Words You Never Heard!: Recent Episodes
Carolyn Davidson
Words You Never Heard! shares incredible, wonderfully wacky-but-real words with surprising definitions interspersed in short topical stories. Have fun as you pass on these quirky and spectacular words you won't believe exist! You might just increase your vocabulary in the bargain and that's no tarradiddle!
Waggle Dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. Dogs eat bees because they like to chase and capture things. Did you know that one of every three or four bites of food we eat is thanks to honeybees? Bees pollinate about 90 different crops, from apples and oranges to almonds and blueberries! People have known about the importance of bees for centuries. Cave paintings in Europe show that people were harvesting honey 8,000 years ago! The Egyptians were beekeepers, and their methods were copied throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.
The average honey bee can fly at speeds of 20 miles per hour and communicate with each other by dancing! A typical hive has up to 60,000 honey bees in constant bombination. The world couldn’t survive without bees. Einstein predicted that “if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only 4 yrs of his life left!" The stinger of a bee is one-tenth of an inch long the other nine-tenths is pure imagination. What do you call a person whose grand terror is being stung by a bee? An endidophobe (NI-de-FOBE!) The average American consumes 1.3 pounds of honey a year. We steal honey from the bees and then get mad when they sting us. What’s another word for this kind of hypocrisy? Tartuffish (tor-TOOF-ish)!
What is a word for fear of bees? Melissophobia or apiphobia.
Well, we’re leaving the goblin season and entering the gobbler season! Did you know only male turkeys (or toms) gobble? Females (or hens) make a clicking noise. The heaviest turkey on record was raised in England and weighed 86 pounds!
Hey ladies, if you’re tired of cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year, you might try to get your guy to barbeque or deep fry a turkey. This involves danger and men love danger. What’s a word for a male cook? A bobachee!
Other countries such as Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and more celebrate Turkey Day. Ironically the country of Turkey doesn’t. One thing’s for sure, at my house my sons always fight over who gets the wishbone. What’s a word for stealing food from another person? Leptobiosis!
Did Scotch tape originate in Scotland? Nope, the popular gift-wrapping tape was actually developed right here in the United States! In 1926, the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, (3M) was being a bit rapacious, tried to save a little scratch, and started using a cheaper adhesive on their sticky tape! A Detroit automaker ordered some of this newer, cheaper tape to use for spray-painting auto bodies. The automaker complained that the tape was “Scotch” a politically incorrect word that meant cheap or stingy).
While the tape didn’t have the adhesion to satisfy the automaker, it was hardly a gefoojet, that’s an unnecessary thing-it had many other uses, as we all know: so the tape was kept in production, and the name SCOTCH just “stuck”!
Autumn used to be called “harvest” Until about 1500, autumn was just called “harvest.” The full moon closest to the autumn equinox is known as a harvest moon. Before cities were electrified, the bright night, the harvest moon was essential for farmers harvesting their late-year crops.
Apple cider is nearly as popular as pumpkin spice during the fall. But keeping up with the demand for fresh cider requires a whole lot of apples—just one gallon of apple cider requires 36 apples. What’s a word for the last small apples remaining on the tree after harvest? Griggles!
Churn Supper is a term from the 1800s for a feast at the end of the hay harvest, (the onset of autumn with memories of the sweet tang of the newly-crisp air, and the colors of the foliage.) Pumpkins, perhaps the most iconic image of autumn, are grown on six of the seven continents (sorry, Antarctica). Their name comes from the Greek word pepon, roughly meaning “large melon.”
Let me get right to the question: “Do you have an “innie or an outie”? Yes, we’re talkin’ bellybuttons!” If you’re an outie you are definitely the minority, but that’s good news because you don’t have to worry about a little problem that people with innies have.
Bellybutton lint. I know it’s disgusting but someone’s got to talk about it. Did you know there’s a word for “the small mass of lint, such as that which accumulates in the belly button”? It's called pledget.
Researchers say the color of the pledget in your belly button is related to the clothing you wear, it usually ends up being a blue-grey color just like the lint that collects in your clothes dryer!
Have I turned you into an omphalopsychite yet? That’s a person who’s obsessed with their belly button. Why do you suppose women pierce their belly buttons? Maybe it’s because of all that pledget they need a place to hang some air freshener!
A new study just published in Scientific Reports claims domestic cats do recognize their own names — they just couldn't care less! Apparently, cats are just as good as dogs at learning, they’re just not as keen to show their owners. Did you know cats are the most common pets in America? There are around 66 million cat owners in America compared to 58 million dogs, with Parakeets “flying” a distant third at 14 million.
The average cat will cost its owner around $7000 dollars during its life to cover its expenses. Now that’s a lot of spondulicks! An ailurophile is what you call a real cat aficionado. You’ve heard of a flock of sheep or a herd of goats, but what’s the correct term for a group of felines? A clouder of cats!
Are you ready to gobble till you wobble? Americans alone feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on thanksgiving! The word ‘turkey’ may originate from the fact that turkeys make a turk, turk, turk, sound when they’re it is scared. The skin that hangs off the turkey’s neck is called a Wattle! Turkeys have great hearing and have a wide field of vision, which makes sneaking up on them difficult. But, when you do, they quickly become bumsquabbled!
Some of us crave certain food for the Thanksgiving meal. Personally, I look forward to the cranberries or bounceberries as they’re sometimes called! (You know they’re ripe if they bounce when you drop them on the floor!) What’s a word for craving a certain food to the point of madness? AHP-suh-MAY-nee-ak) opsomaniac!
Studies show people who smile more tend to live longer than those who don’t. It seems the simple act of smiling causes a positive emotional state in a person! Of course, smiling can have a positive effect on those around you as well.
It has been shown that waiters and waitresses who smile generate larger tips, especially if there’s a little huzzlecoo, or flirting thrown in! Fake smiles are 10 times bigger than genuine smiles, because they’re meant to be seen! The TV news anchor who wishes you “Good evening” and then proceeds to tell you why it isn’t, is a good example of a person feigning a smile. What's a word for someone who fakes a smile? An eccedentesiast!
Women generally smile more than men. Apparently, the smile muscle, or the zygomaticus major, is thicker in gals than in guys. However, it's unclear whether females are born with a bigger smile muscle, or if it just bulks up from more exercise.
I didn't realize how much I would miss Cwtch, that's a Welsh word meaning "to hug, or a safe welcoming place.”’ People in Sweden often send virtual hugs via text message, signing off with the word 'kram' which means to hug. Huggle is a cross between a hug and a cuddle, and canoodling is another word for cuddling. As for those people who truly cannot tolerate hugging or touching? They would be known as haphephobic. Someone said when hugging a child, always be the last to let go, you never know how long they need it. Hugs and thanks so very much for listening!
Selfies may seem vain and frivolous, but there’s actually a lot more to this cultural phenomenon than meets the (camera’s) eye. Your favorite selfie pose can say a lot about your personality. In a study published in Computers in Human Behaviour, researchers connected self-portrait styles to specific character traits.
People who like to look directly into the camera are more likely to be philodemics or agreeable and loving. Those who have a go-to “duck face” pose are more likely to be emotionally unstable. But they don’t mind feeling kenspeckled, or conspicuous.36% of all people admit to doctoring their selfie or editing it before sharing it. This includes enhancing a skin tone or using a filter. What’s a word for a condition where things appear more beautiful than they really are? Kalopsia!
Women have been wearing lipstick for thousands of years. Even the ladies of ancient Rome wore lipstick, however much of the lipstick from the old days were made with toxic ingredients like lead for example. (No wonder they didn’t live for very long back then.)
Today, lipsticks are safe and come in millions of shades and textures. What’s another word for the noise made by smacking one's lips? Plapper! Lipsticks also range from inexpensive to the dramatical, or luxuriously extravagant. The most expensive and exclusive lipstick in the world is Guerlain’s Kiss Kiss Gold which retails for $64,000 a tube. Of course, this may be because the tube is made of gold and encrusted with diamonds.
Winston Churchill once remarked that lipstick will continue to be produced during the war because it boosted the morale of the women who wore it, and the men who beheld it. What’s a word for a person who is attracted to someone’s lips? A cheiloproclitic! This leads us to the kiss. One kiss uses up to 3 calories, with or without lipstick. Let's hear it for osculating. What’s a word for the art of kissing? Philematology
What’s a word for a device that saves time and labor? A timmynoggy! Speaking of timmynoggys, I was hiking in Colorado and found some old cans near an abandoned logging camp. The cans were so thick, I wondered how in the world did people open these back then? Early cans for storing vegetables were made of iron lined with tin and could be as thick as 3/16th of an inch. A hammer and chisel wasn’t just the informal way of opening them, it was the manufacturer’s suggested method.
The first can opener was invented by Ezra J Warner who received a patent in 1858. Warner’s can opener was a blade that cut into the can lid with a guard to prevent it from puncturing the can itself. Though never a big hit with the public, Warner’s can opener served the US Army during the Civil War and found a home in many grocery stores, where clerks would open cans for customers. What’s a word for one who depends on others for food? An opscheplooper!
