Finally reached the end of a very lexically-laden year here at Bookishly Abroad, thanks to the marvellous Susie Dent. If you’ve enjoyed my picks, I cannot recommend the whole book enough!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and here’s to a brilliant 2022! 🥂

October:

1st – INWIT – refers to common sense or ‘inbuilt wisdom’. The total opposite of nitwit …

6th – SILVER SCREEN – now a metonym for cinema in general, originating from the earliest projectors screens, which were coated in silver paint.

12th – UNASINOUS – from one 1656 entry in the OED, meaning ‘united in stupidity’. I’m sure I’ll be finding a use for this one!

16th – FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC – the meaning is clear but I had no idea these infixes have a name in linguistics. The process of inserting one word into the middle of another is called ‘tmesis’, from the Greek ‘to cut’.

17th – CUDDLEMEBUFF – an excellent slang term for liquor.

22nd – CORONACOASTER – one of the many pandemic-born additions to our vocabulary, making it sound considerably more fun than it has been …

November

4th – EXSIBILATE – a neighbour of ‘booing’, this Latin word means to hiss an inadequate performer off the stage.

12th – POWWOW – borrowed from Algonquian, this comes from the name of a sacred Native American ceremony that often features dances, singing and vibrant traditional dress.

16th – JACK THE LAD – the namesake of this idiom was Jack Sheppard, a thief and folk hero of the 1700s, known and celebrated for his daring prison escapes. He was referred to affectionately by this moniker or, ironically, ‘Honest Jack’.

19th – PERISSOLOGY – put succinctly, using far more words than necessary!

25th – SPHALLOLALIA – the original working title for Tinder … From the Greek for ‘stumble-talk’, Susie defines this as “flirtatious talk that goes absolutely nowhere”.

December

12th – THROTTLEBOTTOM – an incompetent, bumbling individual in public office. The book uses Boris Johnson as its example …

16th – ZHUZH – to make something more lively or exciting. I’ve only heard this one used relating to hair and must never have written it down; before now, I wouldn’t have had an orthographical clue!

18th – BRUME – a winter mist.

20th – QUAFFTIDE – very aptly for December, the OED defines this as ‘the season for drinking’.

22nd – SCURRYFUNGE – frantically tidying before the arrival of guests. Also appropriate for this month in particular.

25th – CONFELICITY – finding joy in the happiness of others. The antonym of ‘schadenfreude’.

28th – MERRYNEUM – the endless stretch between Christmas and New Year when we’re lost in a blur of alcohol, leftover turkey and sitcom repeats. Also known as ‘Twixtmas’ or ‘Chrimbo Limbo’.

xxx

P.S. I got another of Susie’s books, What Made the Crocodile Cry?, for Christmas so I’m afraid my fangirling is far from over!