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Posted By: Anonymous agathokakological - 02/01/01 05:18 PM
tsuwm has outdone himself today.... what a magnificent word!!

of course, M-W couldn't make heads or tails of it (they inexplicably wanted it to be "echocardiographic"), so i googled it and came up with the most amazing word list (so amazing, in fact, that i wasted my entire morning on it and have precious little time left to AWADize before i must be on my merry way to the mall). it's a aptly self-described "list o' nifty words", complete with definitions.

here's the link, but make sure you have some time on your hands (unless, of course, you are tsuwm, in which case it'll read like a primer):

http://stommel.tamu.edu/~baum/skb_dict.html

bridget=)

Ipsa scientia potestas est ~Bacon
Posted By: tsuwm Re: agathokakological - 02/01/01 05:27 PM
ol' skb (steve baum) and I are on intimate terms (as these things go). his list is absurd.

actually®, one of his major sources is _Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Obscure, Unusual and Preposterous
Words_ of which I have an actual hard copy.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806504986/qid=981052278/sr=1-1/ref=sc_b_1/107-8715971-6468564

p.s. - one of steve's current projects is to find *on-line citations for all of the words in his list. good luck to him on that!!

Posted By: Alex Williams Re: agathokakological - 02/01/01 08:25 PM
What a great list! I love "a verbis ad verbera" (from words to blows).

"Abscotchalater" is equally cool. It sounds like it could describe one who has absconded with a bottle of scotch, but in fact means "one in hiding from the police." It is also a funny sounding word, perhaps because of the several hard consonants. It's like something that might come out of the mouth of one of those hard-nosed but very well-spoken British criminals in a Guy Ritchie film.

Thanks for the link; I've bookmarked it for further enjoyment.

Posted By: Hyla Re: agathokakological - 02/01/01 09:40 PM
Reminds me of a word one might use to describe our new administration in Washington: kakistocracy - government by the worst people. [deeply sorry to have possibly started another political debate but had to say it emoticon]

Posted By: Marty Re: agathokakological - 02/01/01 10:04 PM
Is she a friend of yours, AnnaStrophic? When will we see the first posting by Agatha Kakological, I wonder?

Posted By: Anonymous Re: agathokakological - 02/01/01 10:45 PM
BTW, just in case there's anyone here with whom i've interacted that still remains unconvinced that i'm a hopeless nerd, this outta do it:

I've printed out that entire word list and plan to commit them all to memory whilst i bask in the Jamaican sun next week.

[dorky smile emoticon]

bridget=)

Ipsa scientia potestas est ~Bacon
Posted By: tsuwm Re: Mrs. Byrne - 02/02/01 03:22 AM
an interesting aside to the eponymous Mrs. Byrne -- her full name is Josefa Heifetz Byrne, the daughter of violinist Jascha Heifetz. according to her book's dustjacket blurb, she "allowed her hobby of collecting odd words to sidetrack her career as a concert pianist and composer." imagine that....

Posted By: Jackie Re: Mrs. Byrne - 02/02/01 12:03 PM
Tsuwm--your redoubtable Mrs. Byrne is Heifitz' daughter?? Ohmygosh, no wonder it's so good! Can I get her dictionary at the bookstore?

Posted By: jmh Re: Mrs. Byrne - 02/02/01 02:13 PM
>she "allowed her hobby of collecting odd words to sidetrack her career ..."

Yes, I see what you mean. It sounds spookily familiar ...



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