Valentine’s Day is almost here, or as guys like to call it, Extortion Day! My husband doesn’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. He says when he thinks about romance, the last thing on his mind is a chubby toddler coming at him with a weapon.” Valentines Day is celebrated worldwide. Studies show that 64% of American men don’t make plans ahead. What’s a word for the act of setting a romantic mood with flowers and a candlelight dinner? Anthorexia! Sounds more like a disease to me. Anyway, as you can see, love is a many-syllabled thing:)
This year as men are on a charrette, or last-minute effort to find the perfect Valentin’s Day card, Hallmark alone offers more than 1400 choices from the romantic to the humorous. Trying to choose the perfect card for your valentine is enough to give anyone abulia, that’s difficulty making a decision! But some don't give a flip! What's a word for the act of falling in love with a schnook when you should have known better? Anaxiphilia!
While many people say “opposites attract”, when it comes to choosing a mate, research suggests people who are similar tend to do better in a relationship. What’s a word for a well-matched relationship? Homogamosis.
A recent survey of 5000 single people said they would not be able to be in a romantic relationship with someone who didn’t share their political views. Studies show we are naturally more attracted to people who are similar to ourselves in appearance, beliefs, and interests. It’s no fun hanging out with someone who thinks your hobbies are stupid, right?
However, it turns out that introverts and extroverts make great couples. Introverts are typically good listeners and extroverts love to talk. Sounds like the perfect marriage to me. What’s a word for an unhappy marriage? Cagamosis.
Recently, a pilot helping to fight the fires in California had an unexpected guest board his helicopter mid-flight. Dan Alpiner, a pilot with Sky Aviation, was helping conduct water drops over the Creek Fire in Medera county when mid-flight, an owl flew in through the window and perched calmly inside his helicopter! What’s a word for something being really strange? Ostrobogulous!
Fortunately, the owl didn’t cause any trouble and after riding in the helicopter for a short time, flew right back out the window. A baby owl is called an Owlet. A group of owls is called a Parliament. The name Parliament originates from C.S. Lewis’ description of a meeting of owls in The Chronicles of Narnia. Owls are zygodactyl, which means their feet have two forward-facing toes and two backward-facing toes. What's a word for the fear of owls? Strigiformophobia!
There are many towns with funny names, but some are truly unfortunate. Take the town of Asbestos in Canada. When you’re named after a carcinogenic mineral banned in 60 countries, it's kind of hard to attract visitors.
The towns of Boring, Dull, and Bland, in the US, Scotland, and Australia were all named after the surnames of their early settlers. Tightwad, Missouri has become somewhat famous for its bank, as customers from all over the country open accounts there just so they can have checks printed with the Tightwad logo on them. What’s a word for making money any way you can? Quomodocunquize!
How would you like to live in Accident, Maryland, or Embarrass Minnesota? There’s even a Belchertown, Massachusetts. But the town that would win my award for the strangest name is Slickpoo, Idaho.
During these uncertain times, more and more people are feeling pretty stressed out. Well, there’s a forgotten way to help eliminate the stress that’s making a comeback. Cow Cuddling! Some people are turning to this natural wellness practice of snuggling up to cows. Known as Koe Knuffelen in the Netherlands where this form of therapy supposedly originated, cow cuddling, reduces stress in humans by releasing the bonding hormone oxytocin.
The people who lie down next to cows say they find it very relaxing because of the bovine’s warm body temperatures and calm demeanor. What’s a word for having a comfort-loving temperament? Viscerotonic. The word for a cow in Latin is Bos. This is why many farmers call their cows Bossie. Cows are attracted to music and also have the ability to recognize human faces. What’s a word for the condition of not being able to remember faces? Prosopagnosia
Taking a shower isn’t just good for your hygiene, but according to The Psychological Science Journal, they’re also good for your creativity. For many people, taking a shower provides a sort of zeigarnik effect or a brief respite from our tasks that helps to improve our mental focus. More men than women take daily showers. Showers can be a good way to wash off your troubles if you’re feeling narky or ramfezzled. You might think that Americans take more showers than people in other countries, but Mexico on average has the highest amount of shower takers.
Nolan Bushnell, creator of Atari and Chuck E Cheese once said, “Everyone who has taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.”
Have you ever butt-dialed someone? The Dutch have a word for it, broekzakbellen. The English translation is “The pocket-dial giveth, and the pocket-dial taketh away. Butt-dialing someone can be an awkward or even embarrassing miskobble.
But it’s pretty funny when it happens to someone else. What’s a word for deriving pleasure from another’s misfortune? Schadenfreude. It’s estimated that over 100 million calls to 911 last year were butt-dialed. I accidentally pocket dialed my fitness trainer at a restaurant just as I was ordering a cheeseburger and fries. Boy, I felt like a goomstromnoodle.
What do you call the act of being impolite in a social situation by looking at your phone instead of paying attention to the person you are with? Phubbing!
Since we’ve all been staying home a lot more, many of us have been spending more time in our slippers! According to Mark Forsyth's: A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language, pantoffle is another word for a bedroom slipper. The word slipper dates all the way back to the mid 1400’s and there’s really nothing more comfortable to wear around the house.
Most people have a pair of slippers they put on after waking up in the morning. An expergefactor is anything that causes one to wake up. An expergefactor could be a barking dog, or, of course, an alarm clock. What’s another word for the snooze button on an alarm clock? A rawley!
Now that you’re out of bed and your toes are snugly pantoffled, You might look down and notice the indentation on the bed where you’ve been sleeping all night. This little dip in the mattress is called a staddle!
As much as I love Words You Never Heard, I enjoy a good word joke just as much. Did you hear about the oxymoron that walked into a bar? The silence was deafening. I dated an apostrophe once, but he was too possessive.
Having fun with words has always been a passion of mine and I say this with all jocoseriosity. Jocoseriosity implies a combination of humor mixed with seriousness.
Oddly, I have never been much of a grammar nazi though. Why get all worked up over it I say? Someone who gets upset over trivial things is called a microlipet. Of course, this is just my opinion. What’s a word for a person who loves their own opinion? A philodox. Arial and Helvetica walk into a bar, but the bartender hollered at them to get out! He said they didn’t serve their type!
You may have heard about the fox that was caught stealing shoes from people’s porches and gardens in Germany.
Berlin resident Christian Meyer noticed that his expensive running shoes went missing from his porch and decided to investigate the theft. After checking with neighbors, he learned he was not the only one who recently experienced missing footwear. Days later, he spotted a red fox with two blue flip-flops in its mouth. He followed the fox to a thicket and discovered a stash of more than 100 shoes!
A group of foxes is called a skulk or a leash. A male fox is a dog and a female is a vixen. Baby foxes are called pups, kits or cubs. Foxes can run up to 31 mph and jump over 6 ft fences. Foxes are also smarter than most dog breeds. The foxy shoe thief apparently preferred Crocs as the majority of the shoes he made off with were these popular sandals and clogs.
Is an African grey parrot smarter than a Harvard University Student? Probably not, but it does appear to be better at the classic Shell Game!
The perspicacious parrot did as well as or bested the Harvard students in 12 out of 14 trials, using his beak to point! Perspicacious is another word for wise or shrewd. Parrots have zygodactyl feet which means they have 2 toes pointing forward and 2 pointing to the back!
Griffin has been the subject of cognitive and communicative studies since he was two months old. What’s a word for the will to win? Spizzerinctum!
Rocco Figaretti recently hit a hole-in-one on a par three at the Oglebay Park Golf Course in Wheeling, West Virginia. That might not be so remarkable, except that Rocco is only four years old. The odds of the average golfer hitting a hole-in-one are about 12,000 to 1. Even Tiger Woods didn’t hit his first hole-in-one until he was 6 years old. Rocco’s incredible shot is the reason for a little cock-a-hoop or celebration.
Rocco swings right-handed with a left-handed grip. A mollydooker is a slang for a left-hander. He started practicing his golf swing at 3 years old hitting balls around the yard at home. The first golf balls were known as gutta-percha balls because they were made from gutta-percha, a substance obtained from a tree native to East Asia. Gutta-percha was also used by dentists to fill cavities. Some people say that golf is just an expensive way of playing marbles!
Comic book fans seem to have a language all their own. With terms like Variant cover, Retcon, Splash page, and Zine, one would have to be a Pannapictagraphist to understand it all. A Pannapictagraphist is a collector of comic books. A Zine is a self-published and often hand-drawn comic and a Floppy is a slang term for a single issue comic.
Comic book collecting can be quite lucrative for those who are a part of the Comixology crowd. An original copy of the Action Comics first issue which introduced Earth to Superman sold for 3.2 million dollars on eBay making it the most expensive comic book in the world.
What do you call the Boom, Pow, Bang sounds often depicted in comic books like Batman and other superheroes? Onomatopoeia!
As the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in lockdowns of much of India, monkeys, who are common on the streets of Delhi are rapidly becoming a nuisance. Normally the streets of Delhi are filled with people who regularly give food handouts to the Rhesus Macaques who live there, but now without their regular food source, the emboldened monkeys have resorted to sneaking into homes and stealing food and personal belongings. What's another name for a thief? A Jackroller!
Recently a lab assistant from the Meerut Medical College in Delhi was attacked by a group of monkeys who ran off with some patient coronavirus test samples. Fortunately, the monkeys weren’t able to get into the sample packaging and left them on the ground under some trees. What’s another word for taken aback? Sharooshed!
