more f-words from yesteryear

[part the third: FLAP-DRAGON to FLURT]

this week’s edition contains a mésalliance of both handy definitions (“a side of bacon”, “to laugh sarcastically”), balderdash™-style descriptions (“the person who puts the feather on an arrow”, “having a mouth like a flounder”), and suessian whimsy (flee flowns, flibberjibber, and flothery). enjoy:

• FLAP-DRAGON. A small substance such as a plum or candle end set afloat in a cup of spirits and when set on fire, snatched by the mouth and swallowed. This was a common amusement in former times but is now nearly obsolete
• FLAWPS. An awkward, noisy, untidy, and slovenly person
• FLAZE. A smoky flame
• FLEACHES. Portions into which timber is cut by the saw
• FLEAMY. Clotted with blood
• FLEE FLOWNS. The eggs of flies in meat
• FLECK. a side of bacon
• FLETCHER. An arrow maker. Properly the person who put on the feather
• FLIBBERGIBBER. A lying knave
• FLIGHT-SHOT. The distance a flight arrow would go, about a fifth part of a mile
• FLIPPERING. Crying, weeping
• FLIT. To move, especially at night to cheat the landlord
• FLIZZEN. To laugh sarcastically
• FLIZZOMS. Flying particles
• FLOKE MOWTHEDE. Having a mouth like a flounder
• FLOOD MARK. The mark which the sea at the highest tide makes on the shore
• FLOP. the scrotum
• FLOTHERY. Slovenly but attempting to be fine and showy
• FLUMP. a heavy fall
• FLURCH. A great quantity
• FLURT. To snap the fingers derisively. Hence any satirical action or speech

words wholly unrelated

babble & babel

the former means “to talk idly, irrationally, excessively, or foolishly” and has been in the english language since the fourteenth century. the latter is the hebrew word for babylon—a mythical town (and tower) in the old testament where a confusion of language is said to have taken place. both words are pronounced the same and have overlapping definitions though no direct connexion can be traced.

words wholly related

almond & amygdala

one is the latin word for the other (though i am not saying which is which).

[part the second: FERLY to FLAPDOODLE]

thus resumes the second part of my poolitzer-nominated series within a series of select f-words from this ferly dictionary:

• FERLY. Wonderfully strange
• FERNYERE. In former times
• FEVER-LURDEN. The disease of idleness
• FEZZON. To seize on—generally applied to the actions of a greedy ravenous eater
• FILL DIKE. The month of February
• FIMASHINGS. In hunting, the dung of any kind of wild beasts
• FIPPLE. The under lip
• FIRST FOOT. The name given to the first person who first enters a dwelling house on New Year’s day
• FIRSUN. Furze or gorse
• FISS BUTTOCKED SOW. A fat, coarse, vulgar, presuming woman
• FIX. A lamb yeaned dead
• FLACKET. A girl whose clothes hang loosely about her
• FLAG. A flake of snow
• FLANKER. A spark of fire
• FLANTUM FLATHERUM PIEBALD DILL. A woman fantastically dressed with various colours
• FLAPDOODLE. The stuff fools are said to nourished on

the dick test

i just came across this in the 1954 edition of the world book encyclopedia:

The Dick Test: a laboratory test designed to indicate whether or not a person is immune to scarlet fever.

imagined scene:

MY DOCTOR: you have failed the dick test
RAYNOR: righteous!
MY DOCTOR: so you probably have scarlet fever.
RAYNOR: whatevs.

provincial f-words from the 14th century

bros, i started the f-word series as a way of showcasing some choice morsels from specialised dictionaries. i chose words that start with f partly because of my infantile preoccupation with labiodental fricatives but also because enabling limits on my search meant that i would have more free time to hang out with my buddies at applebee’s and talk about witty hollister t-shirts. this system had been going swell until my good friend orson, dropped this onto my desk and my world shattered.

its full title is: a dictionary of arcahic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs, from the fourteenth century (1850)—and it is worthy of a 5 part series within a series.

