Author Topic: Cool words  (Read 16416 times)

Offline Snowleopard

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Cool words
« on: May 05, 2011, 06:05:10 PM »
There are so many words in the English language that aren't
used much anymore - I thought it would be fun to have people put down fun and somewhat obscure words
that they like.

Lour - a dark and threatening sky or a weird looking sky.  Can also refer to the way a person looks at you.
Ferntickled - an old term for being freckled

(drats - gotta find my box of writing books.)

Offline OZ

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2011, 06:47:28 PM »
Lour is a good word. You still run into it now and then spelled lower as in a lowering (louring) sky.

I like the word obstreperous which refers to someone who is not just defiant but is very noisy about it.
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Offline Nickeris86

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2011, 11:36:24 PM »
Lour is good you also told me about Mavin which means master in another thread.
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Offline Snowleopard

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2011, 11:48:43 PM »
My pleasure N86 but what out of the ordinary words do you like.

Offline Shecky

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2011, 11:58:18 PM »
Lour - a dark and threatening sky or a weird looking sky.  Can also refer to the way a person looks at you.

IIRC, it's the source of the adjective "lowering", which is used in pretty much the same way.
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Offline Snowleopard

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2011, 12:04:39 AM »
Ah.  I love the look and the "say" of the word.  Lour - it just has a nice sense all round to it.

Offline OZ

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2011, 03:38:20 AM »
I like when writer use words with their original meanings not just the meanings that have become accepted because of common misuse. A couple of examples of that are:

decimate-now used to mean destroyed-original meaning was to destroy one in ten ( usually one in ten soldiers in a Roman troop that showed cowardice or one in ten villagers in a
              village that would not give up rebels of some sort )

affinity- now used to mean to one having a natural attraction or liking for something-original meaning was to be related by marraige ( as opposed to consanguinity-related by blood ).
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Offline Lord Rae

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2011, 12:05:41 PM »
I got two old international dictionaries from my great grandparents house years ago. They both hail from somewhere around 1900 and are full of words I've never heard of. Love it...although they're falling apart.

Offline Shecky

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2011, 12:44:49 PM »
I got two old international dictionaries from my great grandparents house years ago. They both hail from somewhere around 1900 and are full of words I've never heard of. Love it...although they're falling apart.

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Offline Piotr1600

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2011, 02:41:58 PM »
bathysmal - an abysmal sea. (Fitting for fish-men and/or Deep Ones. And Dagon.)
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Offline Snowleopard

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2011, 09:37:52 PM »
Nice one, Piotr.

Offline Ziggelly

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2011, 11:36:02 PM »
I don't know how 'old' these words are, but they are certainly seldom used for how often you come across such situations in literature (and they both happen to be spelled almost the same way, oddly enough):

. aposiopesis - deliberately breaking off in the middle of a sentence, either because you are unwilling to finish, don't know what to say, or because it would be best filled in by the person's imagination.

. apotheosis - the highest level of something that you can possibly achieve. Having no equal. Usually a deification.

Offline meg_evonne

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #12 on: May 08, 2011, 11:53:09 PM »
discombobulated   I heard it when I was nine, I think. It makes me feel like I'll get lost half way through saying or typing it, or life will interfere and drag me away. It's that magic kind of word where the semantic meaning matches the feeling as you say it.

Ah, wait. Words that aren't used that often.... Well then behoove. 

True story. My first writing job was for a professor studying how people learn words. List vs story.  He gave me lists and lists of words rarely used (unless you were a fantasy writer/reader LOL) to write into short stories. Then he had his test subjects read them and provide definitions, studying that vs list learning.  I love saying, in an uptight high class with a nasual tange, "It behooves us..." 
« Last Edit: May 08, 2011, 11:57:28 PM by meg_evonne »
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Offline Shecky

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2011, 12:48:35 AM »
I love the word "discombobulated". I've played with it a lot over the years. Examples:

- after a couple of drinks and feeling happy and at peace with the world, "Man, I'm feelin' mighty combobulated right now."
- regarding getting my s*** back together, "Ugh, what a clusterf*** this week's been. Head ain't on straight. Gotta get recombobulated."
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Offline meg_evonne

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Re: Cool words
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2011, 01:25:08 AM »
cool  recombobulated!  rolling that one over and over in my mind and tongue!  Of course if you were that far in your buzz--I admire your ability to say it at all. *smiling*
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