At The Book of Everyone, we enjoy finding weird curiosities and facts about the world. Recently, we've been looking for the weirdest words that you probably didn't know existed for our #wordnerd series on Facebook.
Let us know which ones you knew or didn't!
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Daisy
I remember being informed once that Daisies were named so because they look like the Sun.
Load More Replies...I actually learned this from the leader of a nature walk in Marin County.
Audio And Video
But since Latin v's are pronounced as w's, you say wideo if you wanted to say it in Latin
That would be the reconstructed Ancient Roman pronunciation, but there are three other rival schools. Later came the northern Continental European, then Italian Church Latin, followed by today’s English method, which would be to pronounce the V as in Victor. Unless you vant to talk like a Wampire.
Load More Replies...August Horch was a car manufacturer in Germany at the beginning of the last century. His name "Horch" or German for "listen" was already recognized as a brand and he had to change the name of his company, so he opted to use the latin verb for Horch (listen) the cars are now known under the name: "Audi"
Gymnasium
Oh geez, might be a bit too much flopping around for me, but interesting fact.
Interesting little brag embedded in your post...
Load More Replies...Because the original gymnasium was some sort of sports court - and ancient greek men always exercised naked.
Ancient Greeks apparently also participated in the Olympics naked as well. So why not exercise naked.
Load More Replies...in greece they are called that too. the first 3 years are gymnasiums, the next 3 lycium
Load More Replies...And because the gymnasion was where all the young boys were going, it was also the place where philosophers would hold their lessons. Thus it also became a place of learning. In German to this day "Gymnasium" is the term for a secondary school akin to a US college preparatory school.
Geez, I'd be exercising a whole lot more . . . to see and be seen . . .
Dutch Feast
Hell, that's every holiday. You gotta be drunk to host my family get togethers
a song by RAPEMAN, to get drunk, to start a fight...
Load More Replies...it's really bothering me that not all of the letter t's look the same
Sometimes I regret growing up Lutheran, boring parties, people eating too much and then making snide comments about someone else's weight, and so on. The uncle who could stuff himself, several times, because he never gained weight really got on everyone's nerves, too. A good drunk or two would have livened things up considerably. But no mean drunks, of course, just happy ones.
Doryphore
“Pest control? There’s a wild doryphore at my school.”
Load More Replies...There should be a colon instead of a hyphen after the word 'doryphore'.
In French it also refers to the insect that keep infecting the potatoes!
that's my email address: The Grammar Policeman!
Load More Replies...E
Not surprised, I noticed when doing Codeword puzzles that you always have a lot of E's in them
Girl
so that's why my teacher will say "alright girls" every time he starts class
Bluetooth
Me too! I loved stories about vikings and pirates when I was a child so when I heard about Bluetooth devices I was sure that it was probably a viking reference. Also the symbol used for Bluetooth is a viking rune. :) https://fabrikbrands.com/bluetooth-history-and-the-bluetooth-logo/
Load More Replies...Many words actually comes from Danish (or old norse) for example arm bread birth bull calf cow crawl die drag egg farewell harbour hit horse (specificly the Jutland peninsula) husband knife knot land law leg loan loft low man ride root ship sister skill skin skirt sky starboard time weak white window wise And wrong
Did he refuse to speak to anyone new, if he wasn't officially disconnected from the previous guy?
"can't talk right now, I am connected to the Swedish ambassador", 'but he left two weeks ago?' , "maybe he's coming back..."
Load More Replies...The symbol is also the combination of H and B in the style of Viking ruins.
Acnestis
No one’s going to scratch your back if you fling this word at them...
Ok, but if I ask someone to scratch my acnestis, I'll probably get slapped
BEHOLD! .... The ACNESTIS-INATOR ! https://youtu.be/wufl53J6XJg 085CD984-9...9-jpeg.jpg
Thank you for the link! *throws herself next to that machine*
Load More Replies...It’s so satisfying! Always in the exact right spot and super scratchy.
Load More Replies...Bully
As an adjective it means terrific or excellent, like “bully pulpit” or “bully for you”
So when people say. Don't be such a bully, they are technically saying, don't be such a sweetheart?!?!
It also used to mean mate or friend. If you listen to some of the old sea shanties, 'bullies' refers to the singer's shipmates.
Cappuccino
I read that too fast and it registered as Capuchin monkey, which I guess also works. 8F7DB85E-8...0-jpeg.jpg
It does! That's where Capuchin monkeys get their name too
Load More Replies...I've been there and it looks nothing like a cappuccino.
Load More Replies...I remember a joke I was told about a little girl who told the class that ‘cappuccino’ was named after the ‘coffee-coloured habits of the monks’.
Helvetica
That's also why the Swiss country code is CH, like on the rear of a car: Confederatio Helvetica, "confederation of the Helvetian tribes".
The Greek word for Switzerland is “Ελβετία” that’s read Elvetia (like Elvis).
Load More Replies...Asinine
And donkeys are so smart, too. Right now there is a crisis going on in East Africa because the Chinese want their hides for some sort of health supplement and they are being stolen and slaughtered at a huge rate. It's economic catastrophe for many and obviously horrific for the donkeys.
Why wouldn’t they just breed donkeys? Like any other animals people want hide and meat from?
Load More Replies...That assumption was just a bit asinine, (on the silly side of the definition).
Load More Replies...Not really. The latin name for a*s is Equs asinus. So they'd be equine like any other equus species. Asinine would be the equivalent of dog-ine, or catine. (And lets not get onto the whole "s" versus "ss" argument !)
Caprine for goats, ovine for sheep; similarly leonine and elephantine.
Atrate
...and every woman who looked like Audrey Hepburn and wouldn't date me...
