Asklemmy @lemmy.ml

1y ago

What's an obsolete or incredibly obscure word you think people should know?

Overmorrow refers to the day after tomorrow and I feel like it comes in quite handy for example.

304 comments

perambulation is a good one. My morning walk isn't quite grand enough to be called a 'constitutional'; nor scenic and leisurely enough to be called a 'stroll'; nor yet social enough to be called a 'promenade'; 'perambulation' is just the ticket.
- I thought the morning constitutional was taking a shit.
- And what a lovely paragraph about it. Thank you.
- Oh I love to perambulate, sitting still is what I really hate
- And a "perambulator" is a kid stroller. It was an enlightening moment when I first came across that word in Neil Stephenson's "Seveneves", delved into its etymology and then realised why my British friend called the stroller a "pram". This is just a contracted form of perambulator.
  It did not occur to me that there's actually also a verb for it, so thank you for pointing that out! I love it, and I will use it henceforth!

Interrobang.
It's this thing: ‽
More people should use the symbol because it looks cool and has a badass name, so for that you need to know what it's called.
Who's with me‽
- Interrobang sounds like something from a porno about police work.
  “Did you question the suspect?”
  “Yeah, Chief, we interrobanged him and got the info.”
  
  Hey, it's me, your suspect. I've got more info, step it up with the interrobanging, will ya?
  
  Questioning a bang.
  My quick and dirty interrobang with her revealed to me how empty inside I was, unlike the outhouse we were in.
  
  Or a fully themed, punctuation inspire flick. Named "character" to let you fill in the blanks.
  Char 1: Well what do you think Mark?
  Char 2: Are you sure she can handle it, Point?
  Char 1: Its time we've shown
  Char 2: our true power...
  Together: As Interrobang!
  Char 3: No wait, I've got my per....
  .... OK it needs to be reworked, but you get the idea.
- While I like the concept, I can't help but prefer '!?' or '?!'. There's more granularity of meaning, and I think it just looks nicer having two or more separate characters.
  
  Yeah, but you aren't proper if you're using more than one piece of punctuation at the end of your sentence. Them's the rules.
  Unless...
- Only if you agree to stop calling them Hashtags and use their more-correct name of Octothorpes
  
  "Press 1 to continue followed by the Octothorpes"
  Lol I love it
  
  You mean pound?
- I made AltGr + / type an interrobang so I'd always have access to it
- How do I start?
  
  I set up an auto replace on my phone so when I type ?! It’ll switch it to ‽ for me.

Petrichor: The smell of rain on dry ground. One of those things everybody knows about but lacks a word for.
- Apparently Streptomyces are the cause.
  
  I learned about this in Amsterdam’s Groote Museum today, huh
- It's funny, literally every Doctor Who fan knows this word and what it means thanks to Neil Gaiman.

Overmorrow refers to the day after tomorrow
Figured the other way around might be as obscure...
nudiustertian: relating to the day before yesterday
Yikes
- To add to that, "ereyesterday" is the noun version for the day before yesterday.
  
  Never saw this one before and not sure how to pronounce it while the German Vorgestern is as commen as Übermorgen.
  English on the other hand has fortnight which I think is very cool as we don't have a special word for 14 days
  A little off topic but I find these words extremely interesting that have no direct translation as they often give a new perspective on things or concepts.
- the german version "Übermorgen" is widely used in germany.
  
  Yes, I learned English here in Austria and I remember classmates asking the teacher how to say "vorgestern" and "übermorgen" in English.
  We didn't learn the words "ereyesterday" and "overmorrow" that day, only "the day before yesterday" and "the day after tomorrow". :(
  
  Overimorgen is widely used in Norwegian.

- I actually dislike that term a lot.
  It's like spunkgargleweewee. It seems immature and makes me feel more dismissive towards the argument. Maybe that also has to do with it being a catch all term and people seem less willing to give specific examples of how things are declining in quality.
  
  spunkgargleweewee
  You're claiming that is a term people use?
  
  spunkgargleweewee
  Ah, an individual of culture.
- Wait did you just coin that? That's fucking brilliant /s
  Edit: apparently I needed a /s because Lemmy doesn't use this term constantly or anything?
  
