Bafflegab me

Okey dokey, pokey: Because I wanted to preserve the words I was putting up every day, I've moved this to its own page - now I can just let it keep growing. The order is reverse-chronological. I thought about alphabetic, but since my website is designed more for noodling around (as opposed to doing serious stuff), this way you can infer my train of thought as each day goes by (as if you'd want to!).

Gnomonics Yikes - bet you don't know this one! Clue: I'm posting this in November, when we have to "spring forward, fall back."

Non-rhotic Nice one! It's really hard! As a bonus, any idea what a trap-bath split is? Let's dance!

Irrumatio Yup, apologies in advance. Another one of those words, but I bet it's a new one for you!

Aposematic Not wildly interesting, but I'll bet this is one you've never heard before! Here's a quote; see if you can figure its meaning out in context, before hitting the link: "A gigantic bird of prey was descending on him, its claws outstretched. Its aposematic wings were spread wide, as wide as the field itself. Looking up in shock, Hungaman saw how fanciful the wings were, fretted at the edges, iridescent, bright as a butterfly's wings and as gentle. - Aboard the Beatitude, Brian W. Aldiss, 2002" (My thanks to World Wide Words.)

Littoral Yet another new word for me, which I discovered when writing about windmills off the Atlantic seaboard. (<-- hint!)

Aperçus It's been some time since I updated this page, but I just found this delicious word. It's a short synopsis or a clever insight.

Foxymoron Pretty much self-defining, but a word most definitely worthy of inclusion here. "That Sarah Palin - such a foxymoron!"

Autogynephilia (Yeah, I know - more sexual aberrations. What can I say? Maybe I need to get out more often.) For a more interesting explanation, check out the second letter in this column from Dan Savage, an advice columnist with true wisdom and wit, unlike Dear Abby and her wannabes. In fact, you may wanna read the entire column - I'm sure it will make you want to return every week to see what Dan has to say.

Ephebophilia Interestingly, it turns out that what we generally call "pedophilia" really means a sexual attraction to pre-pubescents. This one - ephebophilia - refers to sexual attraction towards 14-19 year-old boys and 16-19 year-old girls. There are even gender-specific terms for ranges of age groups younger than that. Who knew?

Dithyramb A Greek word - it's a song sung by 50 naked men or boys dancing in a circle, in honor of Dionysus.

Atavistic Think "baboon." Or just think about most people today.

Cocotte A fascinating word with two definitions that should surprise you!

Rhypophobia Oh dear - more scatological stuff! (That's a clue...)

Manumit This one hit me during one of those excursions on the 'net where you just "let go" and keep clicking through from one site to another, as long as they look interesting. It's amazing how many different topics are covered this way!!! I found an online crossword from a British newspaper, and this was one of the answers (it was their "easy" crossword!).

Divagation I found this from a newsletter from a word expert, Michael Quinion. Here is what he has to say about it: An admittedly extremely old entry in the Oxford English Dictionary defines this as "the action of divagating". Thanks very much. That sends one to the preceding entry, the verb "divagate": "to wander about". "Divagation" isn't particularly rare and may be readily found in writings of the more literate sort: While the film's plot progresses, with a few divagations, in a straight line through the decades of Benjamin Button's life, the backward vector of that biography turns this "Curious Case" into a genuine mystery. [International Herald Tribune, 3 Jan. 2009. This is in a review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which the eponymous character lives his life backwards.] The meaning becomes clear when we recall that it derives from the Latin verb "divagari", in turn from "vagari", to wander. In English the wandering has always been figurative - deviation, digression or straying from the point. Dinner at nine o'clock, before the big open hearth, with a friendly fire. Much chaffing and pleasant talk about the arrangements for to-morrow. A man to be sent off at daybreak to have two buckboards ready at the landing at seven for the drive to Tadousac. Then a reprehensible quantity of tobacco smoked in the bookroom, and the tale of the season's angling told from the beginning with many embellishments and divagations. [Days off and Other Digressions, by Henry Van Dyke, 1907.]

Bafflegab Bonus word! I specialize in bafflegab; you're prob'ly still gonna need to look it up, but here's a brief definition, from the word's coiner: "Multiloquence characterized by consummate interfusion of circumlocution or periphrasis, inscrutability, and other familiar manifestations of abstruse expatiation commonly utilized for promulgations implementing Procrustean determinations by governmental bodies." Damn, I love it, not least because 'utilize' is in there!!!
Note: Since bafflegab is mostly what I speak, I'm officially changing the name of this page!

Mojibake This is a great word, especially if you are of a technical bent!

Copyleft I like this word because it's possible to derive its meaning ... but are you (copy)right?!

Popocatépetl You've probably heard the word, but do you know who/what/where it is?

Sthenolagnia - for mature audiences only!

Klismaphilia - again, mature. Oh who'm I kidding? The rest are all dirty.

Queef Clue: synonym is vart.

SCILF Nasty; it's featured in the intro to the Colbert show on the Comedy Channel!

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