Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hornswoggle?

From the hot word:
Wayne State University’s Word Warriors have released their top ten words to revive in 2011 . Starting in 2009, the Wayne State Word Warriors have highlighted obscure English words to bring back into common usage. Citing the vast vocabulary available in English – the biggest in the world, in fact — the Word Warriors contend that the depth and elasticity of the language is often disgarded for the quick, easy and accessible word. “Too often we limit ourselves to words that are momentarily popular or broadly applicable, and so rob ourselves of English’s inherent beauty and agility.”
Click to see the list. I remember using "paroxysm" once and the guy I was talking to thought I had made it up. So I explained it. He still didn't believe me until he went and looked it up in a dictionary.

I do actually use schadenfreude on occasion, because I enjoy engaging in it so often.

P.S. The opposite of shadenfreude is "sour grapes." Those Germans have a word for everything.

6 comments:

  1. A good half of those words are ones I use with some frequency. It is not much of an exaggeration to say I use Schadenfreude on a near-daily basis, in fact. Mayhap I have unusually nerdy friends. (Well, I almost-certainly do, in fact.)

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  2. Of course I know hornswoggle. I'm just surprised some language-dude wants to revive it because it sounds like something Yosemite Sam would say.

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  3. But were you surprised by what's at link? It's the best use of "Hornswoggle" to date.

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  4. I don't know, some of those links don't work for me. Hornswoggle is linked to ossify. Did they just link to the dictionary.com definition?

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  5. Sorry you didn't get through the link. Here's an excerpt from that link, which is the Wikipedia entry for that term:

    Dylan Postl (born May 29, 1986) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Hornswoggle or Little Bastard. He is employed by WWE, appearing on its SmackDown brand. In WWE, he was the last Cruiserweight Champion before the belt was retired. ... Prior to joining World Wrestling Entertainment, Dylan appeared with NWA Wisconsin in 2005 as "The World's Sexiest Midget" $hortstack, where he won the NWA Wisconsin X Division Championship.

    It's not often you get a chance to refer to the World's Sexiest Midget and have it be relevant to the thread.

    :-D

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