The Social Security Administration has released a list of the latest frequently used baby names in the US. Currently, Emma and Liam are the most popular for 2020. Luna tops the list for baby girls in the UK. Luna was the name of the Roman Moon Goddess. The most popular girl’s name in the world right now is Sophia!
Apollo, Birdie, Bear and Zelda are trending for baby names in Italy, and Cian and Roisin are peaking in Ireland. A sobriquet is a descriptive name given to someone because of a physical trait such as Red, red hair or Peanut because of diminutive size. Food oriented names are also gaining popularity worldwide such as Cinnamon, Dijon, Kale, and Benedict. Of course, if you don’t like your name, it’s not that difficult to change it. What’s a word for the fear of change? Kainotophobia.
It’s been just over 100 years since the first traffic light appeared. Early traffic lights weren’t automatic but operated manually by a police officer in a booth next to the road. At first, there were only red and green lights. The yellow light didn’t come into use until the 1920’s when officers noticed that drivers needed an interval of time to be able to slow down in order to clear the intersection.
The first fully electronic traffic light was installed on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914. But stoplight technology has evolved over the decades into sporting energy-saving LED’s and being controlled by traffic management computers.
A Korean company is working on a traffic light that displays news headlines to keep drivers from looking at their cell phones at a red light. What’s a word for that fuzzy state of almost falling asleep while waiting at a traffic light? Hypnopompic.
This summer marks the 45th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s epic blockbuster Jaws. This movie that literally scared moviegoers out of the water, was the first movie to gross over $100 million at the box office. Now that’s a lot of dooteroomus!
The movie Jaws was adapted from author Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel of the same name, which was based on a series of shark attacks that occurred off the coast of New Jersey in 1916. The filming of Jaws was marred with numerous technical issues including constant mechanical failures with the animatronic shark nicknamed Bruce.
Jaws Amity Island was actually Martha’s Vinyard and the famous line, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” wasn’t in the script, but improvised by Roy Sheider while shooting the scene. What’s a word for the fear of sharks? Selachophobia!
What’s a word for a person who tells artful lies? A mendaciloquent. In the world of branding and advertising, this technique is all too well known, and just because a product is named for a place, doesn’t necessarily mean it came from there. For instance, The Outback Steakhouse actually originated in Tampa, Florida. And New York Brand Texas toast is produced in Ohio.
Arizona Iced Tea is headquartered in New York City and Old Milwaukee Beer is brewed in Detroit. What’s another word for the foam that forms on top of your beer? Barm! Uno’s Chicago Grill is a Boston based restaurant chain, Irish Spring Soap is made in the USA, and the London Broil method of marinating a flank steak began in the American Midwest and is virtually unheard of in England!
The language experts at Babbel sent us a few of the new coronavirus-inspired words that humanity has added to its covidictionary. You know when you’re in lockdown, one might have a tendency to overeat and gain a little weight. Well the Germans have a word for that additional poundage. Kummerspeck, which literally means “grief bacon”.
The word spendemic was coined by The New York Post and refers to the increase in online shopping during the corona virus outbreak. According to Babbel, coronials is the term being used for the babies who will be born after the pandemic is over: “Coronials began trending on social media when people wondered if more time spent in the home could lead to slightly bigger families in the future.”
On the other hand, the pandemic has taken its toll on the dating scene with more and more romantic relationships developing on Zoom and other online services. Now if someone breaks up with you online, there’s a new word for that… You’ve just been Zumped!
During this difficult time of quarantine and social distancing, most of us find ourselves in the process of figuring out how to cope with this new way of life. Before Coronavirus, I never realized how much I touch my face. One study showed the average person touches their face with their hands 23 times an hour. How are we supposed to put on makeup? Daddles is a British variant of the word hands. In order to avoid touching our faces during this time, many people have found other ways to keep their daddles occupied, like working in the yard, doing puzzles, cooking, or planting flowers. What’s a word for the pleasure one feels from doing mundane things? Eudemonia!
Many of us have also been forced into an everyday routine of Hurkle-Durkle, which is a Scottish term for getting up and hanging around the house rather than going to their job or office. This may prove to be a little too much togetherness for some working couples. Then again, we might just see another baby boom 9 months from now.
Due to the coronavirus, the UK has been under lockdown, and people only allowed to leave their homes under very strict conditions! However, one blunderbuss felt the urgent need to go shopping and dressed up like a bush in order to disguise himself from the police lest he is discovered walking the streets! Blunderbuss is another word for a stupid, blundering fellow.
Neighbors happened to catch some video of the man covered head to toe in leaves as he tried to scurry from the street to his door, stopping from time to time and assuming a pose as a ‘shrubbery’ to avoid drawing any attention to himself. At one point, he even trips and falls clutching his precious grocery bag! What’s another word for a clumsy person? A gawkhammer! The short video of the bushman has gone viral on TikTok with the caption, Neighbor Sneaking Out To Get His Shopping. The question is, how would the police handle this anyway? With a bottle of Roundup perhaps?
During this difficult time when many all over the world find themselves under quarantine, people have had to invent some creative solutions for being able to keep up with everyday activities. For instance, how do you walk your dog if you’re not allowed to go outside? A man in Cyprus decided to see if a drone could do the job.
Vakis Demetriou took some video of his dog walking down the street with a drone following behind holding the leash. Mr. Demetriou was able to control the entire walk remotely from his balcony. Now a company called Drones Direct, based in West Yorkshire, England, is selling Proflight Walkies Dog Drones, which have a built-in retractable leash, hands-free piloting, and a camera so you can keep an eye on your pet. Guided by a GPS, the Doggie Drone promises to walk your dog for up to 30 minutes along a route of your choosing while avoiding obstacles with "built-in collision avoidance technology," according to its product description. What’s a word for an interestingly bizarre idea? Ostrobogulous
Valentine’s Day is almost here, or as guys like to call it, Extortion Day! My husband doesn’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. He says when he thinks about romance, the last thing on his mind is a chubby toddler coming at him with a weapon!Studies show that 64% of American men don’t make plans ahead of time for Valentine’s day. What’s a word for the act of setting a romantic mood with flowers and a candlelight dinner? Anthorexia! Sounds more like a disease to me…anyway, as you can see, love is a many-syllabled thing:)
This year as men are on a charrette, or last-minute effort to find the perfect Valentin’s Day card, Hallmark alone offers more than 1400 choices from the romantic to the humorous. Trying to choose the perfect card for your valentine is enough to give anyone abulia, that’s difficulty making a decision!!
Sleep is the most important eight hours of the day. A good night’s sleep is essential to health and happiness. But if you have someone sleeping next to you that snores, getting a little shuteye can be a problem. According to a recent study by the University of Wisconsin, 45% of men and 25% of women report habitual snoring. What’s another word for the sound a snoring person makes? A stertor.
Snoring can be as loud as 90 decibels and is the number one reason why couples find themselves sleeping in separate bedrooms. If you sleep with someone who snores, you might be experiencing a lot of matutolypea, that’s getting up on the wrong side of the bed! Did you know snoring is actually illegal in Massachusetts unless all bedroom windows are closed and locked? Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone!
Do Yule Know when and where did the first Christmas tree originate? Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when evergreens were decorated and celebrated in winter in anticipation of spring. Later, Christians began bringing fir trees into their homes and adorning them with Festoons or carved and painted ornaments to celebrate everlasting life. Some people built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if the wood was scarce. Other names for Christmas Tree Ornaments include gimcracks, pokerwork, and fiddleheads!
One of the main reasons it took time for Christmas trees to catch on (in theUnited States) is that it was challenging to find a tree unless you lived near a forest or wooded area. But now the US has over 15,000 Christmas Tree Farms, producing over 350 million trees, and only about 2% of families Christmas Trees are cut from the wild by folks who go Christmas Chopping:) What's a word for those fallen pesky Christmas Tree needles? Diddledees!
My husband and I lived near the small quaint town of North Pole Alaska while serving at Ft. Wainwright Army Base in Fairbanks Alaska. The North Pole has a population of just over 2000 people. With street names like Kris Kringle Drive and Mistletoe Lane, It's known for its year-round Christmas decorations, including candy cane–striped street lights. The Santa Claus House in the North Pole is a Christmas store with walls covered in children’s letters to Santa.
In the early days of Christmas letters, it was Santa who wrote to the children, but soon kids starting writing back, placing their letters on the fireplace smoodging Santa to bring them gifts.
Now, the North Pole receives so many letters to Santa from children, they can hardly keep up. Sounds to me like they could use a wayzgoose after Christmas. Wayzgoose is a term for a printer’s holiday!
In our house, it's a running joke that if we can’t find something important, it’s probably in my husband’s sock drawer! He’s not alone. Millions of men hide valuables in their sock drawers and thieves (also known as priggers and jackrollers) know it!
The word sock comes from the Latin word ‘**soccus’**, meaning a loose-fitting slipper worn by Roman comedy actors on stage. Did you know that 82% of young American men wear mismatched socks at least once a week? The Aussies call socks the walk-a-bouts because they get lost and can’t be found! In China, the city of Datang has come to be known as ‘Sock City’, thanks to its status as the world’s top sock producing region. It is estimated that Datang manufactures enough socks to supply every person on the planet with two pairs each. That’s an awful lot of socks!
