refer to America or Americans.

                                          "she approached the task with typical transpontine enthusiasm"

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                                            #46
                                            My young boss calls me “dude”. I cling to the hope he means it in the archaic sense.

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                                              #47
                                              Originally posted by Furtho View Post
                                              Contiguous, meaning sharing a common border. I first discovered it while researching some local football history, which revealed that there used to be something called the Buckinghamshire and Contiguous Counties League.
                                              The "contiguous United States" I've seen used, to descibe the 48 states but not Alaska and Hawaii.
                                              Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 04-12-2018, 08:55.

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                                                #48
                                                Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                                Trying to work out what word he did mean there.
                                                Possibly 'herein'?

                                                'Hirsute' (in its correct sense) is used widely though, isn't it?

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                                                  #49
                                                  "Unfortunately" or "regrettably" I assumed.

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                                                    #50
                                                    Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                                    Trying to work out what word he did mean there.
                                                    Pursuant?

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