Turpitudinous Tourons
The Word Collector — Part 32
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.
apotheosis — This word turned up in “Perfect Wives In Ideal Homes” by Virginia Nicholson, which Mrs Pearce is reading, and I shall make no further comment on her choice of book, as I am already skating on thin ice. The word is a noun meaning the highest point in the development of something; a culmination or climax, or the elevation of someone to divine status. So the opposite of being in the doghouse…..
turpitude — a noun meaning depraved or wicked behaviour or character, this word was also used in “Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes”, probably reserved for husbands who forget to put the bins out, or come home with a book when they know perfectly well that further books are banned.
touron — this is a recent neologism that I had not seen before, and made me smile. It stands for “tourist acting like a moron”, something which we have probably all seen examples of. It was used by RC Hammond, in the following article:
More about tourons from Wikipedia:
The following example of touron behaviour should only watched if you have a head for heights:
aptronym — an aptronym, aptonym, or euonym is a personal name aptly suited to its owner. The term is attributed to Franklin P. Adams, a writer who coined it as an anagram of patronym, to emphasise “apt”. According to Frank Nuessel, in “The Study of Names”, an aptonym is the term used for “people whose names and occupations or situations have a close correspondence. Examples, of which there are many, are the famous runner Usain Bolt, Chris Moneymaker, an American poker champion, and Margaret Court the Australian tennis player.
agora — meaning “market” in Modern Greek, this was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state’s response to accommodate the social and political order of the polis. The literal meaning of the word “agora” is “gathering place” or “assembly”. The agora was the centre of the athletic, artistic, business, social, spiritual, and political life in the city. The article in “The Guardian” in which I saw the word, quotes Will Jennings, who writes on architecture, as saying:
“I’m a Londoner……so I don’t really hang around Trafalgar Square very much. But it is our national central public agora.”
derecho — after listing “medicane” in the last article in this series, Medium author Matthew Clapham mentioned another type of wind I had not heard of, which is apparently like a twister but goes in a straight line, a direct wind you might say!
Henoch–Schönlein purpura- also known as IgA vasculitis or HSP, is a disease of the skin, mucous membranes, and sometimes other organs that most commonly affects children. In the skin, the disease causes palpable purpura, often with joint pain and abdominal pain. Being married to a health visitor, my ignorance of such medical conditions is frequently exposed.
To hew — this has two meanings, first the one probably most used, which is to make cutting blows, as with an axe. Alternatively, it can mean to conform or adhere to something, as in “to hew to tradition”, and often used in the phrase “to hew to the official line”. It is the second of these two meanings that was new to me, and turned up in an article on the BBC News website, about how Elon Musk acknowledges the need for X (the social media cesspit formerly Twitter) to obey local laws, saying:
“If we don’t obey local government laws, we will get shut down so the best we can do is to hew close to the law in any given country, but it is impossible for us to do more than that or we’ll be blocked and our people will be arrested.”
zebrano — The name zebrano, or zebrawood, is used to describe several tree species and the wood derived from them. Zebrawood is characterised, you guessed it, by a striped figure that is reminiscent of a zebra. The name originally applied to the wood of Astronium graveolens, a large tree native to Central America. The word turned up in a fascinating article about a man who, after a lifetime in mainstream employment, has taken up crafting wooden flutes and cases in his retirement:
pelagic — an adjective meaning relating to the open sea; chiefly of fish, inhabiting the upper layers of the open sea. Often contrasted with demersal, of a bird, inhabiting the open sea and returning to the shore only to breed. This word was spotted in a BBC feature about rare American birds being blown off their migration course, and turning up in the Scilly Isles, off the coast of Cornwall (UK).
sepulchral — this word is used in the book “Borderland: A Journey Through the History Of Ukraine” by Anna Reid which I am reading, and employed rather unkindly to describe the capital city since it means relating to a tomb or interment, gloomy or dismal, though she was referring to its past appearance rather than modern-day Kyiv.
stevedore — I had heard this word before but wanted to check by looking it up, and it refers to a person employed at a dock to load and unload ships. Also from “Borderland”.
kvass — a fermented cereal-based low-alcohol beverage with a slightly cloudy appearance, light-brown colour, and sweet-sour taste. Kvass originates from Northeastern Europe, where grain production was considered insufficient for beer to become a daily drink. Also from “Borderland”
curlicue — in the visual arts, this is a fancy twist, or curl, composed usually from a series of concentric circles. It is a recurring motif in architecture (as decoration to the lintel or architrave above a door), in calligraphy, and in general scrollwork. The word can also refer to a specific kind of origami, made out of a single strip of paper that can be transformed into many geometric shapes. It was used in “Borderland” to describe the shape of the keys in an old-fashioned shop till seen by the author Anna Reid.
etiolated — an adjective meaning, of a plant, pale and drawn out due to a lack of light; having lost vigour or substance; feeble. Also from “Borderland”.
Surzhik — this refers to elements of two or more languages, artificially united without observing the norms of the literary language, non-standard language, or pidgin. Surzhyk often implies the Ukrainian-Russian pidgin used in certain regions of Ukraine and the neighbouring regions of Russia and Moldova. Also from “Borderland”.
iconostasis — a screen bearing icons, separating the sanctuary of many Eastern churches from the nave. Also from “Borderland”.
capon — a male chicken that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and in some countries fattened by forced feeding. Also from “Borderland”.
Echo — We were staying with my daughter last weekend, who has a rather fearsome whippet/Staffie crossbreed dog, of which I am trying to overcome my fear, and we got into a conversation over where the beast’s name comes from. Echo was a character in Greek mythology, who fell in love with Narcissus, but was unable to speak of her adoration, so could only observe him fall in love with himself. Certain politicians spring to mind.
echolalia — keeping with the echo theme of the last word, echolalia is the often pathological repetition of what is said by other people as if echoing them — think Tory backbench MP. This word was seen in “The Observer” newspaper.
prickle — there are some rather lovely collective nouns, and this one, for a group of hedgehogs, is one of them. I saw the word in a Facebook post, about someone who has rescued a hoglet (as baby hedgehogs are known). If you also enjoy such collective nouns, you may also like a rhumba of rattlesnakes, a mess of iguanas, an army of caterpillars, a nest of rumours, a gang of elks, a huddle of walruses, a bed of clams, a crash of rhinoceroses, a shiver of sharks, a murder of crows, a horde of hamsters, and a kindle of kittens!
cruciverbalist — another great word, meaning a person who enjoys or is skilled at solving crosswords which will hopefully apply to the readers of this series with all the new words you are learning! Seen in an article in “The Guardian” newspaper.
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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