What is the most obscure word that you can find?

OK...an odd oblivion? Not really...

This is a direct quote I got from my Political Science book, which is a quote out of a political scientist's book...understand? Anyway:

"Government, as we have seen it, attempts to mold public opinion towards the programs and policies it espouses."

Espouses? What is that? Then I find out that it's directly relates to spouse, meaning the policies the government takes up are being described with a word having to do with marriage? Huh?

agape - it means love for fellow 'man'.

sleeken?

Take your pick

Callipygian - adj - having well formed buttocks.
Clamjamphrie - n - Low, worthless people. A rabble.
Rhopalic - adj - of text, in which each word has one more letter than the one which preceeded it. (eg I do not make mandy shiver lustily )
Acclusal - n - a boring dead end (derived from acclusium, the Roman name for Macclesfield)
Lalochezia - n - the use of foul or abusive language to relieve stress or ease pain.
Zenzizenzizenzic - n - the eigth power of a number (derived from the Italian word censo, and literally meaning "the square of a square of a square")

(btw - One of those words I just completely made up)

Dictionary.com didn't have an entry for acclusal OR zenzizenzizenzic.

I like your Rhopalic sentence hehe. Might be an idea for a survey...

autochthonous: indigenous

Zenzizenzizenzic is a real word. It's just obsolete, and hence doesn't appear on dictionary.com.

You can however read about it here:
http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-zen1.htm

Acclusal, and it's accompanying definition is a completely fictitious.

quomodocunquize: To make money by any means possible
or
misodoctakleidist: Someone who hates practicing the piano
or
vexillologist: A collector of flags

I like the idea of a Rhopalic survey.....you should do it!

Yeah, it might go down well. "Rhopalic" also means text where each word contains one more syllable than the previous word. That might be easier to do.

zek - inmate of prison labor camp

Rablator- A violent man.
Rectalgia- Pain in rectum, or Pain in the Ass.

Obscure.

that's a cool word...

http://phrontistery.50megs.com/

I looked it up. I liked the sounds of it.

anagogical: interpretation of a word, passage, or text (as of Scripture or poetry) that finds beyond the literal, allegorical, and moral senses a fourth and ultimate spiritual or mystical sense.

hapax legomenon : a word or form occurring only once in a document or corpus.

I don't know, because I don't know if the other people have the same perception and knowledge of English language as me. I'd say the most obscure meaning of the word is the archaic meaning of word 'usher', which was the assistant teacher, but again, I am not sure.

I wouldn't say I have a favorite, but here's a site just for lovers of obscure words.
http://www.kokogiak.com/logolepsy/

cacodemoniacal

I LOVE YOU

THE SITE IS GREAT THANKS

Omphaloskepsis - noun - contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation.
Inexpugnable - adj - Impossible to overcome or overthrow by force.
Borborygmus - tummy rumbling
Innuance - noun - the point on a graph or chart where it is impossible to distinguish a momentary 'blip' from a potential upward trend.
zythepsary - noun - A brewery (derived from Zythum, an ancient Egyptian malt beer)

One of those is made up too.

codpiece: a flap or bag concealing an opening in the front of men's breeches especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Do I know you?

Some of these are quite cool:

Quidnunc: gossipmonger
Quaggy: boggy, soft or flabby
Quaquaversal: directed out in all directions from a common centre.

That's not obscure! Well, not if you had to learn about the Tudor kings as often as I did.... Many (rich) Tudors like Henry VIII even had metal codpieces built into their armour.

I first encountered the term nearly twenty years ago when I dated a woman who sometimes wore one. It looked like the sort of thing I would associate with harlequins.

A woman wearing one? Seems a little odd as it must be harder for a woman to wee out of it than it is for a man! Unless it was just for show....

conniption
fit of violent emotion, such as anger or panic. Also called conniption fit.

flaucinaucinihilipilification - the act of estimating something as worthless.
omphaloskepsis - contemplating one's navel
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconeosis - a miner's lung disease

Like I said, it was like a harlequin kind of thing. The exact image of it is a little foggy in my mind, but as I recall, she had some red corduroy pants with some sort of pattern that she had made herself, and she had some material left over so she made this kind of belt with a long pointy thing that hung down the front, maybe 9 inches wide at the belt, and coming to a point just above the knee. It had a little stuffing in it.

