Not long after a famous billionaire bought Twitter and renamed it X, there was a sudden exodus of many members who fled to a chat-app called Bluesky. I ended up with a foot in both camps, but rarely use either. The first app mentioned is filled with negativity these days, and the second place, whilst nicer to be in, can still be very time-consuming.
Anyway – while I was dropping in on Bluesky the other day, (I’m here if you’re there), I read a post about “The Bluesky Dictionary”.
A tech-clever person created a plug-in that searched all the posts on the app and started to keep track of all the words used there. They then cross-referenced this to some super source and determined what percentage of words in the English language had been used.
The website is here (but before you open it, know that when it was launched on the 7th of August it was spinning around 15% word coverage): The Bluesky Dictionary
What was really fun about the website is that it is effectively a crowd-sourced experiment to get wordy. It throws up the words that have recently been used and makes recommendations for words that have not yet been ticked off.
On the day that I was writing this post, words that were being spotted in people’s texts included; “flappier”, “eldership”, “thunderstrikes” and “unaffordability”… as well as words I have no clue about, such as “raree” and “polises”.
[My spellchecker wasn’t keen on either of them. Apparently a raree is a British street carnival or peepshow, whilst polises relate to institutional polices and governing laws.]
Words it was encouraging readers to drop into their online conversations included “cheekteeth”, “healee”, “forexes”, and “hugeousness”.
[These words seem to apply to your molars, someone who is being healed, online trading, and an archaic way of referring to hugeness.]
What does this have to do with life lived in pain?
Nothing, other than it taps into my insatiable curiosity for all things word-related… and now I know I am healee who grinds my cheekteeth at night (hence the mouth guard).
And since you’re here reading, you probably share a similar interest in wonderful words.
So, here’s another site I found: 150 Funny English Words
I skim read the list (and knew most of them), but here’s my top 7 new words I’d love to wriggle into a conversation:
- Collywobbles โ A feeling of nervousness or anxiety in the stomach
- Flapdoodle โ Nonsense or foolish talk
- Lickspittle โ A person who behaves obsequiously in order to gain favor
- Nudiustertian โ The day before yesterday
- Slumgullion โ A type of stew made from leftovers or odds and ends of food
- Tintinnabulation โ The ringing or sound of bells
- Widdershins โ Moving in a counterclockwise direction
Sometimes what we think of as “odd” words are standard usage for others… or vice-versa. I recently asked someone about their fireplace’s “quirks” and was rewarded with raised eyebrows followed by a frown… which surprised me… don’t all fireplaces have quirks??
What’s your favorite “odd” word?
And while I use the food from nudiustertian to make a slumgullion, I’ll get ready to work out my cheekteeth and leave you to ponder…
Take care taking care, Linda x
PS – it’s anniversary time again for my blog (it’s 20 months old) – so here’s a quick shout out to seven of the blogs that have crossed my path, (starting with a brand new one) – if you have the time, pop out and share some blog love and attention:
Barely Upright: “A chronically ill human with a lot to say and not always the energy to say it. I live in the liminal space between motion and stillness. My disability shifts, my energy ebbs, but my voice remains.”
Q. โ Unfolding and Becoming, a scribble at a timeโฆ
TulaCelinaStonebridge โ explore the spirit
Unapologetically, Me. โ Life, mental health, bad jokes, parenting and non-sense.
The Mindful Migraine 
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