[part the first: FADGY to FELSH]

• FADGY. Corpulent; unwieldy
• FAEGANG. A gang of beggars
• FAFF. To move violently
• FAIR-TRO-DAYS. Daylight
• FAITOUR. An idle lazy fellow; a scoundrel; a flatterer; Hence, a general term of reproach
• FALDORE. A trap-door
• FALLE. A mouse-trap
• FALLINGS. Dropped fruit
• FALLOWFORTH. A waterfall
• FAMBLE. To stutter, or murmur inarticulately
• FANGAST. Fit for marriage, said of a maid
• FANOM-WATER. The acrimonious discharge from the sores of cattle
• FANTICKLES. Freckles
• FARAND. Used in composition for advancing towards, or being ready. Fighting farand: ready for fighting. Farand-man: a traveller or itinerant merchant
• FARREL. The fourth part of a circular oatcake, the division being made by a cross
• FARTHINGS. Flattened peas
• FASGUNTIDE (1) Trouble; care; anxiety; fatigue (2) The tops of turnips
• FASYL. A flaw in cloth
• FEANT. A fool
• FEATLET. Four pounds of butter
• FEELDY. Grassy
• FEER. to run a little way back for the better advantage of leaping forwards
• FELSH. To renovate a hat

midday, midweek, midmonth middle english excerpt

the propertees that are best in an hors are a bygh rowmpe, a longh stote and smale stonys in his qodd.

ie. the best horse is one with a big butt, a long wiener, and teency nuts.

from a late fifteenth century manuscript in the british museum.

oddments

IF it is a specialised jargon dictionary
AND it was published in 1888 
AND it concerns the topic of typography
THEN you had better believe that it is part of raynor ganan’s vast library

this installment of f-words comes from the printers’ vocabulary: a collection of some 2500 technical terms, phrases, abbreviations and other expressions mostly relating to letterpress printing many of which have been in use since the time of caxton (in the realm of type, william caxton is a christlike figure that everyone sets their dates around, thus anything that happened in the printing world before the time of caxton is annotated b.c.).

• Feint ruling—Very light and thin lines used in account ruling.
• Fine presswork—A term applied to the better class of handwork in printing.
• Fire eater—An old term for a rapid setter of type.
• Fly—An odd lad for errands and other jobs—also called printer’s devils.
• Flying a frisket—The process of turning up or down the tympan when printing at a hand-press.
• Foolscap—A size of printing paper, 17 × 13½ inches; writing paper, 16¾ × 13½ inches.
• Forty-eightmo—A sheet of paper folded into forty-eight leaves—written shortly, 48mo.
• Foxed—Paper or books stained or mouldy are said to be “foxed.”
• Fret—When rollers crack or peel they are said to “fret.”
• Frontispiece—The illustration facing the title-page of a work.
• Fugitive’ colours—A class of coloured inks which are not permanent in tone, and change or fade on exposure.
• Full bound—A term used to define a book wholly bound in leather (cf. quarter bound and half bound).

the empyre state

on my morning perusal of the oh-ee-dee, this glittering gem caught my eye:

empyreuma:

1. the burnt smell imparted by fire to organic substances
2. little feverish remains after a crisis

useful AND poetic…hot damn! i am contemplating setting something on fire just to give me the opportunity to use this word.

words wholly related

precocious & apricot

both derive from the latin word, præcox (early-ripe). a precocious child is said to be more mature than other children. an apricot is a fruit that ripens before other fruits.

worthy of note: is the path that the apricot took in getting to english through the circuitous waypoints of portugese (albricoque), arabic (al-burqūq) and greek (πραικόκιον).

even more worthy: is the elizabethan medical condition, ejaculatio præcox which meant, of course, premature ejaculation.

words wholly unrelated

counsel & council

they are pronounced the same and have overlapping meanings yet they are from two totally different latin words. the former is from consulere (to consult), the latter is from concilium (assembly).

today is butter day at the ragbag

a b-list friend of mine just returned from paris where he took a two week haute cuisine cooking course (just for yucks). among other tricks that he taught me is a french technique for cooking steak—in a pan while constantly spooning melted butter over it. this is known in the trade as nourishing. thus, to nourish something is to bathe it in butter so as to increase succulence.

now if you’ll excuse me, i am off to nourish my bacon.

concerning butterflies

i thought i would write a post today that didn’t involve freaky sex terms or raw fraternity boy potty humor… and so, like nabokov, i turned to butterflies! but then i came across this factoid [alert: it has the potential of (figuratively) spoiling your butter]:

• butterflies were so named because butter was thought to be similar in both colour and consistency to butterfly excrement.

oh boy! my first dog was named snickers for similar reasons. again, i have verified the etymology but not the semblance.

1moretime: THEY ARE CALLED BUTTERFLIES BECAUSE THEY POOP BUTTER!!!!!!!!!