Astraphobic Badonkadonk

The Word Collector — Part 46

This is the latest in a series about new words and phrases, specimens collected during expeditions into the deepest, darkest literary and media wilderness, and displayed for your entertainment, elucidation, and enlightenment. These are new to me, but of course, you may know some or all of them already, in which case you are welcome to marvel at my ignorance, an inexhaustible seam of material to be mined. As a challenge, see how many you already know!

Astraphobia — from ancient Greek, a fear of lightning or thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, seen in this article by James Bellerjeau:

badonkadonk- this word turned up in an article by Robin Wilding, and in urban slang, it means a large and formidable posterior!

tilde — this word was seen in an article by Matthew Clapham -

A tilde is an accent (~) placed over Spanish n when pronounced ny (as in señor) or Portuguese a or o when nasalized (as in São Paulo), or over a vowel in phonetic transcription, indicating nasalisation; a symbol similar to a tilde used in mathematics and logic to indicate negation, inversion. From the same article –

bodega — a small owner-operated convenience store serving hot and prepared food, often open late hours. As an example, the New York City Department of Health defines a bodega as any store of sufficient size “that sells milk, meat or eggs but is not a speciality store (bakery, butcher, chocolate shop, etc) and doesn’t have more than two cash registers”.

orthographic — an adjective that means connected with the accepted way of spelling and writing words.

dilettante — as heard in the film “Oppenheimer”, a dilettante is a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge.

deprecated — seen on the Medium site to describe what has happened to the referred membership scheme. In this context, it means something that has become obsolete or superseded.

conniption — this is an informal noun meaning a fit of rage or hysterics. The word was seen in an article about writer’s block by Ben Ulansey

dysania — an extreme difficulty rising from bed or an inability to leave the bed. It may be a symptom of depression, hypersomnia, or other health conditions. From Susie Dent’s book “Word Perfect”.

ablaut reduplication — this is a strange feature of the English language: that we put vowels in a certain order in near-repeated words, such as ping pong, ding dong, Kitkat and zig-zag, rather than the other way round. The phrase was seen in Susie’s Dent’s boo, and the exact reason they only sound right when the vowel sounds are in this order, is subject to debate among linguists, and an article on the rule is below:

The Gartner Hype Cycle — This is a graphical representation of the lifecycle stages a technology goes through from conception to maturity and widespread adoption. The phrase was seen in a Medium article, and then in the way these things seem to work, I then saw it in several others.

GOTS — an acronym standing for Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which has a clearly defined set of criteria and is transparent. GOTS is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres, including ecological and social criteria, backed up by independent certification. The acronym was seen by Mrs. Pearce referring to an item of clothing: she holds a black belt in online shopping.

elegiac — an adjective relating to or characteristic of an elegy; wistfully mournful. The word was seen in the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn.

mater dolorosa -from Latin, meaning a sorrowful mother — used especially for depictions of the Virgin Mary grieving over her dead son. The phrase was seen in the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn.

“going gangbusters” — This expression was also seen in the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn. If something is going gangbusters, it is going strongly and doing very well. If someone comes on like gangbusters, they behave very energetically and sometimes aggressively.

tumbril — from the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn, tumbril is an historical noun, meaning an open cart that tilted backwards to empty its load, in particular one used to convey condemned prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution. Also means a two-wheeled covered cart which carried tools or ammunition for an army.

noctambulation — a stroll at night, or sleepwalking, which is also known as somnambulism, from the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn

enjambement– from the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn, it means, in poetry, the running over of a sentence from one verse or couplet into another so that closely related words fall in different lines.

Weimaraner dog– a dog of a thin-coated, typically grey breed of pointer used as a gun dog. The reference to this breed was seen in the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn

epicene– an adjective meaning having characteristics of both sexes or no characteristics of either sex; of indeterminate sex; effeminate; effete. From the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn.

faut de mieux– from French, translating as a lack of something better or more desirable. From the book “London Burning” by Anthony Quinn

I hope you enjoyed this collection, and do share any favourites of your own in the comments.

As always, thank you for reading.

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Previous articles from The Word Collector:

Part 45: Ergophobic Humdudgeon

Part 44 — Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic Longiloquence

Part 43 — Stravaiging Shiznit

Part 42 — Model Collapse And Dezinformatsiya

Part 41 — A Flapdoodle of rapid unscheduled disassembly

Part 40 — Mulesing, Merkins, Quislings, Tallywags And Refoulment

Part 39 — Blowing off the hinky cobwebs

Part 38 — A Dreich Case Of Psychoterratic Solastalgia

Part 37 — A Cockamamie Collection Of Highkey Zhuzh

Part 36 — Keggers, Kerning, Çay and Crickets

Part 35 — Murmuring judges and anhedonia

Part 34 — A-quomodocunquizing-borborygmus

Part 33 — Going Monk Mode In Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukaka­piki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu

Part 32 — Turpitudinous Tourons

Part 31 — Hurkle durkle, medicanes and misophonia

Part 30 — Immortal earworms

Part 29 — Government on the RAAC

Part 28 –Saved by a deus ex machina

Part 27 — Pre-Lapsarian Yakers

Part 26 — Fegans, Jorts, Rababs And Scotch Bonnets

Part 25 — Fissiparous Hegemony

Part 24 — Lollygag And Booktok

Part 23 — Patronymics And Samovars

Part 22 — Medium Is No Chronofage If YRMIRY

Part 21 — Everything Is Eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious

Part 20 — Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia And The Matthew Effect

Part 19 — A Nappuccino And Some Typo-Squatting

Part 18 — Yeeting Detritovres

Part 17 — An Inverted Pyramid Of Piffle On The Bed Of Procrustes

Part 16 — Having The Jones And Partisan Acrimony

Part 15 — Spycops In The Boondocks

Part 14 — Harlots, Stochastic Parrots, And The Devil’s Cufflinks

Part 13 — The Things We Make Exceptional

Part 12 — “Semper Fidelis” And Semantic Symbiosis

Part 11 — Heliophobic Hikikomori

Part 10 — Lenticular Clouds And Peque Peques

Part 9 — Big Red Boots And Nepo Babies

Part 8 — A Patina Of Smilies

Part 7 — Atavistic frou frou

Part 6-Mouth Breathers And Pearl Clutchers

Part 5 — The Lexophile’s Latest List

Part 4 — Revenge of the word collector

Part 3- An Etymological Extravaganza

Part 2- Return Of The Word Collector

Part 1 — A Moment In The Sun