  Because there was no /s - no they didn't, it's been around for a little while now. It basically means products or services slowly getting worse rather than better - such as adding ads, adding useless or broken ai to everything, switching to a subscription without adding any actual value. This is almost always done in the interest of maximizing profit as much as possible, at the expense of the users (monetarily and experience wise). Basically, see any major company decisions in the last several years, especially at companies with very large audiences (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Airbnb, Facebook, etc)
  
  It was coined by Cory Doctorow.
  
  Cory Doctorow coined it: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
  Writer Cory Doctorow coined the neologism "enshittification" in November 2022, though he was not the first to describe and label the concept.[1][2] The American Dialect Society selected it as its 2023 Word of the Year.

Sonder (noun): the feeling one has on realizing that every other individual one sees has a life as full and real as one’s own, in which they are the central character and others, including oneself, have secondary or insignificant roles: In a state of sonder, each of us is at once a hero, a supporting cast member, and an extra in overlapping stories.
dictionary.com
- This one always makes me smile, because it's from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. It's just some guy's blog in which he comes up with new words to express experiences and emotions that are difficult to describe, and that specific one has thoroughly broken containment
  
  Bought the book. It's the only dictionary I've enjoyed reading.
- Sonder
  Literally means "special" in German
- That was lovely, thank you for that.

callipygous : having shapely buttocks
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/callipygous
- and zaftig
  of a woman : having a full rounded figure : pleasingly plump
  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zaftig
- I prefer callipygian
- Also: gyatt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins
Just because it sounds cool.
- Sounds useful in Minecraft. Like you put a sign in a cave "exit widdershins" to tell people to follow the left wall.
  
  In an emergency, you can also exit widdoutershins.
- Yesss. I love this word and use it whenever I can
- Widdershins start my hair, your Spooktober decorations are so spooky!!!!
- And don't forget turnwise! (which is the opposite rotational direction defined by the direction the disc turns)
- Sounds like a creature that would have a lot of creepypasta written about it.

"Thrice" is a somewhat obscure word that otherwise fits.
"Adventitious" is a good one. It means "non-inherent" or "acquired" (as opposed to inherent.)
- measure thrice, cut twice.

Avuncular - of or having the qualities of an uncle.
“His avuncular joke was both lazy and sexist”
- That's the definition but not how it's ever used.
  
  Proof /s
- Yeah, that word means uncle-like, but it's very much a word for a fun or chill uncle vibe.
  Don't you slander uncledom like that, you unavuncluar tranch!

Widdershins. It means counter to the sun's direction , and was seen as inauspicious. Counter-clockwise, before clocks.
- I only know the term from Disc World, is that a real world term or just one of the many whimsical terms Pratchett coined in the books
  
  It's real! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins

Gormless - Lacking initiative, foolish
Copacetic - correct, orderly, good
- Copacetic
  Relevant song
- Gormless is one of my favorites too. Shame it's not used as much as it should be in general.

Paramour
It sounds fancy, but means a casual lover. A fuck buddy. A friend with benefits. Though it can also carry the implication of being an out-of-wedlock lover, as it dates back to a time where having a fuck buddy was almost certainly a sign of married infidelity.
Kith
Means one's friends and other people they are close to that aren't family. Often paired with "kin". Kith and kin. Friends and family.
- A paramour is an “other lover”. Para = beside, amour = love. It’s not a casual fuck buddy, it’s your cheating partner. I’m surprised to hear you say it’s unknown as a word these days? Seems like just a normal word to me, albeit one I’m happy to go without using as cheaters suck.
- I use paramour, usually to describe an infidelity situation. No one under 35 knows what it is.
- Interesting. The only two references I've ever heard to Paramour are the band and the achievement in Mass Effect. I'm now wondering if the devs of that series knew exactly what it meant (infidelity) because you get the achievement for having any relationship. Maybe it's because you can't remain loyal to your original partner to get it in all three games with one playthrough.
  
  Right, I think that achievement only happens in the sequals.

Borborygmus I use often enough, but it's not widely known. It's the gurgling sound produced by the movement of gas through your intestines.
Limaceous I almost never use, but I enjoy it anyway. It means characteristic of or pertaining to slugs.
And lastly, tawdry is one of my favorites meaning showy but cheap and poor quality.
- The are all great, but tawdry is fantastic!
  Rolls of the tongue, and we all come across several tawdry things/people in a given day.
- I don't think tawdry is archaic. A little uncommon, but still in use.
- At least 20 years of having slugs as a special interest and I never heard the word limaceous?? Thank you for correcting this!
  Now to find out if it actually has specific academic usage and the biologists will execute me if I use it regarding slugs outside the superfamily Limacoidea.

