Mmm. I think she's posted this before...

[conuly]

I know I've seen it before, anyway.

Still, I think this is time for me to ressurrect my Plan To Take Over The World... I mean, to Change the English Language, One Word at a Time! (This plan is better, it has fewer majuscule letters.)

I'll wedge this into my New Year's Resolutions - I'll try to add one new (but really old or dialectical) word into my vocabulary, on a regular basis (not just knowing it and never using it, these have to be useful words which express concepts that are hard to otherwise say) every other week.

Starting, I believe, with hardel and handsmooth.

To help me with my endeavour - any of you have obscure, obsolete, foreign, or otherwise uncommon-in-English words you'd like to contribute to the cause?

Comments

[minkhollow]

I nominate 'swink' (optional E at the end). Middle English for 'work' - crops up in Chaucer. If memory serves it's both a noun and a verb.
Either way? Awesome word. XD

[sayga.livejournal.com]

the thing that always gets me about english and the predominance of sight over other senses is in examples like this:
sight: the sunlight fell through the trees
smell: waffles drifted through the air

nope, you have to say the smell/aroma, etc of waffles. otherwise people assume you're seeing it. completely sight-based. i can't think of a better way of doing it though.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

"Destrier" for horse. :) Technically it's the kind of horse used for combat -- the term was originally French, but was also a part of English during the middle ages (iirc).

There's "moggy" for cat, though that's still used in parts of the UK and Australia.

Gleek -- the little involuntary spit that flies out of your salivary glands while your mouth is open.

"Woobie" is an obscure-in-the-USA term in English for a soft "security blanket" or other soft thing that little kids become attached to. I think.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I've been giving "rueful smiles" for years.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Defenestration is a fantasticly underused word. It surprises me, considering how many of us use computers on the second floors of buildings.

I use "mimsy" frequently, but I don't think it counts, since Mr. Carroll made it up.

[minkhollow]

I nominate 'swink' (optional E at the end). Middle English for 'work' - crops up in Chaucer. If memory serves it's both a noun and a verb.
Either way? Awesome word. XD

[sayga.livejournal.com]

the thing that always gets me about english and the predominance of sight over other senses is in examples like this:
sight: the sunlight fell through the trees
smell: waffles drifted through the air

nope, you have to say the smell/aroma, etc of waffles. otherwise people assume you're seeing it. completely sight-based. i can't think of a better way of doing it though.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

"Destrier" for horse. :) Technically it's the kind of horse used for combat -- the term was originally French, but was also a part of English during the middle ages (iirc).

There's "moggy" for cat, though that's still used in parts of the UK and Australia.

Gleek -- the little involuntary spit that flies out of your salivary glands while your mouth is open.

"Woobie" is an obscure-in-the-USA term in English for a soft "security blanket" or other soft thing that little kids become attached to. I think.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I've been giving "rueful smiles" for years.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Defenestration is a fantasticly underused word. It surprises me, considering how many of us use computers on the second floors of buildings.

I use "mimsy" frequently, but I don't think it counts, since Mr. Carroll made it up.