I'd love to hear some obscure words you love and remember so that I, and hopefully others with me, will be (re)introduced to them. Some older members may be able to amuse us younglings with some historical linguistical oddities. I'm not normally particularly nostalgic about language, because we tend to lose the words we don't need (anymore), but occasionally we forget certain words that I truly believe we should remember as well as the gunpowder treason and plot, so show the quirky side of your ancient vocabularies for us all to see if you please, folks.
My oft-referenced favorites are the goal of motion words. Hither, thither, whither; hence, thence, whence. Only hence seems to have survived the demise of this group of words in the anglophone world. The rest have faded. Whence is also sometimes heard and I cringe every time hear someone say from whence. Yes, even the Bard used from whence occasionally when it suited his need for syllable count or rhythm, but still... No. The whole point of whence is that it should need no preposition to indicate direction. So sad since the meaning they carry is so much more elegantly encapsulated within them than in their modern replacement constructions.
Ooo! Also, widdershins. As in widdershins likewise. Perhaps outside the U.S. this word sees more play, but it's rare to hear in the U.S. anymore. Strangely, I learned this word as a wee lad from Colonel Sherman T. Potter, for whom it was a regular part of his idiolect.
Hmmm...fuddledud? Bubkis, jirble, wonder-wench. Just the other day on a call with my grandfather, he called a group of vandals who caused some trouble at their golf club rapscallions. I had completely forgotten about that word and I got such a kick out of hearing it again that I wrote it down to use later. I use a lot of Yiddish words in my day to day life, too, that seems to entertain those less familiar...putz, maven, oy vey, plotz, klutz, schmooze...I'm drawing a blank now but seriously, all those words are underused, IMO!
Fartleberry - a piece of excrement clinging to the hairs around the anus. Rantallion - One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be longer than their penis, or "One whose shot pouch is longer than their firearm." I'm sorry it's just that I once researched into 18th century vulgarity for a story I was writing.
Do you mean to say that, when I'm in a the mood to misquote/reinterpret The Lord of the Rings, I can't exclaim "It was cast into the shadows from whence it came!"? Or did you merely mean that it's silly to ask "From whence?" instead of "From where?" And what is indeed the full extent of the potential usage of "whence"? Is it really all that different from "where"? Do we need it? Do I sound like a total noob right now? Am I asking too many questions? Will they ever get answered? Have I forgotten how to write normal sentences? Will this ever end? Has it now?
And to know that your only-slightly-butchered quote is from Elrond himself, Lord of Rivendell, is a tad heartbreaking. A being of such stature should know better. From whence... Absurd, I tell you!
Who says "curmudgeon" is going out of favor? I use that word a lot! I like cattywampus and akimbo. Also obstreperous and pari passu. Rebarbative.
I just thought of one: "alas". I love that word. Also "loquacious", though I'm not entirely sure that word has ever been used all that much.