Shemomedjamo - Georgian word meaning to eat past the point of fullness because it tastes so good or as I heard it, "I accidentally ate the whole thing."
- I was sure Harry Potter said it one time when he cast a spell.
  SHEMOMEDJAMO!

Not a word, but there's a specific phrase uttered when you casually pass by someone working, stop for a chat, and then genuinely wish them well with their work as you leave.
This phrase does not exist in English:
"Break a leg" is close, but more reserved for some grand performance
Nor does it exist in German:
"Viel Spass/Glück" (Have fun, Good Luck) is also close, but has an element of sarcasm and/or success through chance.
(Edit) "Frohes Schaffen" (Happy 'getting it done') is pretty spot on.
In Turkish, you just say "Kolay Gelsin", meaning "May the work come easy so that you finish sooner".
Its such a useful unjudgemental phrase, easily uttered, that I've seen nowhere else. Maybe other languages have it too.
- Would "Have a good one" maybe serve that purpose? It's not exactly the same, but similar sentiment.
  
  Very true! At the same time, I feel like you would only say that to something that will happen and not something that is currently happening. Is that right?
- "May the odds be ever in your favor" works in almost any situation!
- Reminds me of a much abbreviated version of this Irish prayer:
  May the road rise up to meet you.
  May the wind always be at your back.
  May the sun shine warm upon your face,
  and rains fall soft upon your fields.
  And until we meet again,
  May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
  
  Exactly this kind of sentiment. Beautiful poem.
- Dutch: 'Werk ze'
- I use "have fun" completely unironically all the time. One time my partner's (Pakistani) carer thought I spoke Arabic because Afwan is apparently an Arabic salutation meaning approximately the same as "cheerio", "goodbye", or "you're welcome" in English. He also turns up around half one every day for added amusement
- Doesn't exist in German? What about "Frohes Schaffen"?
  
  (I've literally never heard that said once, but it qualifies, so I'll add it)
- “Break a leg” is close, but more reserved for some grand performance
  So in Estonian we have a bunch of those I don't remember because nobody uses them anymore. But the main one everyone knows is "Kivi kotti" (literally, stone/rock in your bag, but much like with "break a leg", you actually wish them well). It's still basically "good luck" but not so much for grand performances, it could just be for your first day of work, or going fishing (the real origin I guess). There's also "Nael kummi" which is "nail in your tire", which is reserved for people driving somewhere.
- "Good luck with/have fun with that!" In a pleasant tone while gesturing towards the act being done is enough, I've found
  Unless it's clearly like, WORK, work, then something like "don't work too hard, there!" Is common
  
  The tone of it is the same, but there's also a sarcastic interpretation of it though, and it can be applied liberally to lots of non-work situations
- I will steal that one!
- I say "good luck" in a non-sarcastic tone to people whenever they head off on some banal errand. It gets some confused looks sometimes, laughs others.

Indubitably!
It means most certainly, beyond questioning.
And it's fun to say!
- Ah, I grew up listening to Adventures In Odyssey and one character said that all the time. Beautiful word.
- I love that word. I don't know where I even learned it first, but I sometimes throw it back out there. It's so fun!
- I like that it's root is fairly plain to see.
  That's un-doubt-able - indubitable.

Grok
It means to know or understand, like "yeah man I can grok that."
- Being pedantic, but it's beyond that.
  To grok is to know or understand so completely, it becomes a part of yourself. To know something fully. You can understand the concepts of astrophysics, but you might not grok the concept.
  
  I guess I didn't grok the true meaning of the word. Thank you!
  