Can you kind of picture it?

...and yeah, it was entirely "for show".

I can just about picture it Sounds like a *big* codpiece!

Yeah, at least it wasn't one of those ones that sticks up!

I really need a gritted teeth and sucking in of breath emoticon!

Quidnunc? I've mentioned that on another survey. I don't like it all, it just sounds ugly to me.

Now 'quisquilious', that's a nice word.

By the way, did I ever tell you about the word games I used to play (back when I worked for an American company)?

I think quidnunc is a great word - I have plans to do great things with it

Don't think you ever told me about the word game. I'm all ears.

Do you really think you would need it that often?

With some of the folk at SC? Quite possibly.

Well, back when I used to work for Perot Systems we used to play a few tricks on our American associates. When you're working for an American company with an account in the UK, it's common practice for them to send over some of their folks if there's a big project on and there's a temporary requirement for extra bums on seats. The only catch is, they tend to send over the people they can 'spare' if you catch my drift.
We'd tell them that wild Haggis roamed the Scottish moors and could only be caught by experienced trappers. Or that the Haslet was a small deer with stumpy legs native to Sherwood Forest. Sometimes we didn't have to do anything, they did fine on their own. One woman got to England and then went into the local Police station to ask the duty clerk how she should go about shipping her gun over to the UK now she was over here. Another guy walked into Burtons and told the shop assistant that he needed some new suspenders and a belt.
I can't remember exactly who came up with the idea of word games, but it was based on the observation that a lot of the project managers didn't have a brilliant vocabulary and had a charmingly predictable need to not appear stupid. You were often stopped during presentations to clarify a word that you thought was fairly obvious and once you'd told them what it meant invariably got a, "Yes, yes of course. Carry on".
So naturally someone got the idea of just making up bogus words. The rules of the game were then formulated pretty quickly. If ever someone was about to give a presentation in which a member of the management team (American, of course) would be present then the object of the game was to use a word which didn't exist (but had a perfectly plausible definition and context). You won the game if the American then used it later on in the same context. Distemporise was a good word used in this game. It means to look at the big picture, and then focus in on a small area. Obviously all the British folks were in on it, so the only thing they had to do was keep a straight face. The prize was generally a free curry the next time there was a night out.
The other variation of the game was to use valid English words but in completely the wrong context. Redolent was the best word for this because although it was means fragrant, you could make it mean practically anything.

Heh heh heh

"Lalochezia" - I like that....
Don't you ever fudging screw up one of my fudging surveys with your fudging made up words fudging again!!!
....ahhhh! I feel so much better now!

autochthonous

A very popular word in Canada. Our native peoples are called like that all the time here. Calling them Indians is a mistake and don't they let us know it!

I have an ex-brother-in-law who is a quomodocunquizer (or is it ...zist?) He's got money on the brain all the time...

I like the idea of a rhopalic survey too!

Zek? Where the heck did you find that one?? In Quebec, we have what we call "Zec" usually meant as an area reserved for wild game hunting, fishing, camping or all of those activities. Do you have the etymology of the word?

My boss is a real rectalgia!!

Hmmm... Good one! How about; "blind"?

Krystal would like that one!

Ah! Good one! I really like the etymology of words too! It's a common enough word but it has come to mean something else so its original meaning is now obscure!

Well... I added that one to my favorites!!

I didn't find the word "akimbo", it's not really that obscure, as I see it in text often enough but I've never heard it spoken but by me!!

You devil you!

I loved the site too but I didn't see your choice of obscure words!

I hate borborygmus! Sounds so animal like! Can't control it like farts!

I think that "zythepsary" is your made up word! (I know a lot about beer drinking - Cheers!)

Sounds smelly!

All good! Since you were in the "Q" section, do you know the etymology of the word "quiz"? Comes from your part of the world too!

No Biggles, our warriors were mostly naked! And cod was a natural resource of the Eastern part of Canada!!

Don't knock it; my old aunt is a real quidnunc!!