A **Wangdoodle** is a person who tosses things around while searching for something, such as matching socks. Ask me how I know!
Americans eat out an average of 4.9 times a week. Restauranteurs have discovered that outdoor menu boards are a great way to draw customers in an area that has heavy pedestrian traffic. Also called A-frame signs or sandwich boards, these signs allow establishments to make an impression on customers inviting them to come in and eat. This kind of marketing has prompted some restaurant owners to add a little humor to their menu boards.
A sign outside one restaurant read: “COME IN AND TRY THE WORST MEATBALL SANDWICH THAT ONE GUY ON YELP EVER HAD IN HIS LIFE!”
Another sidewalk sign said: WE DO NOT HAVE WIFI…TALK TO EACH OTHER AND PRETEND ITS 1995!
Or how about this one? THIS WEEKS SPECIAL: BUY ONE BEER FOR THE PRICE OF TWO AND RECEIVE A SECOND BEER ABSOLUTELY FREE! What’s a word for food that has no nutritional value? Lubberwort!
If you’re like me, you’ve experienced that moment in the conversation when you can’t remember a word, even a simple word! A woman named Brittani Nichols recently shared her story. She called a restaurant to make a dinner reservation when her mind suddenly drew a blank on the word. So she asked to make a food appointment.
Speaking of appointments, a man who was trying to schedule for a trim with his barber, couldn’t think of the word “appointment” and asked if there were any available hair cutting opportunities.
Have you ever asked someone to bring you something and then forgot what it was you wanted? I think we’ve all used words like whoosiewagger, doodad, thingamabob, thingamajig, or you know… That thing in the closet. What’s a word for the inability to remember a word? Lethologica!
Halloween is almost here and it’s time to get ready for trick or treaters. I say, any holiday that condones eating candy is alright with me. One of my favorite Halloween treats is Candy Corn. According to Mental Floss Magazine, Candy Corn was invented by George Renninger, an employee of the Wunderle Candy Company in 1888.
The Goelitz Candy Company also began producing candy corn marketing it under the name of “Chicken Feed”. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups top the list of America’s favorite Halloween candies. What’s a word for the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth? Arachibutyrophobia!
Fifty percent of kids prefer to receive chocolate candy for Halloween, compared with 24% who prefer non-chocolate candy and 10% who want gum. But no matter what kind of candy you like for Halloween, “bone appetite!"
Did you know that cows may have regional accents just like humans? According to the BBC, this phenomenon was first detected by dairy farmers who noticed that their cows had different moos, depending on where they came from. John Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the University of London, said regional twangs had been seen before in birds! Cows are also capable of recognizing faces, even after long periods of time. Very mooo-ving indeed!
Cows vocalize for a number of reasons, including looking for herd mates and sometimes because they are unhappy. Most cows are simply content to chewing their cud. Fletcherizing is a word meaning to reduce food to tiny particles by prolonged chewing. Apparently, cattle thieves still exist. Names for cattle thieves include poddy-dodgers, ‘cattle duffers, and gully-rakers! My question is: when a cow laughs, does milk come out her nose?” I know, that’s “Udderly ridiculous!”
October is Apple Month and here are some fun facts about apples to celebrate this delicious and popular fruit. Did you know Granny Smith apples are named after a real Granny Smith? There are 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States and 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world. The top apple producers around the world are China, United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy.
It’s almost impossible to eat an apple quietly. Yaffling is another word for eating noisily. Apples range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit. Apples float because they are made up of 25% air. Nothing satisfies like a crunchy tasty apple. What’s another word for the feeling of satisfaction? Rassasy!
Tim Lomas’ book, Happiness-Found In Translation, features many words from other languages that don’t have English equivalents. For example, Croatians have the word fjaka, which means “the sweetness of doing nothing.” Or the total state of relaxation experienced by freeing one’s mind and body of activity. Speaking of relaxation, Going for a walk in the woods can sometimes clear your mind just as well as a good meditation session. There’s no one English word that describes the restorative effect of immersing yourself in nature, but the Japanese call it shinrin-yoku.
Have you ever met someone whose expression made you feel like you were in on a joke, without even knowing what the joke was? You might say they had a twinkle in their eye, but the Dutch would call it pretoogjes, which means “fun or smiling eyes.”
In a survey conducted by travel website Big 7 Travel, 1.5 million people weighed in on the “friendliest states in America”. The “Nice” state of Minnesota came in first followed by the state known for its southern hospitality, Tennessee. The Northeast didn’t fare so well on the friendly scale with Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey all ranking near the bottom and New York coming in dead last.
Apparently, New Yorkers can’t seem to shake their reputation of being rude. What’s another word for a rude person? A stickybeak. Wyoming is another state that ranked high for being friendly. People in Wyoming tend to exude a sense of community which is welcoming to visitors. The Germans have a word for feeling safe and at home. The word is geborgenheit!
Did you know sneezes sound different in other countries? While people in English-speaking countries tend to say “achoo” , French-speaking countries add an “m” to create an atchoum! A sneeze in Germany sounds like hatschi and in Japan you’re more likely to hear hakshun! Here are some sneezing facts not everyone “Nose”:
Many people believe that your heart skips a beat when you sneeze, but it doesn’t. Sneezing in your sleep is rare because the nerves that trigger sneezing are also asleep. It is true that bright sunlight can make some people sneeze. The medical term for sneezing is sternutation. Some people say gesundheit or God bless you after someone sneezes. Gesundheit originated in Germany and means “health”, but God bless you originated during the bubonic plague when sneezing was considered an early sign that you might have the disease.
There are all kinds of places in the world with funny or unusual names, but these are a few of my favorites as featured in Mental Floss magazine: There is a town in Ontario, Canada named Punkeydoodle's Corners. Apparently, someone kept stealing the sign with the town’s name, so the residents replaced it with a monument that weighs almost a ton.
In the town of Batman, Turkey, a former mayor threatened to sue Warner Brothers over the name in the Dark Knight Trilogy. Eggs and Bacon Bay in Tasmania are actually named after a wildflower with yellow and red petals. Two glacial islands off the coast of Antarctica are known as The Office Girls. There are so many glacial islands or nunataks as they are also called around Antarctica that committees were formed and charged with the task of naming them all. The Office Girls were named in 1970 as a tribute to the administrative personnel on the US naming committees.
Selfies may seem vain and frivolous, but there’s actually a lot more to this cultural phenomenon than meets the (camera’s) eye. Your favorite selfie pose can say a lot about your personality. In a study published in Computers in Human Behaviour, researchers connected self-portrait styles to specific character traits.
People who like to look directly into the camera are more likely to be philodemics, oragreeable and loving. Those who have a go-to “duck face” pose are more likely to be emotionally unstable. But they don’t mind feeling kenspeckled, or conspicuous. Thirty-six percent of all people admit to doctoring their selfie or editing it before sharing it. This includes enhancing skin tone or using a filter.using a filter. The goal is to take a selfie so good, you can't believe it's you! What’s a word for a condition where things appear more beautiful than they really are? Kalopsia!
Have you or has someone you know ever driven off from a gas station with the gas nozzle still lodged in the fuel filler neck of the car? Well, it happens more than you might think. In fact, in a survey of gas stations across the country, it seems some gilly gaupus person drives off with the pump still in their tank about once a month!
In most of these cases, the driver was either not paying attention because they were talking on their cell phone, or if the fuel filler on their car is on the passenger side and they forgot they were still attached to the pump after going into the gas station. In Australia, this kind of embarrassing mistake is known as a bingle. Do you know why gas stations always keep their restroom door locked? They are afraid someone might come in and clean it!
Recently a seagull stunned scientists at the Alderney Bird Observatory in England by flying over 500 miles from Britain to Spain in just seven days. The great black-backed gull, one of the largest seagull species had been tagged in order to track its movements. People at the observatory said it was pretty unusual for a seagull to travel that far in such a short period of time.
There are approximately 50 species of seagulls and they can be found all over the planet including the margins of Antarctica, and in the high Arctic regions as well.
Seagulls are known thieves, often stealing food from other birds or even each other. This is known as kleptoparasitism.
The Birds, an American thriller film, released in 1963 by Alfred Hitchcock, is a story about a northern California coastal town that is inexplicably attacked and rendered helpless by massive flocks of aggressive birds. What’s a word for the fear of birds? Ornithophobia!
Did you know sneezes sound different in other countries? While people in English-speaking countries tend to say “achoo”, French-speaking countries add an “m” to create an atchoum! A sneeze in Germany sounds like hatschi and in Japan you’re more likely to hear hakshun!
Here are some sneezing facts not everyone “Nose”: Many people believe that your heart stops when you sneeze, but it doesn’t. However, it may skip a beat or two. Sneezing in your sleep is rare because the nerves that trigger sneezing are also asleep. It is true that bright sunlight can make some people sneeze. The medical term for sneezing is sternutation. Some people say gesundheit or God bless you after someone sneezes. Gesundheit originated in Germany and means “health”, but God bless you originated during the bubonic plague when sneezing was considered an early sign that you might have the disease.