  The literal meaning was defined "to drink". If you drink something, it becomes a part of you.
- Specifically, it refers to a deep understanding.
  [A critic] notes that [the coiner's] first intensional definition is simply "to drink", but that this is only a metaphor "much as English 'I see' often means the same as 'I understand'". (from Wikipedia)
  When you claim to "grok" some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part of your identity. For example, to say that you "know" Lisp is simply to assert that you can code in it if necessary – but to say you "grok" Lisp is to claim that you have deeply entered the world-view and spirit of the language, with the implication that it has transformed your view of programming. Contrast zen, which is a similar supernatural understanding experienced as a single brief flash. (The Jargon File; also quoted on Wikipedia)
- For those who aren't familiar with the word, it comes from the 1961 scifi novel "Stranger in a Strange Land".
  
  Author Robert A Heinlein ?

I've got six of them:
Tittynope: "A small amount left over; a modicum."
Cacography: "bad handwriting or spelling."
Epeolatry: "the worship of words."
Kakistocracy: "a state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens."
Oikophilia: "love of home"
Tenebrous: "dark; shadowy or obscure"
- That list is going to send me down a rabbit hole looking for the etymology of words
- Feel like tenebrous being on a list of obscure words is tenuous, but maybe I just have esoteric interests.
  
  Unlike many of these I'd heard it before but didn't know its true meaning. It fits.
  
  Darth Tenebrous
- I'm a master in Cacography!
  
  "Pardon my cacography" sure has a better ring to it than, "can you read this?"
- Oh, I also really like Mammonism: "the greedy pursuit of riches", from the Biblical "Mammon".
- ‘Tenebroso’ is commonly used in Spanish, at least in Spain. This whole thread is very interesting.
  
  Voldemort is Señor Tenebroso.
  
  A lot of words in English have a Germanic and Latin version. The Germanic one tends to be more common in everyday use, while the Latin one tends to be more formal, a consequence of French being the language of the aristocracy back in the day. Spanish is all Latin-derived, so they would of course be the everyday words.
- Kakistocracy: “a state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens.”
  See also kleptocracy: rule by thieves. I not infrequently refer to our government as a kleptocratic kakistocracy

Sesquipedalian: A user of big words
I like that saying sesquipedalian makes you sesquipedalian.
- This is my favourite too. I have a very sesquipedalian friend, and I had the honour of introducing him to the word.

Brobdingnagian.
It's a very big word that means very big.
It comes from Gulliver's travels. The Brobdingnagians are giants, 12 times the height of humans. The word isn't limited to that scale, but it's definitely for things that are unusually large compared to us.
It's the literal opposite of Lilliputian, which is from the better known race from "Travels" that are 1/12 our size.
It's my absolute favorite word. Not just because it's a literary reference but it's fun to say. Brob ding nag ian. It just burbles off the tongue like a drunken stream stumbling among the rocks of its bed. And, it's a big word that means big, which is just fun wordplay. Like the phobia of big words, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, which was inevitable as soon as the idea of a phobia of big words was conceived.

It's German but 'Rucksackriemenquerverbindungsträger', the thing between the straps of a backpack that you can connect to lighten the load on your shoulders.
I made the word up but I use it pretty often.
- Well .... I knew exactly what you meant, as you know what I mean when I say: "Rucksackriemenquerverbindsungsträgerersatzschnalle" and I think it's beautiful.
  Also: "Getriebeschmiernippel"
- The chest strap?
  
  Yes
- fuck germany
  
  That's a lot of people, I doubt you have the stamina
  
  What did Germany ever do to you?

I'd settle for not seeing "should/could/would of" typed out anymore.
- Wud u tho?
- "Could care less" is mine
  
  When it comes to that saying, i honestly couldn't care more.
- Shoulda hoped for something better.
- I once knew a guy from the deep south who'd say stuff like yoostacud. I yoostacud run a marathon. I thought that was marvellous! Another one was fixina. I'm fixina get tickets to the game tonight. You in?
  
  I've heard the former before, and the latter would become the modern "finna".

Gloam/gloaming
The onset of twilight/becoming gloomy
- Spotted the Radiohead fan
  
  I'm honestly not sure what you're referring to. Is that a word they use a lot in their lyrics?

Albeit.
- My favorite English word... I use it quite often because it fits the German Ductus.

