After our advisor (Hi Eric) challenged us to use petrichor in an article last week, we got to thinking about odd, unusual, and uncommon words. Of course, there are classic examples to whip out during a verbal vocab frenzy like defenestration or even supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (thank you, Mary Poppins). But we’d like to take some time this week to appreciate our favorites.
Brianna here, my favorite words are derelict and asinine. They really just roll off the tongue and sound exactly like their definitions. However, I’ve been working on a project where I get to run across all kinds of fun science words, like neonic and neurotoxicity, or even imidacloprid.
I will also admit that as a child who read, and continues to read, far too many books, I had a rather odd vocabulary. For a long time, hypothesis was my favorite word, and I feel like I’m often the person in a conversation supplying synonyms or trying to finish the other person’s sentence. A few of my friends even have a running joke that I’m from the Victorian era, thanks to my occasionally odd vocabulary choices and grandma-esc hobbies.
Kenzie here, I love weird words and their different meanings. Last semester, while teaching, I encountered a poem called “Kavikanthabharana”. I was really confused about what I was trying to say or what it exactly meant. It took a lot of Google Translate to hear it and googling to know what it meant. “Kavikanthabharana” is a poem of poetic composition techniques.
I think it’s interesting learning what things mean because it can make the word more meaningful. Outside of teaching, I love looking up fun, interesting words that no one would ever know the meaning of unless you Google it. For example, bumfuzzle means confused or perplexed, or poppycock, which means nonsense. Random words with funny meanings are best because they can broaden your vocabulary.
It can also be really interesting to learn the origins of words. Kenzie and I are taking a class this semester on Homer, which means we’re reading the Iliad and Odyssey. Which means we’ve run across all kinds of Greek words. Like Xena, which means stranger or guest and is used in the Iliad when describing a traveler you let stay the night in your home. That’s where we get the word Xenophobia, fear of outsiders, often used to describe the fear of things or people from other countries.
Broadening your word horizons can broaden your worldly horizons. You may learn a fun fact or even discover a new catchphrase, like inconceivable!
