So... owing to one of the more bizarre and hilarious Facebook exchanges it's ever been my privilege to be a part of, I have been introduce to a new word: failstrom. It's a portmanteau of "fail" and "maelstrom". An entire storming vortex of fail. Very much like Jon Stewart's term for such situations, the always-useful "catastrof*ck", which is also a personal favorite.
I mention this not because it has anything to do with the way my afternoon is going - strangely enough, it doesn't - but by way of wondering if anybody else has some favorite obscure words that really ought to see more use. Consider this an open thread...
After a few years on the Internet, I have no idea what's obscure and what isn't anymore. Plus, when faced with linguistic gaps I tend to resort to conlang loanwords rather than working with what I'm given. I'm going with "idiolect", which is a bit meta.
ReplyDeleteVerb, meaning to mindlessly go with the crowd: "lem." The present progressive is, of course, "lemming."
ReplyDeletePhrase, meaning to agree denotationally but object connotatively: "only literally."
I like 'em. I don't do a lot of open threads because I don't usually get a lot of responses, so it's good to get some real replies!
ReplyDelete