Propreantepenultimate. Fifth to last.
Ultimate
Penultimate
Antepenultimate
Preantepenultimate
Propreantepenultimate
- I use penultimate all the time and most people have no idea what I mean! We need to bring back the Latin based words
  
  That means the item right before the last item, right?
- I knew the first three, but not four and five. TIL
- Ah so that's why in the Tropico games your assistant was Penultimo! He's the second to the ultimate leader, El Presidente!
  Really the only city building series that correctly identifies who directs the construction and destruction of every visible peice of infrastructure or building. And who randomly arrests or frees people for any reason they like :)
- Hmm the grammar checks out 👍

Duodenum.
Doo-odd-in-umm.
The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals

overmorgen, in Dutch. I heard this 'overmorrow' word a couple times as a response in that they wish it did exist
- And übermorgen in German
  
  And övermorgon in Swedish

Defenestration. Throwing someone out of a window. Example the defenestration of prague
- And Russian oligarchs
- I like to make the joke whenever someone mentions a Russian doctor falling out of a window or something:
  There's defense and there's defenestration.
- It's composed of de- an fenestra, the latter meaning window.
  So literally de-windowing
- See also, defenestration trilogy

ereyesterday is the day before yesterday. as a german i am used to refer to two days in the past and future without useing weekdays.
- They’ve fallen from grace. Probably because it’s been a few centuries since the saxons
  The language could use a refresher eh
  
  its actually a real rabit hole to see which cultures use however many days to refer into the future and past. Since the use of unified calenders its been declining. few centuries ago it wasnt unusual to have words for like "five days ago". and some languages actually perserved that!
  Dont ask me for specifics tho. its been many moons since i did that deep dive ^^

I have a double whammy: Nonplussed.
Bewildered; unsure how to respond or act. Double whammy because it does not mean not-plussed like many people seem to think.
- Nonplussed...that takes me back.
  I was educated in a private school for British ex-pats run by a very old and very posh couple. This was the early eighties and they were already in their seventies, so definitely from a different era. Because of this and because of the size of our school (my entire year consisted of nine kids) we ended up quite odd. Up until highschool we had a mild but "poshy" London accent and words like vexing, nonplussed, providential, etc., peppered our vocabulary. Then my family moved to Louisiana followed by Texas and that shit went right out.
  Also, the word is aluminium. It is NOT aluminum!
  
  I very recently learned that Amour is not universal and I just grew up playing a singular RPG that was developed by a group of British brothers so that forever shaped my expectations for how Armour should be spelled
  
  I was right there with you until you defended that silly word.
- It's interesting, it is becoming a modern day contronym
  https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/nonplussed
  
  Interesting link! I didn't know the misuse went back so far.

Obstreperous - noisy or difficult to control (as in "the boy is cocky and obstreperous")

I think it's used more often in computer science, but the difference between contiguous and continuous. Continuous means "without end" and contiguous means "without break."
- As in the continuous United States 🦅🦅🦅
  
  Gandalf brought an extra eagle because he didn’t know if Smeagol survived.
  
  🫡

Meant to say in my Nero Wolfe comment - there's a Lemmy community for interesting words at !wotd@lemmy.world - it's not very busy, but still.

"scruple" as a verb, meaning "hesitate due to conscience".
- People probably know a word based on it, unscrupulous, meaning having or showing no moral principles
  
  Yeah, and folks know "scruples" as a noun which some people have and some don't, but "scruple" as a verb is a nice archaic version that I really like, which you don't encounter much outside of, say, a Jane Austen novel.

Perchance!
- You can't just say "perchance"!
  
  Perchance?
  
  "Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis? Did Steve tell you that, perchance? Steve."
- To sleep, perchance to dream. And in that sleep of death, what dreams may come!
  Hamlet (hopefully I didn't get it too wrong)

Ultracrepidarian
An ultracrepidarian—from ultra- ("beyond") and crepidarian ("things related to shoes")—is a person considered to have ignored this advice and to be offering opinions they know nothing about.
The word is derived from a longer Latin phrase and refers to a story from Pliny the Elder
The phrase is recorded in Book 35 of Pliny the Elder's Natural History as ne supra crepidam sutor iudicaret[1] ("Let the cobbler not judge beyond the crepida") and ascribed to the Greek painter Apelles of Kos. Supposedly, Apelles would put new paintings on public display and hide behind them to hear and act on their reception.[2] On one occasion, a shoemaker (Latin sutor) noted that one of the crepides[a] in a painting had the wrong number of straps and was so delighted when he found the error corrected the next day that he started in on criticizing the legs.[2] Indignant, Apelles came from his hiding place and admonished him to confine his opinions to the shoes.[2] Pliny then states that since that time it had become proverbial.[2]

I like penultimate, next to last.
- I see what you did there
- Followed by antipenultimate
  
  You mean antepenultimate?