Load More Replies...One of my colleagues here, Jet black long hair, black eye makeup, and always in a similar black outfit though at times she confuses dark blue for black, she's getting on in years 65 I believe. But still has that Madonna feel to her with bright lipstick, 2 different earrings and enough chains around her neck to choke a cow.
Baisure
Does this come from the French word "baiser" which means "to kiss"? Breads that kiss in the oven... I loaf this romantic idea! ;-)
Yes it does --- just like touching circles (to curves/surfaces) in maths are called 'osculating', from the latin word for kissing...
Load More Replies...Somebody had too much time on their hands. Wanna see my weenis? God that sounds dirty, but it aint!
Dulciloquent
don Quixote's love, Dulcinea. His horse was Rocinante. Literally "first nag"
Fun fact, "dulcinée" in French mean "my love"(for a woman)
Load More Replies...Floccinaucinihilipilification
I love that. Gotta use that on someone who thinks he knows it all and is better than everyone.
i think this is just one letter short of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious meaning something beyond wonderful.
Pandiculation
Oh, i see you are quite a pandiculator yourself, allow to make you some room Good Sir. Classy stuff when you know how to call it
Harlot
Magniloquent
I wish I had more occasions to use "bombastic" in every day conversations. I mean seriously! That is outstanding!
Billy Beecham Good for you that you'll look it up. (even if you grouse about it) It's so much easier now than when we had to haul out the big heavy dictionary. I'll take off one of your down votes.
bombastic deserves an entry on its own, as supposedly coming from the attitude of this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus
Lady Dulciloquent the Magniloquent Delinquent the Third. At your service
Muscle
For anyone wondering why: A cliché muscle has a thick middle part that tapers towards the tendons. Hence, it looks a little like the body of a mouse.
Also, the original comes from Greek, where μυς ( pronounced 'miss') means mouse.
Load More Replies...In Croatian as well. But in some dialects we distinguish the two words by accent.
Load More Replies...Janitor
Related in the sense that both refer to doors/gates (ianua in latin) --- janitor= doorkeeper; Ianus= god of beginnings and endings/passages.
Thanks for the explanation. How did you time travel?
Load More Replies...That makes since now why in some movies the janitor/cleaner is always a bigger part to play you just don't figure it out straight away
"Janitor" was the Latin slave who opened doors for people coming or going.
I wonder why the Jan-- I mean doorkeeper doesn't like us to call him Janitor?
As with so many words, the origin, the meaning had been lost, in this case replaced with lowly connotation. I remember ours at school correcting me; "custodian", he said.
Load More Replies...Mythomania
they even get elected to high office, in some nations....
Load More Replies...I was really looking for this word so i can describe my ex properly 😂😂😂
Host And Guest
latin "hospes" - guest, host, stranger. Also the root of terms like "hospital", "hotel" (from French hôtel) and "hostel"
Agelastic
Gelastos/γελαστός means someone who smiles/laughs a lot, so I guess if you englify the word it should be :)
Load More Replies...I knew someone kind and gentle, who would acknowledge with "that's funny" -but I never saw him laugh. Several people I know had parents with no sense of humor, but are themselves acquiring one.
Load More Replies...Bathos
wonder if anyone ever gave her a dictionary
Load More Replies...Give me a word, any word and I'll tell you the original Greek. Kimono....
Load More Replies...A wonderful example of bathos: passing wind while climaxing! Thanks to therealpixie! Adjectival form: bathetic
Buccula
This article needs a lot of work and some more explanation for many of them.
Love this sort of stuff. Much better than yet more cute cats or social media arguments.
I'd certainly welcome more word articles, but cute cats have their place, too.
Load More Replies...I wonder why some words change meaning over time. Hiw does a word go from meaning "bundle of sticks" to evenutally being derogatory ? (English F word) or from meaning happy to meaning turned on? Norwegian K word)
Most of these need more explanation or context. They seem to be edited down for the "surprise" factor . A lot of them are quite a stretch.
Hey, thanks for the feedback. All of these are part of a collection we have posted on our Facebook page over the last 2 years. Unfortunately, because it spans such a long time, it's difficult to go back to each one and find the explanation that we wrote up for each one - we'll definitely try to include more explanation in the next one, though!
Load More Replies...Helvètes is a french word that means : The Helvetii (Helvetii) are a group of Celtic peoples from the eastern end of Gaul established on the Swiss plateau (with Aventicum as its capital) when the Suevi were set in motion towards southwestern Germany at the beginning of the 1st century. century BC J.-C.
Good concept, needs more research and explanations. Being fluent in Greek, most of these were, well, words of my first language, and not very obscure at that.
This article needs a lot of work and some more explanation for many of them.
Love this sort of stuff. Much better than yet more cute cats or social media arguments.
I'd certainly welcome more word articles, but cute cats have their place, too.
Load More Replies...I wonder why some words change meaning over time. Hiw does a word go from meaning "bundle of sticks" to evenutally being derogatory ? (English F word) or from meaning happy to meaning turned on? Norwegian K word)
Most of these need more explanation or context. They seem to be edited down for the "surprise" factor . A lot of them are quite a stretch.
Hey, thanks for the feedback. All of these are part of a collection we have posted on our Facebook page over the last 2 years. Unfortunately, because it spans such a long time, it's difficult to go back to each one and find the explanation that we wrote up for each one - we'll definitely try to include more explanation in the next one, though!
Load More Replies...Helvètes is a french word that means : The Helvetii (Helvetii) are a group of Celtic peoples from the eastern end of Gaul established on the Swiss plateau (with Aventicum as its capital) when the Suevi were set in motion towards southwestern Germany at the beginning of the 1st century. century BC J.-C.
Good concept, needs more research and explanations. Being fluent in Greek, most of these were, well, words of my first language, and not very obscure at that.
