Seldom-Used Words

Status
Not open for further replies.
I quite like the words peccadillo and physiognomy and metempsychosis.

I've managed to use each of them in a sentence, all in the span of one conversation. Didn't get laid though :(
 
Anyone know this one;

pudding stone - noun CONGLOMERATE

Yes. It is named after a fruit pudding because it looks as if it has balls of coloured fruit in it. Definition - a conglomerate rock in which dark-coloured round pebbles contrast with a paler fine-grained matrix.

Some lapidarists polish cut sections of pudding stone to make decorations.

Historical Slang:

In the pudding club - pregnant, hence put in the pudding club - make pregnant.

pudding - liver drugged for the silencing of house or watch dogs

pudding about the heels - thick-ankled

pudding-house - the stomach

pudding-ken - a cook shop

pudding-snammer - a cook shop thief

pudding-sleeves - a clergyman
 
Last edited:
I ran into this word in a Vanity Fair article, Trial of the Will by Christopher Hitchens, who is currently battling throat cancer and writing about the experience for the magazine. I had never seen it before;

etiolate - vt 1. to bleach and alter the natural development (a green plant) by excluding sunlight 2.a. to make pale and sickly b. to take away the natural vigor of
 
Welcome, SirLicksAlot, I really don't know how I missed that vital bit of information. What a loss for the world, his friends, and his family. My husband died of brain cancer in May of 2010 at 54 years of age. May they both rest in peace. The cancer battle is an exhausting one. The subject of that article was the saying, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger," and Christopher pointed out that in the cancer world, that ain't necessarily so, as I witnessed first hand.

Once before we discussed the word pudendum, but missed;

pudendal - adj of or relating to the external genital organs
 
Welcome, SirLicksAlot, I really don't know how I missed that vital bit of information. What a loss for the world, his friends, and his family. My husband died of brain cancer in May of 2010 at 54

Sorry for your loss. Hope you're coping well . .

Jingo -->parochial
 
Yes. It is named after a fruit pudding because it looks as if it has balls of coloured fruit in it. Definition - a conglomerate rock in which dark-coloured round pebbles contrast with a paler fine-grained matrix.

Some lapidarists polish cut sections of pudding stone to make decorations.

Historical Slang:

In the pudding club - pregnant, hence put in the pudding club - make pregnant.

pudding - liver drugged for the silencing of house or watch dogs

pudding about the heels - thick-ankled

pudding-house - the stomach

pudding-ken - a cook shop

pudding-snammer - a cook shop thief

pudding-sleeves - a clergyman

And then there's this usage from "The Vicar of Bray:"

When George in pudding time came o'er, and moderate men looked big, sir
My principles I changed once more, and so became a Whig, sir.
And thus preferment I procured From our new Faith's Defender,
And almost every day abjured the Pope and the Pretender.

It would seen to refer to size, either physical or socio-political, but all I can find are, literally, time referents: pudding time refers either to dinner time, with the notion that a puddingwas the first course for dinner, or to something "in the nick of time," or both. But neither seems to fit the lines of the satire.

Any ideas, Og?
 
And then there's this usage from "The Vicar of Bray:"

When George in pudding time came o'er, and moderate men looked big, sir
My principles I changed once more, and so became a Whig, sir.
And thus preferment I procured From our new Faith's Defender,
And almost every day abjured the Pope and the Pretender.

It would seen to refer to size, either physical or socio-political, but all I can find are, literally, time referents: pudding time refers either to dinner time, with the notion that a puddingwas the first course for dinner, or to something "in the nick of time," or both. But neither seems to fit the lines of the satire.

Any ideas, Og?

Some:

1. pudding-head can mean a stupid person, so the time of stupidity.
2. pudding AT THE TIME OF THE RESTORATION also meant coition, the penis, the seminal fluid, so pudding-time could mean 'about fucking time!'
3. the Puritans under Cromwell were against many pleasures including gluttony so could literally mean that puddings were being eaten again (and/or much more fucking).
4. pudding could also mean a fat person. George and his courtiers were much fatter than the previous regime's court.
5. puddings also referred to the lower middle-class and working class, the bourgeoisie, George replaced the effete nobility with self-made men.
 
Last edited:
I am coping well enough, now that I have retired with Widow's benefits. Being the only parent to four grown children and trying to replace the income that was lost when Jim passed has been difficult, but not impossible. Lean times were here with us, long before the rest of the world crashed. Thanks for asking, SirLicks, I usually do not divulge much about my personal life, other than certain times long past.

Og, there is a conglomeration of stones and mortar-like substance very near here and I never knew what to call it. Pudding stone. How funny! It looks to me like what Gaia would throw up after a big night out with the Titans! LOL There must be a technical term. Do you also know what that is?

I certainly did NOT know the first definition of this word;

pudding - noun 1. BLOOD SAUSAGE 2.a.(1) a boiled or baked soft food usually with a cereal base (2) a dessert of a soft, spongy, or thick creamy consistency b. a dish often containing suet or having a suet crust and originally boiled in a bag
 
...

