These came across the ole mailbox the other day. Several have found their way into my everyday discussions.

What others should we list?

1. AQUADEXTROUS (ak wa deks' trus) adj. Possessing the ability to
turn the bathroom faucet on and off with your toes.

2. CARPERPETUATION (kar' pur pet u a shun) n. The act, when
vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a
dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then
putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.

3. DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the piece of candy you
dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow
'remove' all the germs.

4. ELBONICS (el bon' iks) n. The actions of two people manoeuvring
for one armrest in a movie theater or airplane.

5. FRUST (frust) n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept
onto the dust pan and keep backing a person across the room until he
finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.

6. LACTOMANGULATION (lak' to man guy lay' shun) n Manhandling the
"open here" spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort
to the 'illegal' side.

7. PEPPIER (pehp ee ay') n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose
sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want
ground pepper.

8 PHONESIA (fo nee' zhuh) n. The affliction of dialing a phone number
and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.

9. PUPKUS (pup'kus) n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog
presses its nose to it.

10.TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay' shun) n. The act of always
letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even
when you're only six inches away.

Dear Cheneng 1992: One tiny quibble. There ought to be a printable word for the annoyance of taking a vacuum apart to get out string some inconsiderate person was too lazy to pick up.

One word I saw recently which I've had, sadly, many occasions to use is DESTINESIA. A buzzwhack word, maybe? Anyway,

DESTINESIA is the condition of arriving at one's destination having forgotten why you are there.

DESTINESIA is the condition of arriving at one's destination having forgotten why you are there.

Oh, a synonym for existential angst?

A word that I coined I want to see become popular is etrahation. It much better describes the present learning system than does education. From the Latin, "trahere," to drag or pull, NOT "ducere," to lead.

etrahation. It much better describes the present learning system than does education.

Sad but true. Geoff, you have no idea how much I wish I could disagree with your assessment, but I can't.

a new word that is needed in NY is one to replace gerrymandering.

a few years ago, after a very, very, very questionable election district was drawn, (mine, state assembly, actually), the state actually passed a law, that specifically prohibitted gerrymandering.

Now, manhattan is being redistricted, and the NYTimes has been carefull not to use the G word, but has defined some districts as looking like they were drawn by a child with impared hand/eye coordindation.

Manhattan is about 3.5 miles wide, and 13 miles long. the district in question is less than 1 mile wide, (except in 2 places, and 10 miles long...two other districts "wrap around it.. (each about .5 miles wide and 5 miles long, along side, and each with a "block" at the end (think of a flag shape; One upright and one inverted, only the "flag pole is crooked, in each case!)

but these districts are not gerrymandered! couldn't be, its against the law!
(my state district in order to follow state law, that requires districts to be contiguous..ran over a bridge, and was only contiguous at low tide! it covered 3 state counties, the coastline of Westchester, the Bronx and Queens counties! it was the one that provoced outlawing gerrymandering.)

This is all very liff-like.

My son used to play with "Construx". They were a building block toy and he used to call the sheet that showed him how to build trucks and bridges the "construxions". Not bad for a four year old! [proud momma-e]