A few linguistic gems selected from Queen Susie’s August and September offerings:
August
2nd – TESTICULATING – gesturing dramatically while talking absolute bollocks. One of many ‘blended’ words recently entering our lexicon, joining ‘hangry’ and ‘textpectation’. Apparently, The Washington Post also runs a competition to create new vocabulary by altering only a single letter of an existing word. One that needs to be added to the dictionary immediately is ‘sarchasm’, the gulf between the individual delivering sarcastic comments and an intended recipient who remains oblivious.
7th – CONSPUE – a niche (and gross) verb meaning to spit on someone with contempt.
10th – THE FULL MONTY – supposedly due to General Bernard Montgomery, an eccentric commander during the Second World War, who favoured a full English breakfast (‘the full works’) each morning. This origin is contested, but remains by far the most popular story.
17th – RHOTACISM – those unable to correctly pronounce the ‘r’ sound suffer from rhotacism, an arguably cruelly spelt diagnosis …
20th – HALCYON – tranquil and happy (usually referring to ‘days’). From the Greek myth of Alcyone who, upon drowning, was transformed by the gods into a kingfisher. Divine intervention from her father, Aeolus, god of the winds, allowed her to build her nest each year on calm waters untroubled by storms.
31st – ZWODDER – the perfect adjective for hot summer days – a drowsy state of mind and body, plausibly caused by daytime drinking.
September
2nd – MUBBLE FUBBLES – the melancholic feeling on a Sunday evening or at the end of a holiday, as a return to work looms.
4th – GENERCIDE – becoming generic. Often used to refer to brand names that have become synonymous for the service they offer e.g. Hoover, Band-Aid, Blu-Tack and Google.
9th – SLOGAN – from the Scottish Gaelic, sluagh-ghairm (war cry).
12th – CONKER – a major player in the autumnal lexicon, most likely from a dialect word for snail shell. Perhaps not the most gripping origin story but I had to include this one, as the explanation points out that the winners of conker games are know as ‘conkistadors’!
18th – GOSSAMER – a satisfying sibilant addition, thought to be a shortened version of ‘goose-summer’, referring to the popularity of goose in the autumn months.
25th – BOONDOGGLE – any project that is completely unnecessary or a total waste of time.
Bookishly Abroad 