Taken from... somebody, I don't know who.

[conuly]

This woman was very upset that 24 words are being removed from the Collin's English Dictionary due to lack of use, so she's selling them on ribbons. (Her explanation sounds better.)

Frankly, if any dictionary is removing these 24 words, I can see why. Not only can I not remember the last time I used them, I'm fairly confident that there was never even a first time I used them! I or anybody else living and breathing except maybe the lexicographers.

But some of them are nice. I particularly like skirr, olid, oppugnant, nitid, and niddering. But when would I use them? I could describe something as "nitid", but then I'd have to explain that I mean "bright or glossy", and if I mean "bright or glossy" why not just say that it's bright or glossy to begin with? The advantage to bright and glossy is that everybody knows what they mean and the goal of communication is realized. Same thing with niddering - it sounds better than cowardly and despicable, but if I want to describe somebody or something in those words I'd rather just do it outright with all the vitriol I can bring. It loses a bit of its punch when you have to explain what you meant to the person you just insulted.

Now, olid, we can do something with. A language can never have enough words to describe stinky farts, after all. And skirr has the advantage of being vaguely onomatopoeic, so any situation where it's likely to occur may be self-explanatory. And oppugnant *also* sounds like what it means through the advantage of being made up of more commonly found morphemes. But when it comes right down to it, I suspect I'm more likely to choose a more readily understood word in the end.

Comments

[azarias.livejournal.com]

Many of those words are quite pretty. I think I'm going to start using skirr. It sounds about right for what it's describing.

I'd love to see the origin of these. I wonder if niddering is related to nithings of Nielsen-Hayden (in)fame.

[conuly]

I'd love to see the origin of these. I wonder if niddering is related to nithings of Nielsen-Hayden (in)fame.

I was wondering the same thing. She took the definitions from her OED, so maybe she has the etymology on her?

I think I'm going to start using skirr. It sounds about right for what it's describing.

Which means it has the greatest chance of success. People won't say it if they have to explain it.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

I love niddering. It sounds cowardly when I say it. Definitely keeping that one, personally. And skirr is also nice.

I suppose it's appropriate, in a way, that villipend is being taken out. Poor villipend.

--And HEY. My painting instructors all used the word griseous! C'mon, CED! That one's in use!

[conuly]

Write to them and tell them, then.

[kynn.livejournal.com]

Obviously the editors aren't D&D gamers, if they think that periapt (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Periapt_of_Proof_against_Poison) isn't being used!

[conuly]

Words that occur primarily (or solely) in D&D or in fantasy novels don't count. Everybody knows that.

[beezelbubbles.livejournal.com]

Hahaha that was my first thought too!

[velasco.livejournal.com]

And mine. XD

[kynn.livejournal.com]

And you know? That is some pretty fugly jewelry, to be honest.

[conuly]

But think about the WORDS? Won't somebody PLEASE think about the WORDS?

[beezelbubbles.livejournal.com]

It's even so close to being cool. If she had used a stamp in a typewriter font to do the letters, it would have been pretty cool.
Poor words. Kicked out and then chicken-scratched onto a bit of copper.

[beezelbubbles.livejournal.com]

Ooh and agrestic is the name of the community the main character lives in on Weeds.

[velasco.livejournal.com]

I've used malison in the past, and of course periapt, but yes, mostly in fantasy works or D&D. I'm PRETTY sure I had oppugnant in one spelling bee or the other...but commonly? Yeah, I can see why those are being weeded out. I just hope to god they don't replace them with netspeak of any kind. o_o

[siderea]

Ooh! But the "nitid" one is very Charlotte's Web/"Ceci non une pipe".

[leora.livejournal.com]

Okay, so with most of these words I looked at them and went, yeah, I've never seen these words or maybe at some point when reading through archaic words or some such. But then I saw "embrangle". "Embrangle"? Really? That's not used at all? It feels like a normal word to me. I can't think of when I've used it, but then it doesn't come up too much. I admit I'm more likely to talk about "tangled" but "embrangle" isn't a word I'd need to look up if it were used.

I wish the site listed the words and the definitions. Having to click each word to find out what it means is too much of a pain for me to bother.

[conuly]

I wish the site listed the words and the definitions. Having to click each word to find out what it means is too much of a pain for me to bother.

Yeah, I very nearly didn't myself.

But then I saw "embrangle". "Embrangle"? Really? That's not used at all? It feels like a normal word to me. I can't think of when I've used it, but then it doesn't come up too much. I admit I'm more likely to talk about "tangled" but "embrangle" isn't a word I'd need to look up if it were used.

It sounds a lot like "entangle" (which it means), so I suspect that's it. I know the feeling you mean, but I think it's just its similarity to another word which means the same thing and that you do hear often.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about it, and I think it's the noun form I would be most likely to use. It feels like a real word to me because it has its own unique flavor. Words that are part of my vocabulary each have their own falvor to them. It's not exactly the same as "tangle".

Dictionary.com gives embrangle in the noun form as related to brawling. Whereas I feel like an embrangle is a really tricky situation that is messy and tangled up. The closest word to it is "muddle". A real muddle. Embranglements have feelings for me a bit like a rabbit stuck in a thorn bush.

I do not know how much this relates to the way the word should be used or where it comes from, but it's what I can dig out of my head about it.

Of course, any info I have about any word in my vocabulary is also subject to the side effects of the aphasia I dealt with about 9 years ago.I had my word to definition mappings be semi-scrambled and I lost most of my words. I had to try to regain them and remap them and some words ended up casualties where they were mismapped for a while. The less common a word is, the less likely I caught it to check it and fix it. I played a lot of Scrabble to help me try to come across words and make sure they were mapped correctly. So, my self-report has a bit less weight than someone else's.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

It sounds a lot like "entangle" (which it means), so I suspect that's it. I know the feeling you mean, but I think it's just its similarity to another word which means the same thing and that you do hear often.

On that note, I'm amazed by how many of them seem to be linguistic variations of more commonly used terms, and it reminds me how much the English language has always played around with words and come up with multiple versions of the same thing. It's interesting to wonder what made "entangle," for example, a more popular usage than "embrangle". There but for the grace of location, or usage in a popular book, or who knows what....

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

So, they've abandoned all hope that English speakers of the 21st Century will ever attain (or even want to attain) the level of literacy required to comprehend the literature of the 19th Century? How lame is THAT?

I had to look up vaticination a few years back - it was the first word I'd encountered in a long while that I didn't know - and I'd have been very annoyed if I had not been able to find it.