Oscar? Is that you? Hmmm... I think I asked you this before... The same Oscar when ... Phoebe... (let me rinse my mouth out!) was around??

flaucinaucinihilipilification: self explaining word...
omphaloskepsis - icurok came up with the same word!! I guess it just has become less obscure right on this site!! (I thought that it would be a great word for KrystalRose too!)

*snicker* >

I'm glad you liked the site!

discombobulated

I knew someone would know a Rectalgia.

http://phrontistery.50megs.com/

I looked it up. I liked the sounds of it.

Nobody uses autochthonous in the US. I come across it some in the scholarship I read, but it's not a popularly-used word.

A couple of guys made a bet that one of them couldn't introduce a new word into the English language. The guy went out an chalked it up over walls everywhere and everyone was talking about what the new word meant

Blind
adj
1) Sightless.
2) Of, relating to, or for sightless persons.
3) Performed or made without the benefit of background information that might prejudice the outcome or result: blind taste tests used in marketing studies.
4) Performed without preparation, experience, or knowledge: made a blind stab at answering the question.
5) Performed by instruments and without the use of sight: blind navigation.
6) Unable or unwilling to perceive or understand: blind to a lover's faults.
7) Not based on reason or evidence; unquestioning: put blind faith in their leaders.
8) Slang. Drunk.
9) Lacking reason or purpose: blind fate; blind choice.
10) Difficult to comprehend or see; illegible.
11) Incompletely or illegibly addressed: blind mail.
12) Hidden from sight: a blind seam.
13) Screened from the view of oncoming motorists: a blind driveway.
14) Secret or otherwise undisclosed: a blind item in a military budget.
15) Closed at one end: a blind socket; a blind passage
16) Having no opening: a blind wall.
17) Botany. Failing to produce flowers or fruits: a blind bud.
n.
1) used with a pl. verb) Blind people considered as a group. Used with the: a radio station for reading to the blind.
2) Something, such as a window shade or a Venetian blind, that hinders vision or shuts out light.
3) A shelter for concealing hunters or nature photographers.
4) Something intended to conceal the true nature, especially of an activity; a subterfuge.

adv.

1) Without seeing; blindly.
2) Without the aid of visual reference: flew blind through the fog.
3) Without forethought or provision; unawares: entered into the scheme blind.
4) Without significant information, especially that might affect an outcome or result: “When you read blind, you see everything but the author” (Margaret Atwood).
5) Informal. Into a stupor: drank themselves blind.
6) Used as an intensive: Thieves in the bazaar robbed us blind.

tr.v.
1) To deprive of sight: was blinded in an industrial accident.
2) To dazzle: skiers temporarily blinded by sunlight on snow.
3) To deprive of perception or insight: prejudice that blinded them to the merits of the proposal.
4) To withhold light from: Thick shrubs blinded our downstairs windows.

You're right. That's a pretty dang obscure word!

I have plans to make a rhopalic survey soon.. so watch out for that one.

Zythepsary is actually genuine. Innuance was a word I came up with for one of *those* meetings

When did Phoebe leave?

Yeah, I know. There is a lot of words we mis-use in every day language. For excample 'intelligent' comes from Latin verb intelliger (or whatever its infinitiv is) and it means to undestand.

She came back as Confetti and did not hide the fact - she gave Bill a story about being stalked on the net and wanted to change her name. Since I had not been around as much, I didn't know her until I read her replies and recognized her right away! I didn't like her nasty streak so I just avoided her then one day, she announced her good-by in the forum. That was a good day for me! I really didn't care for her manipulations, I felt cheated to the point of dropping the site... I feel that most people who visit SC regularly are true to whom they represent.... Well, I am anyway! Glad to have you back!!

Interesting site; I just discovered that I'm of the zaftig type!

I think Americans and English Canadians use the term "Native American". In Quebec, the French "Autochtone" sounds better than the translation of Native American...

I knew the story Biggles, I was just checking if you did! I know I mentioned this word before because I thought that its origin was so unusual. Words sort of evolve from one thing or another but this one was planted and remains in use! Amazing! (I read this story in "Strange Stories and Amazing Facts"!)

