- Fecund – adj. rich or fertile. Sometimes used in relation to intellectual facilities. Suggested usage: “Are you out of your FECUND mind?!”
- Pulveratricious – adj. dust-colored; dusty. An excellent idea for punning off this obscure word: “I had to fight a war of pulver-attrition through a bunch of ancient books on C-floor of Firestone to find what I wanted.” Alternatively, “Holy crap! Your attic is such a mess; positively pulver-atrocious!”
- Hot-doggery – n. behavior characteristic of a hot dog i.e. showing off, being “that guy.” I quite literally rofl-ed a little bit when I discovered this little gem in the one and only Oxford English Dictionary. Unfortunately, rofl (v. to be amused to the degree that one rolls on the floor laughing heartily) is not in the OED.
- Rastaquouere – n. Social interloper from a foreign country. Not as bizarre a term as you might think. Surely you’ve encountered one of those international students whose excessively sexy accent has the tendency to cause females to suddenly ignore you and swoon for them instead. Yeah, those guys… rastaquoueres…
- þé – art. The Old English spelling of “the.” Recommended for inserting at random iterations into your classwork/papers to throw your preceptors/professors for a loop.
- Theandric – adj. Pertaining to both human and divine. For instance, Jesus Christ. Alternatively, Chuck Norris.
- Bumbershoot – n. An umbrella. Supposedly American slang according the OED. One of the earliest recorded usages was in the New York Times on the 8th of May, 1909: “Pack up my outfit, Mollie darling, in the suitcase once again! Stow my sweater in the shawl strap with the bumbershoot and cane!” Ah, for the days of quality journalism…
- Mirifical – adj. Marvelous, astonishing, awesome. The OED notes that it is used humorously at times. I suspect that this derives from its etymology; an earlier spelling of the term was miri-fecal, the meaning of which should be readily apparent: Good s***.
- S*** – Before you gawk at the fact that such vulgarity finds place in such a classy column as this, I advise you to read the OED’s treatment of the word. It may be the most elegantly euphemized prose I have ever read. Kudos to the lexicographers who handled this one. As for the definition, in case you were not already aware, it is an often intransitive verb meaning “to void excrement, sometimes used in reflexive phrases.” Suggested usage: ill advised.
- Quedely – adv. Wickedly. Another one of those illusive Scrabble words that starts with a “Q.” Who cares if the last recorded use was in 1400; this word is quedely awesome, dude!
TZ Horton ’15 would like to know why Carly Rae Jepsen likes people to call her “Maybe” (what a bizarre nickname!).