Are you ready for Shark Week? That’s right, The Discovery Channel’s infamous Shark Week is coming back for its 31st year! The week of “fin”tastic television starts on Sunday, July 28 and runs until August 4th. Among the shark stories featured this year is a stunning display of tens of thousands of blacktip and spinner sharks swimming towards beachgoers on the east coast of Florida.
Here are some bite-sized facts about Sharks: Sharks never run out of teeth! If they lose a tooth, another spins forward from rows and rows of back teeth! A shark may lose as much as 20,000 teeth in a lifetime! Did you know the idea for the original steak knife was derived from shark’s teeth? Baby sharks are also called pups, and new research shows that sharks may be colorblind. Sharks can smell a single drop of blood in 1 million drops of water! What’s a word for the fear of sharks? Selachophobia!
A new study just published in Scientific Reports claims domestic cats do recognize their own names — they just couldn't care less! Apparently, cats are just as good as dogs at learning, they’re just not as keen to show their owners.
Did you know cats are the most common pets in America? There are around 66 million cat owners in America compared to 58 million dogs, with Parakeets “flying” a distant third at 14 million.
The average cat will cost its owner around $6000 dollars during its life to cover its expenses. Now that’s a lot of spondulicks! An ailurophile is what you call a real cat aficionado. You’ve heard of a flock of sheep or a herd of goats, but what’s the correct term for a group of felines? A clowder of cats!
Everyone thinks that June is the most popular month for weddings, but on average more weddings occur during the month of October, followed by September. The longest-married couple on record was Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher. They were married for 86 years, 9 months, and 16 days. The word Bride is derived from a Proto-Germanic word meaning to cook or brew, as this was the traditional role of the wife in earlier times.
The most expensive wedding dress on record cost a whopping $12.2 million dollars and featured 150 carats worth of diamonds. What’s a name for a showy person? A flapadosha! Today’s average engagement ring costs a little more than $3500 with the most expensive on the record being $8.8 Million, given to Elizabeth Taylor of course. But, money doesn’t always guarantee a happy marriage. What’s another word for an unhappy marriage? Cagamosis!
Eudemonia is a word for deriving pleasure from doing mundane things such as the laundry. Finally, modern technology has produced a machine that can help, with the laundry that is. The Foldimate, which just debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, folds your clothes for you. Well, this is sure to make laundry issues less pressing:) All you have to do is feed your clothes into a slot on the machine, and the Foldimate does the rest, automatically folding your clothes and delivering them neatly stacked and ready to put away.
What’s a word for a person who wears wrinkled clothes? A Scobberlotcher! The manufacturer says the FoldiMate machine should be available to consumers within the United States by late 2019. In laundry speak, what’s the opposite of wrinkly? Why that would be Irony:)
PetSmart has a policy that allows you to bring your pets into their stores. However, employees and customers at a PetSmart in Muskegon, Michigan were gobsmacked when someone brought in their 1400 pound camel. The camel, named Jeffrey was on a bit of a field trip from the Lewis Farms and Petting Zoo with his owner Mr. Lewis. Mr. Lewis explained he was just trying to get Jeffery used to riding in his trailer.
Camels are very social animals and Jeffery was no exception and soon the customers and workers at PetSmart were all gathered around to greet him. A camel with one hump is called a dromedary and a two-humped camel is called a Bactrian! The word camel in Arabic literally means beauty. Really? Have you ever seen a camel up close? A dragoman is a name for an Arabic interpreter who will tell you there are over 160 words in Arabic for a camel.
A Texas man has just won the Guinness World Record for the Largest Video Game Collection. Antonio Monteiro from Richmond, Texas owns over 20,000 video games, and it took eight days to count the entire collection to verify the record. He also has more than the 100 consoles required to play them all.
What do you call someone who loves the myths and symbols found in video games? A Philomythist!
His collection includes rarities, such as a Nintendo game released only to the U.S. military, as well as complete collections of games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Sega Dreamcast, PSP, PS Vita, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Cube, Wii and Atari Jaguar.
Gamers often like to root for the underdog. What’s a word for someone who loves to champion the underdog? An Infracaninophile!
Something’s Fishy on the Golf Course
Recently, during the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, an osprey swooped down and grabbed a fish out of a water hazard and began to fly away. But as they say in golf, the bird foozled and dropped the fish on the grass in the middle of the course. TV cameras captured the moment when a fan ran out onto the green, grabbed the fish and returned it to the water.
The osprey is the only hawk species in North America with an almost exclusive diet of live fish. The osprey has nostrils that can be closed, which allows it to dive 3 feet down into the water to capture its prey. It also has an outer toe that can be angled backwards to better grasp fish. Whats a word for having toes that point both forward and backward? Zygodactyl.
Coincidentally some of the first golf balls were made of leather pouches packed tightly with feathers.
The world's first vending machine was invented in Ancient Egypt in 215 BCE. Of course, vending machines are everywhere now and have recently been expanding their offerings to satisfy the masses. I guess sometimes people have an intense craving for a certain type of food. These people are also known as opsomaniacs.
Ohio State University has its own bacon vending machine. And there's a pecan pie vending machine in Cedar Creek, Texas. Other rassasy vending machines around the world dispense hot pizza, burritos, live crabs, baguettes, and caviar! Rassasy is something to satisfy your hunger. Did you forget to pack your pants? The Standard hotels in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami actually have clothing in their vending machines!
How important is the order in which you were born? According to a new book by Dr. Kevin Lehman, birth order determines the role siblings play in their families and affects how we feel about ourselves and relate to others. Dr. Lehman’s research suggests that firstborns are typically more assertive and dominant, often going on to fill a position of high authority or achievement. Middle children tend to have excellent negotiating and people skills. You will find that many nurses, firefighters, and law enforcement professionals are middle children. What’s a word for the second born? **Secundogeniture.** Last born children seem to enjoy attention and being in the limelight. These babies are attracted to more artistic endeavors. They are also successful in journalism, advertising and sales. What’s another word for a person who is the life of the party? **Tummler!**
Did you know that more and more newlyweds are taking separate honeymoons? According to a report in the New York Times, many couples are no longer celebrating their first days of wedded bliss watching sunsets together in the Caribbean or sightseeing in Paris. Instead, they’re booking separate, solo vacations or unimoons.
What’s another word for your mate? A poplolly!
Apparently, one of the reasons for separate honeymoons is that couples can’t agree on where they want to go, so in order to avoid cagmosis , or marital unhappiness, they each go their own way.
To each his own I guess, but isn’t this missing the whole point of being married? Then again new research says 1 in 4 Americans report they actually enjoy traveling alone so they can have some quiet time and not have to worry about another person. I suppose this would make sense after 30 years of marriage. What’s another word for marriage at an old age? Opsigamy!
Recently 30-year-old Arne Murke and his brother were sailing a 40-foot yacht from Aukland, New Zealand to Brazil when they experienced a motor failure and lost all power. Suddenly the boat turned to cause the boom to swing around knocking Arne overboard into the ocean. His brother tried to throw him a line and a life jacket, but the swell had put too much distance Arne and the boat.
Without a motor or life vest in the rough seas, a rescue was looking impossible. But Arne remembered a survival tactic he had seen the Navy Seals employ. He took off his jeans and tied knots in the ends of the legs and then inflated the jeans by opening the waist and pulling the legs under water. Talk about a thaumaturgist, or miracle worker. Luckily, the brothers were rescued after being adrift for over three hours. What’s a word for the fear of becoming physically exhausted? Kopophobia!
Germany is known for fast cars, and zee Autobahn, the country's system of seemingly speed-limit-free federal highways. However, recently a proposal to impose universal speed limits on the Autobahn is causing outrage among car-loving Germans.
There is a movement by the Green Party in Germany to begin restricting the speed on the Autobahn in order to lower emissions and reduce accidents. And accidents on the autobahn often result in multi-car pile-ups. This is the dreaded “stau” where you can be stuck for hours.
Call me a pusillanimous poltroon, but I think I would be a little frightened of driving along at over 100 miles per hour. A pusillanimous poltroon is a spiritless coward. Hopefully, the two sides can come to an agreement that will satisfy both the speed demons and the pusillanimous poltroons. What’s the German word for a partnership? A Vennootschap!
Did you hear about the diver who was almost swallowed by a whale? Rainer Schimpf, a South African dive tour operator was swimming near a bait ball, designed to attract sharks when all of a sudden everything went dark. A whale had come along and scooped him up along with a mouthful of sardines from the bait ball. Rainer was gasperated, but tried to remain calm to see if the whale would release him. Talk about waiting with bated breath:)
Fortunately, the whale was likely as displeased about the situation as he was and spit him out after a few agonizing moments. That’s enough to give you thalassophobia or fear of the sea! It sounds like a gollywhopper of a tale, but it was all captured on film by a photographer on a nearby boat. Believe it or not, the diver who was spared the belly of the whale has a son named Jonah!
Television in America is turning 75 this year. Visitors to the World’s Fair in New York in 1939 were amazed to see moving pictures and hear sound coming from a small black-and-white screen built into a large wooden box! And then they were stunned to learn this technological marvel could soon be in their own living rooms!
The invention of television named after Latin and Greek words meaning “far-sight” dates even further back. Patented in Germany in 1884, TV sets were sold commercially in several countries beginning in 1928. The German word for TV is Fernsehen.
