Mitchell Symons - The Weird World of Words: A Guided Tour

Adelaster: meaning unknown star in Greek, this is the name given to newly discovered plants awaiting classification by botanists Aglet: the plastic covering on the end of a shoelace Aphthongs: silent letters (in words such as the k in know and the p in psychology) Armsate: the hole in a shirt or a sweater through which you put your hand and arm Bonnet: the cap on a fire hydrant Brannock device: the metal instrument used in shoe shops to measure feet Brassard: a band worn around the arm Buccula: a persons double chin Columella: the bottom part of the nose that separates the nostrils Contrail: the thin line of cloud that forms behind an aircraft at high altitudes Diastema: a gap between the front teeth Drupelets: the bumps on raspberries Epithalamium: a poem written to celebrate a wedding Eyes: the holes in Swiss cheese Ferrule: the metal band on the top of a pencil that holds the eraser in place F-hole: the S-shaped opening in a violin Fillip: the technical term for snapping your fingers Gambrinous: the state of being full of beer Griffonage: illegible handwriting Gruntle: a pigs snout Harp: the metal hoop a lampshade sits on IDEO locator: the you are here arrow on a map Jiffy: 1/100th of a second Keeper: the loop on a belt that holds the end in place after it has passed through the buckle Lalochezia: the use of swearing to relieve stress or pain Lemniscate: the infinity symbol Lunt: a puff of smoke, such as that produced when someone smokes a pipe Lunula: the white tip of the finger and toenail (because the end of the nail is rounded like the moon) Minimus: the little finger or toe Mucophagy: the consumption of the nasal mucus obtained from nose-picking Nemophilia: the love of spending time in forests. Nittles: the punctuation marks designed to denote swear words in comics Obdormition: when an arm or a leg goes to sleep as a result of numbness caused by pressure on a nerve Octothorpe: the pound key (#) Ophyron: the space between your eyebrows Pandiculation: the act of stretching and yawning Peen: on a hammer, the end opposite the striking face Pips: the little bumps on the surface of a table tennis bat Porcelator: the little hole in the sink that lets water drain out instead of flowing over the side Purlicue: the space between the extended thumb and index finger Rasceta: the creases on the inside of your wrist Rowel: the revolving star on the back of a cowboys spurs Saddle: the rounded part on the top of a book of matches Sillage: the faint trace of perfume left in the wake of a passing person Snarge: the remains of birds hit by airplanes in flight Tines: the prongs on forks Tittle: the dot above the letter i Toque: a chef s tall hat Tragus: the little lump of flesh just in front of the ear canal Truck: the ball on top of a flagpole Ullage: the word for empty space between the bottle top and the liquid Vamp: the upper front part of a shoe Vibrissae: a cats whiskers Walla: a sound engineers term for room noise Zarf: a holder for a cup or a mug without handles (There is no single word for the back of the knee.)

Stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand. The only fifteen-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable. If you mouth the word colorful to someone, it looks like youre saying, I love you. Just 1,000 words make up 90 percent of all writing.

No word in the English language rhymes with orange, silver, or month.Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters mtQueue is the only word in the English language to be pronounced the same way even if the last four letters are removed. Zenith, tariff