More wacky words to share! These are not words I add to my writer’s vocabulary; that would be verbose. However, I do appreciate a clever word. It’s like finding a cool new rock to add to my collection. You can find these nuggets and more at dictionary.com. You can find my other posts about wacky words by clicking on Language, on the menu bar.
Current winner:
Absquatulate
verb
1. Slang. to flee; abscond: The old prospector absquatulated with our picks and shovel.
Quote
He [Mark Twain] has vamosed, cut stick, absquatulated; and among the pine forests of the Sierras, or amid the purlieus of the city of earthquakes, he will tarry awhile…
— , “An Exile,” Gold Hill Evening News, May 30, 1864
note: what the heck is that sentence saying????
Runner-Up(s)
Fata Morgana
noun
1. Meteorology. a mirage consisting of multiple images, as of cliffs and buildings, that are distorted and magnified to resemble elaborate castles, often seen near the Straits of Messina.
Quote:
Under some conditions, refraction can even turn things upside down. When a warmer layer of air sits above a cooler layer it can bend light so strongly around the curvature of Earth that it creates a type of mirage called a Fata Morgana. In the Arctic, this can lead to an apparent wall of ice rising before an explorer.
— Stephen Battersby, “Pole Position,” New Scientist, December 20, 2014
Astraphobia
noun
1. Psychiatry. an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning.
Quote:
Julie was an anxious child with a number of phobias, not only a fear of thunder and lightning (Astraphobia, murmured Dr. Gibraltar) but also a fear of lightning bugs and any other bioluminescent creatures that might light up anywhere near her…
— Katharine Weber, True Confections, 2010
note: Tango, my dog has this affliction
Earwitness
noun
1. Law. a person who testifies or can testify to what he or she has heard.
Quote:
Such is the rather meagre account, as given by one ear-witness, of Patrick Henry’s first speech in the Congress of 1774.
— Moses Coit Tyler, American Statesmen: Patrick Henry, 1887