Og, there is a conglomeration of stones and mortar-like substance very near here and I never knew what to call it. Pudding stone. How funny! It looks to me like what Gaia would throw up after a big night out with the Titans! LOL There must be a technical term. Do you also know what that is?

The technical term is conglomerate but there are several types of conglomerate, as there are several types of pudding stone. All pudding stones are conglomerate; not all conglomerate is pudding stone.

I certainly did NOT know the first definition of this word;

pudding - noun 1. BLOOD SAUSAGE 2.a.(1) a boiled or baked soft food usually with a cereal base (2) a dessert of a soft, spongy, or thick creamy consistency b. a dish often containing suet or having a suet crust and originally boiled in a bag

Blood Sausage is usually called Black Pudding in the UK and often is a part of a full English Breakfast.
 
Og, there is a conglomeration of stones and mortar-like substance very near here and I never knew what to call it. Pudding stone. How funny! It looks to me like what Gaia would throw up after a big night out with the Titans! LOL There must be a technical term. Do you also know what that is?

Google on the word "conglomerate", and then click the "Images" link at the left to see a wide variety of conglomerates.
 
Thanks, Og, and Carlus, for the input on conglomerate, which I previously thought was simply a business word. Black Pudding I just might avoid while there, I must admit. A minor lament, but pudding will never be the same, in my mind, again.

Of course, I know the source is puck(1), but could no resist adding;

puckish - adj IMPISH, WHIMSICAL
 
More Historical Slang

Pucker - excitement; (a state of) agitation. Common in dialect e.g. the Lancashire puckerashun - vexation or agitation.

Pucker verb - to talk privately showmen's slang. Possibly a corruption of Romany rok(k)er or vok(k)er - to talk.

Pucker up - to become angry. (Normal, non-slang, use is to purse the lips expecting a kiss.)

Pucker-water - an astringent employed especially by 'old experienced traders' to counterfeit virginity. It is generally water impregnated with alum (compare with post-parturition astringents.) From pucker, to contract.

I used pucker (to contract) several times in my dreadful contribution to the Author's Hangout The Worst Chain Story Ever (Chapter 01).
 
Og, and then there are the dictionary entries;

pucker(1) - verb to become wrinkled or constricted ~ vt to contract into fold or wrinkles

pucker(2) - noun a fold or wrinkle in a normally even surface

Puckers are often used in dressmaking. I learned how to make puckers or gathers, as well as pleats, in sewing class.
 
Og, and then there are the dictionary entries;

pucker(1) - verb to become wrinkled or constricted ~ vt to contract into fold or wrinkles

pucker(2) - noun a fold or wrinkle in a normally even surface

Puckers are often used in dressmaking. I learned how to make puckers or gathers, as well as pleats, in sewing class.

Unintended puckers in seams annoy me. I see them as an indication of incompetent dressmaking. They used to be common in store-bought clothing in the 1950s but since much clothes manuafacture has been outsourced the the Far East, the quality of cheap clothing has improved.

My cousin, my sister's best friend, used to remove and replace any zips in her bought clothing because she wouldn't be seen out with a puckered seam. Eventually she made all her own clothes, even her wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses.

She and my sister tried to teach me basic needlework. They failed...

I could manage at the Boy Scout level - sewing on buttons and badges, roughly repairing a tear, even darning socks, but reasonable needlework? I asked my cousin. She could do it in a quarter of the time to a much higher standard. I did her DIY work as repayment.
 
'conglomerate' should not be confused with 'agglomerate'

conglomerate
Consisting of distinct parts gathered together into a more or less rounded mass; clustered.

agglomerate
Collected into a mass.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 
Og, that reminds me of when I taught my husband and sons to sew. Buttons and badges are relatively simple. It looks much easier than it is to hide stitches and still retain the strength of the seam. Patience is the key and, for some reason, the guys didn't have enough to do the job properly. I still mend their rips and tears and it is no big thing for me.

And let's not forget;

puckery - adj that puckers or causes puckering
 
Good day, everyone. A circular definition for today's offering;

puberulent - adj covered with fine pubescence
 
This one called to mind the real character of Jack McCall, the man who murdered Wild Bill, in the Deadwood series;

ptosis - noun a sagging or prolapse of an organ or part; esp: drooping of the upper eyelid
 
Well, dearest unspouse, should we take the hint from ptosis and ptomaine and coin a few of our own?

ptogynecos - A fallen woman

ptopeoz - a limp dick
 
Tio, darling, that should be a new thread. Coin New Words Here or something to that effect. My only problem with starting a thread like that would be my lack of imagination in the creation of an entirely new word. I tried that for breasts a while ago and got nowhere pretty fast. The dictionary is my crutch.

ptisan - noun a decoction of barley with other ingredients; broadly: TEA, TISANE
 
The Ps have a very interesting group of entries. Here is today's;

psychological hedonism - noun the theory that conduct is fundamentally motivated by the pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of pain
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top