Tau Zero's Journal: You stopped using that word.

Occasionally I run across a disused word that mystifies and delights me, like an encounter with a fascinating stranger. Most often I run into it in print, but sometimes in other media.

Recently I was listening to some old Brit comedy and came across the phrase "... the sound of a tucket without." (Oh, all right, I'll tell you: Flanders and Swann, "Greensleeves".) I realized that I had no idea what a tucket was, so I looked it up. It's no wonder this was not a familiar word, as the sound of a tucket is certainly a rare thing in this day and age, especially outside Britain.

Another long-absent one is phthisis, which I found lurking in an article extolling idleness. (Hat tip: Zirnike.) I had a nodding childhood acquaintance with it as my father had performed the introduction in one of many impromptu lessons in etymology, but to run into it again after all these years was quite a surprise.

There are plenty more, but those two just happened to come to mind.

enigmas

[sillypixie]

My favorite is "lugubrious". Isn't that a great word? Fun to say, fun to read!

Pixie

No gnus is good gnus

[Tau Zero]

It's become so many people's favorite of late, it's almost quotidian. [m-w.com]

Say, is the landscape around there really THAT bad? ;-)

Re:No gnus is good gnus

[sillypixie]

Say, is the landscape around there really THAT bad? ;-)

Well, now that's for me to know, and for you to find out... SOON!!!!

[pixie hums smugly/happily to herself, and hits the submit button]

I was just thinking about my favorite words

[ekuns]

One of my favorite words is "indefatigable" which, once one figures out how to pronounce it, just rolls off the tongue. I first encountered it in the CD version of "War of the Worlds" [amazon.com] with Richard Burton. Which is awesome in its own right.

Cool.

[Zirnike]

Nice to know someone reads my journals. :)