America watches more television than any other country in the world followed by Poland. Zenith introduced the “Lazy Bones” remote control in 1951, giving birth to generations of couch potatoes. In Britain, another word for the television remote is the smibbly bibbly!
Students come up with some pretty creative excuses for turning in their homework late. One student explained to his teacher that they wanted to wait until they were older and therefore wiser, so they would be able to do a better job. Another explained that he was aware that teachers are overworked and underpaid, and having to grade more assignments just added to the problem. I guess he felt he was helping out. What’s a word for telling artful lies in a convincing way? **Mendaciloquence.**
Of course, there are the usual excuses like “the dog ate my homework” or “my printer wouldn’t work”, but one of the more creative explanations given to a teacher was that "the police cut power to the neighborhood to carry out a drug bust, so I couldn’t use my computer." What’s a word for a comical fib? A **skiddledinger!**
Just like baby names, pet names are often inspired by current pop culture. According to data collected by Banfield Pet Hospitals, character names from the Marvel movies were super influential this year. Marvel fans gave their pets names like **Storm, Wolverine, Drax, Groot, Rocket, and Loki.** Among some more creative names for dogs are Twai**Sherlock Bones, Bark** **Twain, Chewbarka, Droolius Ceasar and Winnie the Poodle.** In the United States, the most popular names for dogs are Charlie, Coco, Daisy, Bailey, Lola Molly, and Sadie. **Cuttycrumb** is an old Scots word for the sound of a purring cat. And when your dog or cat curls up in a ball to sleep, that’s called a **kreesal**, a word used to describe an untidy bundle of clothes. What’s a word for smelling something by sticking your nose in it like a dog? **Snowking.**
It’s been said that Slang is language with its sleeves rolled up, but who knows? The words we call slang today might just end up in the dictionary tomorrow. Throwing shade is slang for disrespecting someone, and being jelly is short for jealous. Dime or dime piece is a word for a very attractive person, in other words, a perfect ten!
People hang out with their squad or peeps. Bae, an acronym for “before anyone else”, is short for boyfriend or girlfriend. And ship is short for relationship. If you’re woke you’re on top of current news and events. If you’re, on fleek you’re fashionable, and trill is short for true and real. Of course, I love new words so it’s all good or Gucci!
Valentine’s day is approaching **wiki wiki** **.** Are you ready? Valentines Day, or as some men call it extortion day, is celebrated around the world. In Malaysia, women write their phone numbers on oranges and throw them into the nearest river. They hope that the person of their dreams will find the fruit and call them.
You’ve heard the term “putting lipstick on a pig.” In Germany, the pig represents luck and love and is often featured on Valentines Day cards and gifts. The number of marriage proposals on Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas proposals! What do you call a poor guy who makes extravagant proposals of marriage but never gets a yes? A gamomaniac! Sixty-four % of men do not make plans in advance for Valentine’s Day. What do you call the act of falling in love with a schnook when you ought to know better? Anaxiphilia!
You must admit, there's no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap:) Did you know the professionals cooking up your favorite pie/ have developed their own language when it comes to pizza? Tip Sag is what you get when the pointy end of your pizza starts to droop. This most often occurs with topping-heavy pies like Neapolitan-style pizzas/ with generous helpings of fresh mozzarella piled on top!
Pizza chefs often refer to anchovies as guppies or smellies. The terms penguin food and carp are also heard in some pizza kitchens. Mutz is simply a quicker way of saying mozzarella and slices of pepperoni are often called flyers reportedly because of the way they are tossed around on top of the pizza like Frisbees. But be careful with a pizza that’s loaded with toppings or you could experience an avalanche. An avalanche is what occurs when all the toppings slide off your pizza as soon as you pick it up:)!
Rocco, an African grey parrot has learned to use Amazon’s Alexa to shop. Rocco's owner Marion Wischnewski told the Daily Mail that she was shocked when she discovered packages arriving at her home that she didn’t order!
It turns out Rocco had been using Alexa to order up his favorite snacks including watermelon, raisins, and broccoli. African grey parrots are known for their ability to mimic human speech and the name Alexa has become a regular part of his vocabulary. Apparently, Rocco has logorrhea or likes to talk incessantly and Alexa picks up on it and places the orders.
Marion says she doesn’t want to keep Rocco from expressing himself, but she does have to check the shopping cart and delete any items he may have inadvertently ordered. What do you call a person or a parrot who loves to hear themselves talk? A popinjay!
Did you hear about the moose that wandered into a hospital in Alaska? The gaberlunzie moose was able to get into the building through the lobby doors which were frozen in the open position. The moose chowed down on some of the plants in the warm lobby before exiting the hospital the same way it got in.
A moose is the largest member of the deer family and can weigh up to 1500 pounds. Moose have wide hooves that act like snowshoes allowing them to walk on top of the snow. Moose can have antlers that span up to 5 feet and weigh over 65 pounds! A baby moose is called a calfmoose or a mooseling!
Hopefully, the moose didn’t suffer any ill effects from eating the houseplants in the hospital lobby, but I guess if he did, he can always take an Elk-a-seltzer:)
Recently a New Jersey man struck gold, metaphorically, while eating lunch at the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant in New York. While enjoying some delicious oysters, he was startled when he bit down on something hard. He thought he had broken a tooth or lost a filling, but instead discovered the mysterious juggernaut was actually a pearl.
Pearls, also known as Oyster fruit are very rare and are the only precious jewels created by an animal. Shobi-Shoji is a term used to describe the shineyness of a pearl.
Executive chef of Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant Sandy Ingber said that in his 28 years at the restaurant, this was only the second time a diner found a pearl in their meal. Experts say the pearl could easily be worth anywhere between 2 to $4,000 dollars. Not bad for a meal that cost less than 15 dollars:)
What’s another word for an unexpected gift? A lagniappe.
A New York Post study states that women sleep better next to dogs than their human partners. Of the 962 women living interviewed, 55 percent of them said they slept better with a dog in their bed. What’s another word for a soft and cuddly dog? A woopert.
The study found that dogs were less likely to wake their owners in the middle of the night than cats or humans as well. What’s a word for the fear of cats? Galeophobia.
In England, taking a nap is sometimes referred to as kipping. A three dog night is a phrase used by Australian Aborigines, which means “a night so cold you will need to take three dogs to bed with you to stay warm”.
First dogs steal our heart, then they steal our bed. Does anyone else tell their pets when leaving the house “I’ll be right back, or is it just me?”
A French theme park is using trained crows to pick up trash and dispose of it into wastebaskets! Puy du Fou Park located in France’s western region was experiencing a litter problem. But instead of hiring humans to police the trash, they were able to train Rooks, a type of crow to do clean-up duties.
The perspicacious Rooks have turned picking up trash into a game as everytime they collect and drop some litter in the trash bin, they receive a morsel of food as a reward. Perspicacious (pərspəˈkāSHəs) means keen or intelligent.
The park is now much cleaner than before the employment of these Sapient or resourceful birds and visitors who enjoy watching the Rooks as well. Now that’s something to crow about!
If you like Kentucky Fried Chicken, how would you like to enjoy it in the bath? I’m not talking about taking a bucket of chicken to the tub, but the colonel has just introduced a new KFC bath bomb! There’s nothing better at the end of the day than taking a long soaking bath in hot and bubbly, fried chicken scented goodness. What’s another word for a great idea? **Unkabogable!**
The bath bomb comes in the shape of a drumstick, so you know exactly what you are getting before you soak in the delectable scents of 11 herbs and spices! This is not KFC’s first foray into chicken scented products. Past offerings included fried chicken sunscreen, chicken scented candles, and fried chicken flavored lip balm! One caveat to all this chicken scented fragrance is you might develop **opsomania,** that’s a constant craving for a certain food to the point of madness!
We use a lot of slang names for parts of the body, but many of these terms have very old origins. A shnozz, another name for your nose, dates back to the 1940s. You may have heard some people refer to your mouth as a rattle-trap. This term originated in the 18th century and is especially applicable to someone who won’t stop talking. The clapper is a 17th-century word for your tongue and refers to how it moves back and forth like the clapper inside a bell.
Dew-beaters is 19th-century slang for your feet, alluding to someone knocking the dew off the grass as they walk. The word was also once used to mean a pioneer or an early riser—namely someone who started their day before anyone else. And sometimes after a big meal, you might have a case of the trillibubs, mid-1700’s slang for a bloated belly.
My friend Celeste was devastated when the city said she couldn’t keep her pet pig in her Houston home. It caused quite a brouhaha.
Believe it or not, pigs make great pets. Pigs are perspicacious and with a little food encouragement, they can learn many tricks. Perspicacious is another word for intelligent. Pigs have very good memories and don’t forget easily. Pigs demonstrate emotional awareness and respond to the feelings of love, hate, and forgiveness.
Pigs are actually very clean animals, they will not go to the bathroom where they eat or sleep and since they don’t perspire, they just need some water to cool them down. Plus pigs are happy just horbgorbling around the house and yard.
When it comes to pigs, Winston Churchill said it best: “Dogs look up to man. Cats look down to man. Pigs look us straight in the eye and see an equal."
