Words that look like they mean something they don't, really


sorabji.com: Words: Words that look like they mean something they don't, really
THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016).
By Nelly on Thursday, February 26, 1998 - 06:35 pm:
    euphorbia
    metempsychosis

By Maggie on Thursday, February 26, 1998 - 07:29 pm:
    resume

By Dave on Thursday, February 26, 1998 - 07:55 pm:
    analyze

By Markus on Friday, February 27, 1998 - 10:24 am:
    Meteorology. Restroom. Public servant.

By Pete on Friday, February 27, 1998 - 05:57 pm:
    military intelligence

By Jim aka PajamaBoy on Friday, February 27, 1998 - 11:53 pm:
    steamliner

By Mirjen on Sunday, March 1, 1998 - 04:55 pm:
    inflammable.

By Sorabji on Sunday, March 1, 1998 - 06:06 pm:
    undecaffeinated

By Tucker on Sunday, March 15, 1998 - 12:55 pm:
    Green Day

By Woody Wordpicker on Saturday, March 21, 1998 - 02:37 am:
    1. Chumbawamba

    2. Kari Whurer

By Notthat hungry on Saturday, May 9, 1998 - 07:49 pm:
    spotted dick and shit on a stick

By Strange on Thursday, July 30, 1998 - 05:03 pm:
    Sesquipedalian

    Nigh-lugubrious

    Flaxen


By Whet on Thursday, July 30, 1998 - 08:11 pm:
    YES!!!
    Someone else in the world uses the word sesquipedalian.

    ummm and phonetic :)


By
Asia on Sunday, August 16, 1998 - 08:08 am:

    corporate park.


By Audun on Thursday, May 20, 1999 - 11:19 am:

    Let us just be friends.


By Semillama on Thursday, May 20, 1999 - 12:11 pm:

    health maintenance organization

    semillama


By R.C. on Friday, May 21, 1999 - 12:57 am:

    Come now -- 'flaxen' is too a word! See for yrself:
    http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

    Main Entry: flax·en
    Pronunciation: 'flak-s&n
    Function: adjective
    Date: 15th century
    1 : made of flax
    2 : resembling flax especially in pale soft strawy color <flaxen hair>


By Rhiannon on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 12:26 pm:

    Because I can't find the thread that RC started about making up new words:


    ENSMALL: to make smaller (come on, we say "enlarge," why not ensmall?)


By semillama on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 06:59 pm:

    scrustard - any bit of pus that adheres to the scab after you pick it off.

    scrustard pie - self-explanatory.


By Thread purification officer on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 10:26 pm:

    that thread is here.

    now keep your scrungy old inventions out of this thread.


By Rhiannon on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 10:50 pm:

    Yes, sir. Or madam.


By Isolde on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 11:34 pm:

    Flaxen is used in things like Danielle Steel novels, though. It's not a _real_ word.


By semillama on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 11:41 pm:

    Sure it is. It's been in usage for 500 years. If you know what it means, then it's a real word. This is not a real word: firtan. Those are random letters that just happen to resemble a word, but it doesn't have meaning. yet. Once someone ascribes meaning to it, and other people recognize the meaning of it when they hear or read it, then it's real.

    Plus, come on, when you hear the term 'flaxen hair', an image immediatley springs to mind of wht that looks like, right?


By Isolde on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 11:57 pm:

    Yeah. I was being goofy.
    Flaxen is a word I'm rather fond of, actually.


By semillama on Tuesday, February 1, 2000 - 06:47 pm:

    I'll bet scrustard isn't.

    Akthough it's fun to think about Robert Plant singing "Scrustard Pie".


By dr. ypoo on Tuesday, February 1, 2000 - 07:04 pm:

    i like "ensmall".

    look through the dictionary at words beginning with various prefixes (en-, mis-, un-); it's funny what's actually there.

    you may not be able to ensmall,
    but you can:

    encyst, englut, ensoul, ensphere

    to name but a few.

    encyst me with your love.


By Jariya on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - 02:54 am:

    i actually use "smallen", like widen, shorten.


By Sye on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 03:41 pm:

    refuddle


By kazu on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 04:05 pm:

    irregardless


By Sye on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 04:25 pm:

    unwholly


By dave. on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 05:11 pm:

    flustrated


By TBone on Friday, December 10, 2004 - 06:17 pm:

    imbibe
    incontinent
    tepid
    affective


By Bigkev on Saturday, December 11, 2004 - 11:45 pm:

    hinkey


By Bigkev on Saturday, December 11, 2004 - 11:46 pm:

    de-bigulator
    re-bigulator


By e. on Sunday, December 12, 2004 - 01:23 am:

    bolskemieister


By droopy on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - 12:34 am:

    was just looking up a word in my oxford american dictionary. I notice this word: galactagogue. ok. galact- as in galactic, galaxy. -agogue as in teacher (like pedagogue). so it's a galactic teacher. it's fucking yoda.

    no.

    it means "a food or drug that promotes or increases the flow of a mother's milk. - origin mid 19th cent.: from Greek gala, galakt- 'milk' + agogos 'leading'."

    others:

    galactorrhea - "excessive or innappropriate production of milk", not a galaxy that needs cosmic pepto-bismol.

    galactoside - some kind of milk sugar. not to be confused with "galactocide", the impulse to destroy the galaxy.


By V on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 12:25 am:

    Hi Droopy, is v,,,hard to get on line from Europe right now,takes 1 hour.


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