Internecine, meaning "destructive to both sides in a conflict".
Petty bickering like that divorce where they had a judge adjudicate the distribution of their beanie baby collection was internecine.
- As soon as I read "destructive to both sides in a conflict" I immediately thought of that case. And then you referenced it 😂

Übermorgen, the german word for overmorrow, is in abundant use in Germany. It's far from obsolete or obscure over here.
- Same for overmogen in the Netherlands. And eergisteren for the day before yesterday.
  
  In Poland it's "pojutrze" - after tomorrow, and "przedwczoraj" - before yesterday (those are also literal translations just as i wrote). Also in common and constant usage.
- Same for the Romanian "poimâine" (after tomorrow). We also have "alaltăieri" (the other yesterday). They are in use, quite common.

I'm currently reading through all of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries, and one fun feature is that he almost always includes one or more very obscure words. It's a nice little thing to look out for.
In the one I'm currently reading it's, "peculate," meaning to embezzle or steal money. Others include:
Plerophory - Fullness, especially of conviction or persuasion
Apodictically - From apodictic: clearly established or beyond dispute
Usufruct - The right to enjoy the use and advantages of another's property short of the destruction or waste of its substance
Acarpous - Not producing fruit; sterile; barren
Yclept - By the name of
Eruction - A belch or burp
I had a look to see if I could find a full list but sadly not. However most Wikipedia entries for the individual novels include a section called, "The unfamiliar word," if you want to find more.
- I had a look to see if I could find a full list but sadly not. However most Wikipedia entries for the individual novels include a section called, "The unfamiliar word," if you want to find more.
  Be the change you want to see in the world.
  
  Yeah, I was thinking I might. I ly thing is, I haven't got all the books, nor do I have a website on which to host such a list. However I might still have a go 👍
- It’s curious to see how things merge between languages. In Spain, both usufruct (usufructo) and eruction (eructo) are quite common words.
  
  Oh really? That's cool, thanks for the info. Language is so fascinating 👍
- Eruction - A belch or burp
  There could be some wild confusion if a New Zealander were to say "I've got a massive eruction building up" 😆

Sorry
- I see you've never been to Canada.
  
  Sorry, I speak a little Canadian, eh?

Autodefenestration is one of my faves. The act of throwing yourself out of a window.
If you’re throwing someone or something out, then it’s just plain defenestration
- Makes me want to find an excuse to use the term autoeroticdefenestration: to be sexually aroused by throwing yourself out of windows

Vituperative. Means vicious.

Grandiloquent/sesquipedalian. It's what you get when you use everything in this thread ₍^ >ヮ<^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ
_/s

I agree that we should use overmorrow more. Japanese has a similar word and it gets frequent use.
- Many languages have it. English for some reason does not use it
- In my country we also have a word for that and it's always used when referring to overmorrow.
  
  Hungarian as well. Tomorrow = holnap, overmorrow = holnapután. You can also stack the ”után" if you so wish, like holnapután-után. But more than that and you will get some curious looks from others :)

I am now adding overmorrow to my vocabulary. I can't wait to confuse the shit out of people I hate.
- übermorgen
- I can't wait to use it tomorrow.
  And overmorrow.
- You know that episode of Seinfeld where someone eats a candy bar with a knife and fork and it just spreads into the wild because people don't really question it?
  That's what I'm hoping happens with overmorrow

Scrofulous - a) having a diseased run-down appearance. b) morally contaminated
I learned this word when I heard someone being described as a 'scrofulous drinkist' lol

Vulgar Argot - a word or phrase that is obsolete or incredibly obscure.

"Philomot" was always pretty charming. "The color of a dead leaf."

My contribution is katzenjammer, which is a word describing a really bad hangover (in the English language). I believe it is used a bit differently in the German language, but don't take my word for it.
- I learned that word from an old comic from the late 19th century called The Katzenjammer Kids, which apparently is the oldest strip still in syndication.
- It’s funny that a hangover in Dutch is a kater, or, (male) Katze

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