Just like obscure!!

adj. •scur•er, •scur•est 1. Dim; dark; dusky; gloomy. 2. Not clear to the mind; vague; abstruse. 3. Faintly marked; hard to discern; undefined. 4. Remote or apart; hidden from view or notice; hence, little known; lowly: obscure birth. - v.t. •scured, •scur•ing 1. To darken or cloud; dim. 2. To hide from view; conceal. 3. To make unin.... blah, blah, blah.... for a couple or more paragraphs!!

Innuance - After looking a the definition, I should have known but the word is too similar to the French and English word "nuance" with an "in" prefix; it could be a lack of nuance!!

That reminds me of a regularly used word; "irregardless" - a little redundant huh? I've heard this word used in business meetings and on television!! People just don't get the innuance of it!!

Well, one's understanding of such things shows one's intelligence, doesn't it??

Good word. Rubinesque is beautiful!

Lol

Irregardless isn't used regularly in the UK. It's a nonsense portmanteau word of 'regardless' and 'irrespective' that originated in the US. As equally silly to us Brits as saying "I could care less" when you really mean "I couldn't care less".
Although, I'm sure there's plenty of words in the English language with redundant prefixes. Inflammable springs to mind.

Oh and by the way... thankyou for your maternal instincts

I was just proving that I knew it, rather than just going "Oh....yes...yes....of course...." It's a great origin!

Main Entry: flam·ma·ble
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin flammare to flame, set on fire, from flamma
Date: 1813
: capable of being easily ignited and of burning quickly
- flammable noun

When did the "in" happened? It totally confused me when I was a kid - it's the same in French too!

"I could care less" I never noticed that one, I've don't say it but probably understood the intent when I heard it. Now that you pointed it out to me; I'm sure that I'll notice it in the future!

I'm there for you anytime you need a *hug*!

Oh... I must have meant "statuesque"! (Well I used to be anyway!! )

It's also a fun word - if you're into quizzes!

You, know; I don't think that could ever happen again. I mean introducing a new word with no meaning that way, it would need to have a definition from the start and as we already have the word quiz... I wouldn't work. New words are happening all the time like "net-meme" and etc.. but they mean something from the start.
Hey! Wanna make a bet??

Hmm, I wonder.....The hardest thing would be to find a word that didn't exist in any language, and that didn't just look like a mis-spelling of a word in any language!

My husband and I tried that about 15 years ago; we came up with the word "strop". It sounded good to us! No dice... It was already taken! It's not as easy as it seems - quiz really was a stroke of genius!

As far as I know, it's just a confusing part of our latin heritage. There is actually more than one in- prefix that comes from latin and each one means something different. There's the 'in' that means 'not', like inexact, and there's also an 'in' that means 'to cause to be', like incite and inflame. That's why flammable and inflammable mean the same thing, and why companies are discouraged from using the word 'inflammable' on warnings as it causes obvious confusion.

French is a latin based language and it contains words such as "inexacte", "injuste" too, so the word inflammable is just as confusing there.
I just remembered an equally confusing word (that is, if you break it down); intensively - comes from the word "tense" and there is such a word as "tensive". It's like inflammable, the "in" means "more" or "cause to be". Even the latin word is "flammare": to flame - where and when did the "in" happen?? (I can't find "flammable" in my dictionaries - Funk & Wagnalls, The Collins Robert Fr/Eng Dictionary - I found it only in M-W OnLine).
Intoxicated - there's another one! It's starting to look like inflammable is the only one that causes confusion, it may be because the word flammable exists?

Strop is a great word. I, um, had them a lot when I was younger......

...uh, did you shave a lot??

It's not easy making up a new word - try it. It has to sound English, meaning you can't use too many strange combinations of the lesser used vowels and consonants of the alphabet.

Eh? Is there more than one meaning? I meant I used to throw strops - be stroppy

Ummmm......drick? Looks like it's taken in German...

Drick? You must give it a definition.

Strop:
a : a short rope with its ends spliced to form a circle b : a usually leather band for sharpening a razor

The funny thing was, the definition we had given "our word" was a leather belt used for punishment... Maybe reincarnation really exists and the word came from our latent memories!!

I didn't give it a definition since it's already taken...

It's hard huh?

Yep!

I can't think of any.