This year over 27 million people will be shopping for a live Christmas tree. In the old days, families would have to go out in the woods, search for that perfect tree and chop it down. But Christmas tree farms have made bringing home that beautiful tree as simple as going to the grocery store. But how did Christmas tree farms get their start?
In 1851, an enterprising logger from the Catskill mountains recognized the opportunity and hauled dozens of fir and spruce trees from his land down to New York City’s Washington Market. Customers were conjubilant with this new convenience and the trees sold out almost immediately. Even though the advent of Christmas tree farms has made it easy to have a real tree in your living room, you still have to deal with the diddledees. Diddledees are all the little pine needles that fall off under the tree.
This probably explains why 21 million people bought artificial trees last year made by Santa’s helpers…otherwise known as subordinate clauses!
Recently a traveler alerted an airline that she would be bringing an emotional-support animal on a flight from Orlando to Cleveland. What she failed to mention is that this particular animal would be so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Now that’s a bit twistical. Twistical is another word for not quite truthful.
Unfortunately, this caused quite a flapdoodle when she tried to board with her emotional support squirrel. When she refused to leave the squirrel behind, all the passengers had to deplane while security removed her from the flight. Not the best example of in-flight jettiquette.
The airlines were concerned the squirrel would get loose and wreak havoc on other passengers, perhaps even jumping from baggage bin to baggage bin Cirque du Squirrel-eil style. What’s a word for the fear of squirrels?(Sy-ur-ah-phobia) Sciurophobia
If you’re like me, this time of year your blood type is ‘pumpkin spice!’ Here are some sweet facts about Halloween Candy: The process of covering a chocolate center with hard candy like an M&M is called Enrobing!
Harry Burnett Reese named his chocolate-covered peanut butter cup after himself. Did you know that a dentist created cotton candy? In 1897 dentist William Morrison partnered with candy maker John C. Wharton to invent the machine that used centrifugal force to turn sugar into cotton-like strands! First named “Fairy Floss”, it was renamed cotton candy in the 1920s! I’d like to take a moment to extend a special thank you to all of our armed forces serving our country at home and abroad!
Did you know the average US worker spends over a thousand dollars a year on coffee? We seem to think that coffee will relieve the Storm und drang (shtoom oon drong) or the stress of life. I admit I love coffee, especially in the morning. If I don’t get my cup of Joe I can become quite a quaddler. A quaddler is another name for a grumpy person.
What’s another word for that first early morning yawn and stretch? Pandiculation. Starbuck was the name of the first mate of the whaling ship in the novel Moby Dick. I don’t think Captain Ahab needed any coffee, but do you think this is where the famous coffee company got its name?
A New Hampshire man Steve Geddes just made US history by growing a pumpkin so large it surpassed the record for largest pumpkin in North America! Presented at the Deerfield Fair in New Hampshire last month, his massive pumpkin weighed in at 2528 pounds! That was enough to break the record and win $6000 in prize money!
The word "pumpkin" appeared for the first time in the fairy tale Cinderella. A French explorer in 1584 first referred to the large orange gourds as "gros melons," which was translated into English as “pompions”. It wasn't until the 17th century that they became known as pumpkins. What’s the word for the fear of being turned into a pumpkin? Apopocolocynposis!
Have you heard the one about the horse that walked into a bar? No long faces, but recently in Chantilly France, a racehorse got away from its trainer and galloped into a nearby sports bar! What’s another word for a chaotic situation? Doobungus!
Fortunately, the horse was just a neigh-sayer and no one got hurt. It has been suggested that if you want to stop a racehorse from running, just place a bet on them! In the 16th century, “horse” was a common adjective describing anything strong, big, or course. Along with horseplay, that’s how horseradish got its name. The word Antilochus” as translated from Homer’s Iliad literally means “Hold your horses!"
Were you and your brothers and sisters competitive when you were growing up? A new study by the University of Cambridge shows sibling rivalry can be beneficial for children’s growth and maturity. In fact a little good old wrangling and Argy-bargy can boost mental and emotional development plus enhance their social skills. Even the taradiddles or little white lies, that kids tell are part of the learning process.
Parents of little ones needn't be too concerned, even if the donnybrooks get worse as the children get older. Donnybrooks is another word for quarrels. Here’s a shout out to all of the older siblings that were used as tester kids so we younger sibs could get away with things you would have gotten in really big trouble for:)
Dr Claire Hughes, whose new book “Social Understanding and Social Lives” says "The more combative quabbles siblings have, the more they are learning complex lessons and bouncebackability!
Did you know that in Germany you can get a ticket for running out of fuel on an autobahn? In Cyprus, it’s illegal to eat or drink while driving a car. I guess if you get a case of phagomania, it’s best to pull over. Phagomania is another word for insatiable hunger. In Moscow you can get fined for not keeping your vehicle clean. And that’s the whole car, not just the license plates!
Japanese motorists are considered among the most polite drivers in the world. And when it comes to obeying the speed limit, the Swiss seem to do the best job. That might be because in Switzerland speeding is considered a criminal offense, even if it’s just a few miles per hour over the speed limit. What’s a word for someone who gets worked up over trivial things? A microlipet.
As a visual language emoji has already far eclipsed hieroglyphics, its ancient Egyptian precursor which took centuries to develop. The word emoji is directly translated from Japanese, with the E meaning “picture” and “moji” meaning “character”. What would you guess is the most used emoji in the emojictionary? Of the 5 billion emojis sent daily around the world, the face with tears of joy is used the most! In fact, The Oxford Dictionaries “Word” of the Year 2015 was😂, aka face with tears of joy!
Many people use emojis as a kind of shorthand, or if they want to express emotion, but can’t find the words, or are in a hurry. What’s a word for the inability to concentrate due to being in a rush? Aprosexia. I’m thinking if emojis had been around in Tolstoy’s day, it would have been possible to finish reading War and Peace in about twenty minutes.
America is home to many towns with wacky names. Estately, a real estate resource for potential home buyers, compiled a list of some of the strangest. How would you like to live in Scratch Ankle, Alabama? Or Goobertown Arkansas?
Or if you want to live in the Bluegrass state, there’s always Monkeys Eyebrow and Possum Trot, Kentucky.w I don’t think I would want to live in Goofy Ridge, Illinois or Slickpoo, Idaho. Other address choices are Yeehaw Junction, Florida, Braggyville, Massachusettes and Zipperlandville, Texas. But if I had to choose between Ho Ho Kus New Jersey or Bucksnort, Tennessee, I think I would say Wynot, Michigan?
My husband and I were sitting by the fireplace at our cabin in Colorado when we were startled by a bright-eyed chipmunk who scampered in front of us from the back of the sofa. Although he was cute, we weren’t too happy he found his way into our house. A male chipmunk is called a buck; a female chipmunk is called a doe, and a baby chipmunk is called a kit. A group of chipmunks is known as a scurry.
The little nut smugglers are diurnal, in other words, they only come out during the daytime. Chipmunks seem to have (FAG-oh-MAY-nee-uh) phagomania or insatiable hunger. These pudgy-faced charmers have an omnivorous diet primarily consisting of seeds, nuts, fruits, and buds. However, they have been known to eat insects and other arthropods, small frogs, worms, and bird eggs. What’s a word for having large projecting teeth? Gubbertushed!
Did you know that in Missouri, it is illegal to drive with an uncaged bear in your car? Or drive with a gorilla in your car in Massachusettes? How about to ride a camel on the highway in Nevada? Here are some other crazy laws brought to you be the randomtocracy of the US legal system.
While there aren’t any whales in Lake Erie, it’s still illegal to go whaling on Sundays. This blue law — a law prohibiting mallemaroking on Sundays — likely went on the books in the 18th century, presumably because it wasn’t known at the time that whales don’t swim in Lake Erie. Mallemaroking is a word used to describe the drunken exchange between sailors on a whaling ship.
Another blue law that sounds absurd: it’s illegal to walk the streets of Alabama with an ice cream cone in your pocket on Sundays. Apparently, eating ice cream on Sundays was prohibited way back. I guess some people loved ice cream so much they were willing to hide it in their pockets. That’s the scoop, but you might get so cold with ice cream in your pocket that you get spumonia:)
What does your hen scratch or penmanship say about your personality? A graphologist or handwriting analyst might say you are bungdungerous or outgoing and friendly if you write with big letters that spill outside the lines. Conversely, very small handwriting can suggest that someone is introverted. An emotional and creative person might sneak some (mal-if-u-ous) malifuous or graceful, loopy letters into their cursive. If your script has been compared to chicken-scratch, take it as a compliment. Many influential artists and thinkers throughout history were known to have borderline-illegible handwriting.
When our son’s messy handwriting was brought to his attention in third grade, he explained to the teacher that his dad was a doctor. The teacher told me she had a hard time not laughing. Cacography or messy handwriting may be a result of your brain producing thoughts faster than the hand can transcribe them.
The Iowa State Fair is known for its over-the-top food and with nearly 200 concession stands, this year’s vendors are urging fairgoers to make room for dessert. The strange wave of entrée-themed goodies includes ice cream nachos, brisket mango tango, and beef sundaes. What are other words for junk foods? Lubberwort and Geedunk!
