NO WORDS LEFT BEHIND

These words may be dead and gone, but they once had vigorous and productive use in their day. I found a few to play with to see if they could still be fun to have around today.

Deliciate
Verb intr. – To take one’s pleasure, enjoy oneself, revel, luxuriate –
“Whaddya say we just pull all the plugs, shut off the devices and just deliciate in some peace and quiet for a change?”

Corrade
Verb trans. – To scrape together; to gather together from various sources –
“I don’t really write a blog, I just corrade stuff , then cut, paste and post.”

Kench
Verb intr. – To laugh loudly – “Every time I go see my son do Stand-Up Comedy, I hope the liquor isn’t watered down and there are at least 3 or 4 serious Kenchers in the audience."

Ludibrious
Adj. – Apt to be a subject of jest or mockery – “If Romney hadn’t taken that vacation with his dog strapped to the roof of his car he’d just seem more ludibrious than detestable. ”

Sanguinolency
Noun – Addiction to bloodshed – “Maybe guys like Rumsfeld and Cheney aren’t so bad and are just suffering from chronic sanguinolency?”

Jollux
Noun - Slang phrase used in the late 18th century to describe a fat person – “ That Governor Christie, he’s quite the “jollux” ain’t he?”


Malagrugrous
Adj. – Dismal – This adjective is from Scots and may be derived from an old Irish word that refers to the wrinkling of one’s brow. “Have you seen the Knicks this year? Are they malagrugrous or what?!”

(May have to update this one soon if Jeremy Lin continues to lead the miraculous turn-around)

Brabble
Verb – To quarrel about trifles; esp. to quarrel noisily, brawl, squabble – “OK senators, if you don’t stop that ridiculous brabble and do something useful, I’m taking away your Super PAC money and you’ll have to go find a real job”

Jargogle
Verb trans. – To confuse, jumble–
Not to jargogle the facts Mr. Gingrich, but wasn't it you who once said: "I'm not a natural leader. I'm too intellectual; I'm too abstract; I think too much.” ???

Freck
Verb intr. – To move swiftly or nimbly – “If you’re flying, with a connection to make in another city, you better friggin freck through that airport.”

Bibesy
Noun – A too earnest desire after drink. – “The Bar Mitzvah service lasted five hours…even the Rabbi looked like he was getting a little bibesy.”

Quagswagging
Noun – The action of shaking to and fro – “ The only thing I don’t like about my dog is when she comes in from the rain and soaks me from all that Quagswagging."

Brannigan
Noun – A drinking bout; a spree or ‘binge – “Wanna go to Bennigans for our brannigan on Friday?”

Perissology
Noun – Use of more words than are necessary; redundancy or superfluity of expression– “Sarah Palin's perissology reached a new high when she recounted Paul Revere’s famous ride by saying: ‘He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.’ “

Hoddypeak
Noun – “A fool, simpleton, noodle, blockhead” –
“ Are those hoddypeaks debating again?”

Illecebrous
Adj. – “Alluring, enticing, attractive” – “ At first she seemed quite illecebrous, and then I saw the ‘Who would Jesus Bomb?’ bumper sticker on her car.

Scriptitation
Noun – A 17th-century word meaning “continual writing” – “Bloggers don’t have to bother to think, they just do their scriptitation knowing that no one is reading anyway.”

Widdendream
Noun – A state of mental disturbance or confusion – “ I told the meter maid that I would have put money in the meter, but the directions on the sign put me into a widdendream. “

Yemeles
Adj. – An Old English and Middle English word meaning “careless, heedless, negligent” – “ I Left my wallet at home, couldn't find my phone, had no idea where I parked the car ...oy, what a yemeles day! ”


HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO CONSTRUCT (IN CLASSIC SYMMETRY) A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? IT’S HARD. REAL HARD. HARDER THAN SPELLING CRUCIVERBALIST.

cru·ci·ver·bal·ist (krs-vûrb-lst)
n.
1. A constructor of crosswords.
2. An enthusiast of word games, especially of crosswords.

Been reading a little about the history of this relatively recent form of sedentary recreation and among other things discovered that:

The first example of a crossword puzzle appeared on September 14, 1890, in the Italian magazine Il Secolo Illustrato della Domenica. It was designed by Giuseppe Airoldi and titled "Per passare il tempo" ("To pass the time").



On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne,a journalist from Liverpool, England, published a "word-cross" puzzle in the New York World (see inset) that embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. Later, the name of the puzzle was changed to "crossword"

The Wikipedia Entry (where I found the above) is quite extensive and even technically comprehensive.






And this is new Cruciverbalist star Brendan Emmett Quigley
from Brookline Mass. He has a blog, www.brendanemmettquigley.com,
which features a new crossword puzzle three times a week.

BTW: Been a bit disappointed with NY Times Sunday puzzle for last few months, but last Sunday was a good one.
I struggled for a while and couldn't decode the meaning of the theme...and then when I got it, all I could think was that my sister Debby probably got it sooner. But no need to call and ask her, cause I'm positive she did.

Just got done with another annual Television Critics Association confab where Networks present their upcoming shows and plans for the year ahead. It’s mostly a dog and pony show but there’s occasional spontaneity when the show creators and stars engage in Q&A sessions with the critics. And this year Larry David almost made it worth all the long hours of tsuris and prep that the worker bees here in NY gotta go through to produce it. He was there with David Steinberg and Tim Conway to talk about Steinberg’s new show Inside Comedy. A critic opened the session by asking: “ What is Funny?” Larry David rolled his eyes then looked right at him (the moment was captured in photo here) and said…”Are you really asking me ‘what is funny’? Are you out of your mind? ” The critic tried to recover and said…” I mean, is it hard to talk about comedy intellectually?” And David shot back…”Yes! Yes it is! It’s very hard! It’s hard to talk about anything intellectually.” It was like watching a Curb episode beginning to unfold in real time with David losing it over a simple (but nevertheless infuriating) annoyance. The amazing thing is that nobody laughed--the critics didn't get the irony of the moment. David settled down after that, but that critic didn't open his mouth for the rest of the session.

The reaction from the political right to the Clint Eastwood Chrysler commercial on the Super Bowl is super insane. They’re calling it political. Calling it veiled Pro-Obama propaganda. HUH? It was Bush who launched and approved a 60 billion dollar bail out of the Auto Industry—(Chrysler got 12.5 billion and has paid back all but 1.3 billion) Karl Rove was right there in the middle of it and defended it and now he’s crying foul on this ad and accusing the Obama administration of collusion with the industry for political gain. Say whaaaaah? It’s a commercial. It’s intended to sell cars. American cars (okay, not all made in USA, but there’s no turning back on that in any industry). Is it the drugs he’s taking? The drugs we’re taking? I don’t even follow this stuff particularly closely but I remember the bail-out like it was yesterday…because historically speaking-- it was yesterday.