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via Weird and Wonderful Words

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A list of 450 words by she.

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Catch-all for things culled from Weird and Wonderful Words, More Weird and Wonderful Words, and Totally Weird and Wonderful Words, by Erin McKean, et al.

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  • ruzuzu *favorited* Jul 19, 2011

  • reesetee It's not the size of the desk. It's what you do with it. Jul 21, 2008

  • chained_bear Big desks=big desk sets.
    Ooh, Pro... Can I touch your stapler?! Jul 12, 2008

  • frogapplause I have desk envy. Jul 12, 2008

  • bilby I have 3 desks, of differing sizes. Is Goldilocks around anywhere? Jul 12, 2008

  • Prolagus Yes, I know, and it's true. Jul 12, 2008

  • asativum You know what they say about guys with big desks, Pro. Jul 12, 2008

  • Prolagus I'm still the guy with the biggest desk, until someone proves me wrong with a photo. Jul 12, 2008

  • she Ooh, you wordies and your labyrinthine reference-makings Jul 11, 2008

  • reesetee Agreed. No offense taken, Pro. *flings cupcake at c_b just for the hell of it*

    And she, I believe frog was referring slantways to my prodigious desk--see iceberg profiling kit and/or vast majority. Feel free to brag about yours any time.

    Your desk, that is. *coughs* Jul 11, 2008

  • chained_bear Pro, I don't think anyone took your comment in that way. We're just having a civilized discussion. :) Jul 11, 2008

  • dontcry *scratching Pro's furry little ears in a warm & porch-like manner* Jul 11, 2008

  • she I didn't see your comment in that way at all. :) Seems to me that people have just been expounding on the topic, not arguing.

    (Ha! Well, the italics were emphasizing typo-correction.) Jul 11, 2008

  • Prolagus (How could I be mean with someone that calls me in italics?) Jul 11, 2008

  • Prolagus Fellow Wordies,
    my apologies for the mess I generated here. I was trying to tell she (sorry for the fake link, but I'm using a phone) that she might prefer to use a different technique for her list, since I was having my problems in reading all the words, and I have spent a lot of time on this website in the last month.
    If my comment looked angry, or dry, or arrogant, I didn't mean it, and I'm sorry. Jul 11, 2008

  • she Thank you for all the warm welcomings and your general garrulousness! Got a new word-book today (Oh yes. Oh dear). It's good to be among fellowfeelers. Unfortunately, I'm again torn between resuming my previous nuts-goings or remaining slightly more reticent.

    Frogapplause—how unusually fun to say!—my desks (..and shelves, tables, and occasionally my bed) are never big enough!

    I feel you, sinnonach, on specific lists being more interesting; my intention was always to eventually pull things from this list into themed lists, but because there are so many words, any one of which could be valuable to someone, I wanted to throw them all out there now, rather than having it wait on organizing them all at my leisure (which always means it will take a very, very long time, as it's a perfect opportunity to luxuriate in fastidiousness—something I enjoy so much, just the thought has me cooing, almost). It makes a nice starting point, anyhow.

    Ooh, also: you (general you) may be interested in the features suggestion I posted. Jul 11, 2008

  • she 'It's not she's list that's the issue. It's citations/new words ripping down the front page faster than a drowsy bear can unplug its fart flugelhorn.'

    Hi. I've just choked on my tea. Jul 11, 2008

  • frogapplause Welcome from another she, She. By the way, how big is your desk? Jul 11, 2008

  • dontcry c_b is right, she. A much belated welcome to you from The Porch where life slows down a bit. It takes all kinds, doesn't it, to make life interesting? Jul 11, 2008

  • chained_bear Now that we've completely hijacked this thread... Hi, she! Welcome to Wordie! Nice list! Hope you stay with us! Jul 10, 2008

  • vanishedone The rate at which new words and comments are added will increase with the size of Wordie's active membership anyway, so although our numbers are still sufficiently few for individuals' activity to be highly visible, asking individual Wordies to slow down won't fully/permanently address the general effects of site growth. Which brings us back to eyeing possible features like separating citation comments from conversational comments. Jul 10, 2008

  • mollusque It would be good to have a "More Words" button on the "Recent Words" list. John? Jul 10, 2008

  • chained_bear Look, the new words list on the front page is just ONE way to find new words. It's up to the individual user, as we have all repeatedly said, but I don't like the idea of Wordie users feeling "Oh, gee, I'd really LIKE to enter these words, and I do have a couple hours right now... but someone might get upset." Screw that. The Internet doesn't run on a schedule!

    On another note entirely, I'll thank you to keep your filthy mind off my tailpipe. Can't a bear have a decent tappen around here without igniting all kinds of vile comments?!

    *knows full well the answer is "No"* Jul 10, 2008

  • bilby It's not she's list that's the issue. It's citations/new words ripping down the front page faster than a drowsy bear can unplug its fart flugelhorn. Jul 10, 2008

  • dontcry Can anyone else lend me some leisure? I don't have much to spare. ;) Jul 10, 2008

  • chained_bear But... but... Why can't you just go through she's list at your own leisure? Or anyone else's? It just seems odd to me that anyone on Wordie should feel constrained by anyone else's schedule. Jul 10, 2008

  • bilby *bites an appendage off she and chews it, s l o w l y * Jul 10, 2008

  • dontcry From The Porch: I don't like it when scads of words are added at once, for the same reasons our furry friend from down-under cited. You just can't enjoy them so fast.

    It's like swallowing your food whole without chewing.

