OLDE ENGLISH
There used to be a popular TV Quiz show named Call My Bluff in which two teams of
celebrities tried to guess the true meaning of obscure words but were still to be
found in dictionaries.
Here are few that you might want to drop into a conversation when the interest seems
to be dropping. They are for the most part from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Bedswerver - someone unfaithful to the marital bed.
Bellygod - glutton, who makes a god of his or her belly
Beilytlmber - Food, which fuels the fire the your belly
Dolichoprosopic - Having a disproportionately long face
Fellowfeel - To empathise with another person
Flesh-spades - Fingernails, the spades protruding from your flesh
Groaking - Staring imploringly at somebody who is eating, in the hope of receiving
a mouthful.
Guffbundered - Ravenously hungry.
Bippopotomonstrosesquipedallan - Pertaining to an extremely long word.
Kakistocracy - Government by the worst citizens.
Up-clap - A kiss
Lubberwort - Food of no nutritional value, said to make you idle and stupid; an early
precursor of junk food
Merry-go-sorry - A story containing both good and bad news, which makes the reader
both merry and sorrowful.
Mubblefubbles - Melancholia with no obvious cause
Omphaloskepsis - Meditation while gazing at one’s navel
Pingle - To pick at food with a tiny appetite.
Poplolly - Affectionate version of darling from the French poupelet, used to describe
a mistress
Snirtle - To snicker, laugh mockingly
Spasmatomancy: Fortune-telling by studying a twitching body
Spheropygian - Having full and rounded buttocks
Thoke - To lie idly In bed
Yaffling - Eating noisily and greedily.
