The intriguing, compelling and beguiling vocabulary thread

another fave:

Syzygy

  • a conjunction or opposition, especially of the moon with the sun.
    "the planets were aligned in syzygy"
    • a pair of connected or corresponding things.
      "animus and anima represent a supreme pair of opposites, the syzygy"
 
When I used to teach young kids in public school band class, I'd always end the period with a quick puzzler. For instance, "Opera" is a plural word. What is the singular? (The answer is "opus"). This was before the ability to google on phones..

But here's a word puzzle for all to participate in-

We have a word in our language with nine letters and only includes one vowel. It's not some far-out word, and there are no "y's". We all know it and could use it easily in sentences everyday. What is that word?
 
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Figured it out. I’ve been playing Wordle every day, so my mind is working that way. A hint: it’s a plural.
 
These two, in their time, probably woulda been considered carpet ruminants had they a few more stomach segments. They certainly liked to anoint carpets with... well... various bodily effluvia. :confused:

 
I'm never quite sure how many instances of the letter "i" to put in that gerund that means "the act of sliding around on a pair of skis".

And speaking of gerunds...
Lightning.
What is the verb form of lightning? If it's doin', you know, that flashy/boomy stuff outside... is it Lightninging? Lightningning? Lightning? Lighting? Lightening?

Oh, and don't get me started on participles.
 
Speaking of interesting words: I've always felt that bookkeeping has got it goin' on.
b - double-o - double-k - double-e -p - i - n - g

Oh, and then there's facetiously - the only word in English I know that contains all of the vowels in alphabetical order, even including that sometimes-y. :)

Oh, these are wonderful times in which we live!

 
Jimmy Carter's version of the US gov't paid good $ in the form of various kinds of financial aid for me to learn all them highfalutin* words -- so I try to repay the kindness whenever possible. :smoke

Ruminant is just one of those intrinsically funny words**. I liked to refer to Chevy Luminas (Luminae?) as Chevy Ruminants. :confused: :rolleyes:

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* While falutin is clearly a vector quantity, we rarely see mention of things that are lowfalutin.
** cf. prune, weasel, and chainsaw.

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Dilbert Comic Strip on December 21, 1989
 
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