    Where's the fire? *rock, rock, rock* Jul 10, 2008

  • chained_bear She, add as many words and comments as you like. If someone's adding 5,000 words a week--individually, mind you, not bulk-adding--it's other Wordie denizens' responsibility to keep up or read through at their leisure. Wordie's here for freaks like us, so if you want to go on a tear, go for it. :) Jul 10, 2008

  • bilby Nobody is listing sosia. Never mind, go do your TOEFL, Wordie can wait. I'll make a Patience Is A Virtue list and fill it with synonyms for abiding. Jul 10, 2008

  • Prolagus Bilby, I have a cooool idea I think you might like, it's been in my mind for days but I should probably focus on my TOEFL at the moment... Just wait, you know I keep my promises (except for sosia - vide frot -, so far).

    Edit: perfect. Now that I talked about it, I don't know if I can wait any longer. Jul 10, 2008

  • Prolagus As a response to Asa's comment, I even have a doppellister right now. :-) Jul 10, 2008

  • Prolagus Hahaha I had no doubt, mollusque! Jul 10, 2008

  • bilby I always keep an eye on the Recent Words column on the left of the front page. A lot of words that have come to interest me have been plucked from there. If words are being added at a zillion miles an hour they disappear from that list very quickly and there is no 'Previous' button. I am totally against bulk adding of any kind and would still like to see limits imposed. Of course I personally should be exempt from all rules. Jul 10, 2008

  • mollusque I've gleaned obliquangled, leggiadrous, and isangelous so far. Thanks, she! Jul 10, 2008

  • mollusque I see no problem with adding lots of words fast. Keeping up when there are lots of comment is what's hard. My strategy is to start with the most recent and skim down the list. Any word with several comments I click through and start reading. I can skip over patches with lots of definitions, without missing many conversations. So I think someone in the mood for a blitz of words or comments should go for it. Jul 10, 2008

  • asativum I'll respectfully agree in part, and disagree in part, with the esteemed sionnach. I think there's virtue in unordered lists like these. After all, words can belong to many lists. We can browse here contentedly and add words that fit our fancy to lists of our choosing.

    I bet there's even one of those panvocalic thingies on this list, somewhere. Jul 10, 2008

  • sionnach Since Pro has told me not to add any more words for a while, so that I can enjoy the aesthetic beauty of my 11,000 total, maybe I can add in my two cents here.

    I suspect many of us have an initial reaction like that of a kid in a candy store whenever we come across a rich new source of awesome words, whether it's a book, a website, or well-read, polyglot personal valet. We think "Oh frabjous day!", and our immediate impulse is to share our new lexicological largesse. What better place than Wordie to put our shiny new discoveries on display?

    Well, I can think of no better place. Nobody here is going to mock your geekish enthusiasm for all things word-related. You're even likely to get some intelligent commentary and discussion, somewhere in the thicket of madeupical words and far-fetched, fake*, etymologies.

    But I have to agree with the folks who have pointed out that you're much more likely to get intelligent commentary if you're adding words at the rate of 50 a day, rather than 300 a day. Also, though everyone pretty much starts out with a single catchall list, most people seem to come to the conclusion that lists with a more specific focus are more likely to generate interesting discussion. Finally - and this is just my personal opinion - I like the words in Erin McKean's books just fine but seeing them listed here isn't super-fascinating to me because (i) I already have the books and (ii) the list lacks what you might think of as semantic coherence - its members are not united by any thematic commonality, only by the fact that they appeared together in a compendium.

    But that is just my opinion; as Prolagus has already noted, reminding us yet again of the need for a unisex third person pronoun, "everybody can do as he/she pleases here on Wordie". Welcome - may you frolic like a bumblepuppy in the verbal pastures of Wordie.

    *: My own commitment to genuine scholarship is strong enough to preclude my ever stooping to the depths of providing fictitious etymologies, but - sadly - the practice is rife here on Wordie. Jul 10, 2008

  • she Oh hufsh Prolagus. Proalgaelollyagus etc. when she hasn't slept. Mints for everyone! And algae is very soft, bilby; you should like it. Jul 10, 2008

  • Prolagus Algamints? Can I have one? Jul 10, 2008

  • bilby I'm not sure if I'm proalgus, I'd like to hear all the arguments first. Jul 10, 2008

  • dontcry I'm all for some algus -- just not too muchus. Jul 10, 2008

  • Prolagus I love 90% of the words you used in the comment below, and your second epithet is just great... and Proalgus (perhaps born as a typo) sounds cool and exotic, like an alga spreader (creepy concept, though). Jul 10, 2008

  • she Perfectly, perfectly reasonable, Prolagus. I hadn't noticed all the congestion (head in the tag-clouds?)— It'd be no trouble to start intermittently replacing Wordie with Notepad to calm the flooding; at worst, it might create suspense. Until our next installment..!

    (Perhaps it's She with an Excitable Fondness for List-building! or She Who Prompts Wordie to Say Grammatical ("10 Hours Ago, She Said:") and Ungrammatical ("She's Lists") Things, to the Amusement of Some) Jul 10, 2008

  • Prolagus She,
    I'm just expressing my personal point of view here.
    I really like this word list, and most words are new to me. So it's very useful, too.
    Anyway, adding hundreds of words at a time makes it hard for people to see other users' words and comments - and yours as well!
    I did it once, for my bread list; now, for my cheese list, I'm adding a few words per day, and I noticed it works better.
    Again, this is just a suggestion based on my personal thought, not a rule - everybody can do as he/she pleases here on Wordie :-) Jul 10, 2008

  • arby Excellent list, she!! *favorites*

    (Is that short for "She Who Shall Not Be Named"?) Jul 9, 2008