The Lexiteria has announced the publication of The 100 Funniest Words in English by Dr. Robert Beard, AKA Dr. Goodword on the alphaDictionary.com website. This book examines what Dr. Beard considers the funniest of the 2500 words he has described and e-mailed daily to 200,000 people over the past 8 years.
Dr. Beard examines the pronunciation, meaning, usage, and history of each funny word, giving several creative examples of its use. Dr. Beard’s selection of the funniest words includes the likes of “absquatulate,” “bowyangs,” “collywobbles,” “gongoozle,” “hemidemisemiquaver,” and “snollygoster.”
The book not only discusses funny words, it does so in a funny style. The examples given for each word rely on a cast of characters developed by Dr. Beard in the alphaDictionary “So, What’s the Good Word?” series. They include the lady’s man Phil Anders, Robin Banks (who works for the accounting firm of Cooke, Books & Hyde), a clothes horse,Maude Lynn Dresser, her friend, Lucinda Head, not to mention their overly expensive lawyer, Susan Liddy-Gates.
Unique Words Around World
- MATA EGO Rapa Nui, Easter Island : Eyes that reveal that someone has been crying.
- NYLENTIK Indonesian : To flick someone with the middle finger on the ear.
- PANA PO’O Hawaiian : To scratch your head in order to help you to remember something you’ve forgotten.
- PAPAKATA Cook Islands Maori : To have one leg shorter than the other.
- BAKKU-SHAN Japanese : A girl who looks as though she might be pretty when seen from behind, but isn’t when seen from the front.
- POMICIONE Italian : A man who seizes any chance of being in close physical contact with a woman.
- QUEESTING Dutch : Allowing a lover access to one’s bed, under the covers, for a chit-chat.
- FUCHA Portuguese : To use company time and resources for one’s own purposes.
- ZECHPRELLER German : A person who leaves a restaurant without paying.
- YO English (Philadelphia, PA, US) : Hi, What, Hey
- SEIGNEUR-TERRASSE French : Someone who spends time, but not money, at a café.
- TINGO Pascuense language, Easter Island : Borrowing things from a friend’s house, one by one, until he has nothing left.
- CRIME PUKAU Malay : A charm used by burglars to make people fall asleep.
- AGOBILLES German : A burglar’s tools.
- UBETCHA English (Minnesota, US) : In agreement.
- SMONTA Italian : A theft carried out on a bus or train, from which the perpetrator descends as quickly as possible.
- REJAM Malay : To execute by pressing into mud.
- SQUADRETTA Italian : A group of prison guards who specialise in beating up inmates.
- JIEYU Chinese To break into jail in order to rescue a prisoner.
- CHAT LATAH : Indonesian Uncontrollable habit of saying embarrassing things.
- CHENYIN : Chinese Muttering to oneself.
- ‘A’AMA Hawaiian : Someone who speaks rapidly, hiding their meaning from one person while communicating it to another.
- YUYURUNGUL Yindiny, Australia : The noise of a snake sliding through grass.
- XIAOXIAO Chinese : The whistling and pattering of rain or wind.
- GULUGULU Tulu, India : The sound of a pitcher filling with water.
- CALACALA Tulu, India : The action of children wading through water as they play.
- NING-NONG Indonesia : The ringing of a doorbell.
- DESUS Indonesia : The quiet, smooth sound of somebody farting but not very loudly.
- KUSUKUSU Japanese : The suppressed giggling and tittering of a group of women.
- DESIR Malay : The sound of sand driven by the wind.
- FAAMITI Samoan : To make a squeaking noise by sucking air past the lips in order to gain the attention of a dog or a child.
- GHIQQ Persian : The sound made by a boiling kettle.
- KERTEK Malay : The sound of dry leaves or twigs being trodden underfoot.
- YUYIN Chinese : The remnants of sound that stay in the ears of the hearer
Personal Favorites
- BARBECUE
- RISOTTO
- DORK
- FRITTERIN’
- CADIWAMPUS
Resources for Language
- Urban Dictionary
- Slang Dictionary
- Klingon Dictionary
- Elvish Dictionary
- Tolkien Dictionary
- Texting Dictionary
When all is said and done (no pun intended) no one said it best as Lily Tomlin;
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.