Litopia – For the Love of Words
Language for me is sustenance–such an indulgent pleasure to roll a beautiful word around in my mouth like a slowly melting chocolate, or to spit and dribble the painful and ugly whilst marvelling at their intensity. What power lies in the formation and combination of simple vowels and consonants!
Just for fun at home, we sometimes take turns with our friend Chambers (the Dictionary), flipping through and casually selecting some interesting word and its (often surprising) meaning. This generally becomes pretty hilarious as the more quizzical and bizarre emerge. The challenge then lies in seamlessly incorporating this new item into your lexicon.
Here are five new ones I discovered today and the definitions I liked the best. (Interestingly the online Chambers does not always hold the same words as the hardcopy dictionary):
Loof: The palm of the hand.
Charivari or shivaree or chivaree: A noisy mock serenade for newlyweds.
Pruina: A powdery bloom or waxy secretion.
Quiddle: To trifle or a fastidious person.
Vibrissa: A tactile bristle such as a cat’s whisker or a hair in the nostril.
Now try and use them!
“During the din of the charivari, the groom noticed a vibrissa had left a pruina on the loof of his left hand which he refused to quiddle with!”
by Hannah Campbell
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