Vendors began experimenting with chocolate chip cookie dough a few years back and it became very popular with fairgoers. This year's newest show stopper is cookie dough spaghetti, a dish that can rival any fried concoction. Cookie dough spaghetti noodles are topped with Italian chocolatier (Ferro Ferrero Rocher Roshay) chocolate "meatballs," while the red sauce is substituted with a strawberry dessert sauce.
Yaffling means to eat or drink noisily or greedily, and this cookie dough spaghetti is made for Yaffling! There are more than 80 food options on a stick at the Iowa State Fair. And most of them messy! What’s another word for messy food? Maw-wallop!
When you were young, did your mother call you in for dinner or supper? Historically, the word dinner was associated with the largest meal of the day, regardless of whether it was served in the morning, afternoon, or evening. What’s another word for a dinner fork? A Flabbernackle!
Supper stems from the Old French word souper, meaning an evening meal, and it was generally lighter than other meals throughout the day. In the evenings it was tradition to serve soup and the act of eating it was referred to as supping.
A linguist might be able to guess what region of the country you live in based solely on what you call your evening meal. Supper is more commonly used in Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. But dinner is by far the more popular term nationwide. (I guess it’s not as romantic to go out for supper and a movie? What’s a word for an excellent dinner (or supper) conversationalist? A Dipnosephist!
There are coffee houses in Russia where the lattes are free, but you pay for the time. A Russian entrepreneur named Ivan Meetin has introduced a new concept in coffee houses where customers pay for the amount of time they spend in the establishment rather than the food and drink. The café in Moscow is called Tsiferblat, which means Clockface Cafe in English. So far his new business model for coffee houses has been a huge success as several franchises have now opened up in London and Manchester.
Patrons are greeted at the door with dobryden which means good afternoon. The time is noted upon arrival and then customers are handed an alarm clock that serves as a table marker and a reminder that they are “on the clock”. Upon leaving, customers pay for the time spent and say spasibo which means thank you. It’s an interesting concept. Which would you rather pay for food or time?
On a recent trip to Colorado, I looked out the window of our cabin one morning and saw four beautiful horses. Three of them were standing perfectly still like statues, not even swatting flies with their tails, while the fourth was eating grass. I realized the three were sleeping standing up. The method by which horses stand while sleeping is called the “stay apparatus" and it’s a system of ligaments and tendons that keep them upright with relative ease.
Horses use the buddy system for sleeping, where one horse watches over the others while they’re snoozling.The role of watch-horse will rotate as each member of the herd gets the sleep they need. Horses are also known to snore. Other words for snoring are stomatolalia, sternutation, and snuffling!
Where did the saying ‘don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ come from? Equestrians can often determine a horses health and age by looking in its mouth. Therefore, if someone gives you a horse and you look in its mouth it’s almost the same as looking for the price tag!
It’s summertime, and you know what that means: attack of the mosquitoes! Other names for the mosquito are gallinipper, katynipper, gabber napper and galliwopper. A quote from the 1906 book The Parson’s Boys asserts that gallinippers are so-called “because at each ‘nip’ they took a gallon!” Mitsy is a deceptively cute shortening of mosquito that might be heard in Ohio! Mossie , another abbreviation, is primarily Australian slang for this annoying insect.
If you’re in Virginia and hear someone complaining about cousins, they might have annoying relatives—or they might just be talking about mosquitoes. Why do they call mosquitos cousins? “Because they are so many and they stick so close,” In Florida you might hear a mosquito referred to as a swamp angel and in Illinois, mosquitos are sometimes called drill bugs. But whatever you call them, all this begs the question, “Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitos?"
People in Pennsylvania might refer to you as a snoopy if you are a picky eater. Shark bait is another term Pennsylvanians use to describe beachgoers who are very pale. Every state has their own unique slang words and recently created a definitive list. Hawaiians sometimes greet each other by saying shaka which means hello. Poho is Hawaiian slang for a waste of time. And a hot minute is what Alabaman’s call a long time.
A goper is a derogatory term folks in Colorado use to describe a beginning skier. When I first moved to Alaska, the natives called me a cheechako, which means a newcomer. And ayooper is someone who was born in the upper peninsula of Michigan. If you travel to Rhode Island, you should try an awful awful. That's not a typo, its what they call a tasty milkshake. And ring-tail-tooters?A southern colloquialism that refers to folks who are mischief-makers.
Independence Day
This week we will be celebrating independence day with barbecue, beer, and fireworks. Did you know Americans consume about 150 million hot dogs on the 4th of July? 4.4 million American flags are imported each year, mostly from China, along with $324 million dollars worth of sky candy or fireworks. Fireworks come with some creative names like Migraine, Big Fat Hissee Fit, Grounds for Divorce and Perfect Silence. The term, dud, is an acronym for a dangerous unexploded device.
Stackerworks are the two-stage fireworks that after exploding, it emits showers of sparks that explode again. A rapid successive detonation of fireworks is called Bouquets and Fountains. As we celebrate our independence I would like to extend a special thanks to all of our American Forces stationed at home and abroad for their service to our great country.
Recently a tanker truck hauling melted milk chocolate toppled over on a highway in Poland, coating six lanes of traffic in delicious sugary goo. The chocolate was so thick that first responders left footprints in the muck, and heavy machinery had to be brought in to scrape it off the roads. Some drivers continued on their merry way, spreading streaks of chocolate for miles. Crews raced to clean up the chocolate before it hardened on the road. The driver of the truck suffered a broken arm, but fortunately, no one else was injured.
The scientific name for the tree that chocolate comes from is theobroma cacao, which means "food of the gods." The word "chocolate" comes from the Aztec word "xocoatl," which referred to the bitter, spicy drink the Aztecs made from cacao beans. The Aztec emperor Montezuma II drank more than 50 cups of chocolate every day. It takes an almost a full year for a cocoa tree to produce enough pods to make 10 standard-sized Hershey bars!
While most Australians speak English, people from the land down under have invented some unusual words and phrases all their own. Aussies are down to earth people and speak with colorful expressions such as “His teeth are so crooked he could eat an apple through a tennis racquet .” That may sound a little mean, but it’s considered fair dinkum in Australia!
In Australia, an outdoor grill is known as a barbie and clothes are called clobbers. If something is terrific, it’s a ripper and candy is referred to as lollie!
French Fries are "chips" and potato chips are crisps. Men are blokes and women are sheilas, and someone who is a little crazy is known to have a few Kangaroos loose in the top paddock!
A randomtocracyis a society that lives by a system of laws and rules that seem to have been thought up by wackadoos! Did you know that in New Zealand, it’s illegal to fly in a hot air balloon with a rooster? In Finland, traffic violation fines are calculated as a percentage of the offender’s income. In 2002, the director of Nokia got a $12.5 million dollar speeding ticket. While that sounds like foogazey or nonsense, I heard lawmakers are considering this idea in America as well.
In Denmark, parents have to pick their baby’s name from a pre-approved list of about 36,000 names. Of course, you can apply to get an unauthorized first name approved. In Germany, office buildings cannot be built unless all the rooms have a window. And in Quitman, Georgia, chickens are really not allowed to cross the road. The law came about to make farm owners take better care of their animals. What are some other words for crazy? Rajbongo, yelzabob, and kerbatzoes!
Every culture has a unique way of greeting people. Romantic cultures such as Latin America and the French share the custom of greeting people with a kiss whether they know them or not. What’s another word for kissing? Osculating! In Tibet, sticking out your tongue is a perfectly acceptable greeting. This custom is rooted in the story of an evil king who’s tongue was black. By showing someone else your tongue you are proving you are not the reincarnated evil king.
Eskimo kissing or rubbing noses is a way to show affection in Arctic climates without exposing one’s mouth to the freezing cold temperatures. The Inuits call this a kunik. In the Philippines, elders are greeted by taking one of their hands gently and pressing it on your forehead. They call this gesture mano, which is “hand” in Spanish, and it’s used to show respect.
I’m having a little trouble getting my brain in gear today, so I thought you might like to know some interesting facts about the human brain. The average human brain is the size of 2 clenched fists and weighs about 3 pounds! According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world’s heaviest adult human brain weighed 5 pounds one oz. and the world’s lightest brain weighed 1 pound, 8 oz!
The average number of neural synapses in your brain is 60 billion, and most people start out with over 100 billion neurons which are the cells that transmit information. Neurons are capable of transmitting at over 200 miles per hour! What’s a (Hawaiian) word meaning ‘really fast’? Wiki Wiki! It’s a good thing we start out with so many because we lose over 85,000 neurons a day from lack of brexercize , that's exercise for your brain! Alcohol consumption also contributes to brain cell loss. What’s a word for indulging in fun and foolishness? Dogberryism!
Because I have a hard time remembering street names, I tend to use landmarks when giving directions. But here are some REAL street names that would be pretty hard to forget: How would you like to live on Psychopath Road or Dumb Woman’s Lane? What about Divorce Court, Slack Bottom Road or Toe Jam Hill? What’s a word for having a tendency to forget names? Lethonomia! Tickle Tongue Road, Booger Branch Road, and Woman Hollering Creek Road are all roads I don’t want to go down. In New Jersey, the folks in charge of naming roads must not have been able to decide on a name for what is now known as No Name Street. What’s a word for the inability to come to a decision? Hypobulia!