WORDS THAT SOUND SILLY
I've long been amused by certain words in our language that just...sound funny. There's something about the way the consonants and vowels of these words jumble together in your mouth before they're spoken that give them a foolish kinship. I've listed my favorites here for your own amusement.
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WORDS THAT SOUND SILLY
Key: The word's language of origin appears directly below it, and to the right of that is an example sentence and an etymology, along with any related themes.
Word |
Phonetic Pronunciation |
Part of Speech |
Definition |
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BOON-daw-gul |
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1. a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a hatband or ornament
2. a wasteful or impractical project often involving graft
3. verb : to do useless, wasteful, or trivial work
4. verb : to deceive or attempt to deceive |
Ex.
Etym.
Rel. Themes: |
Enron's CEO was jailed for boondoggling investors.
Unknown, though attributed to American scoutmaster R.H. Link as a name for the braided cord described in definition 1.
Sounds Silly
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flabbergast
Portmanteau |
FLA-bur-gast |
verb |
to put to confusion or embarrassment; to astonish utterly, confound |
Ex.
Etym.
Rel. Themes: |
Ms. Tippet was so flabbergasted by the appearance of her son at the wedding that she fainted, and not even the strongest smelling salts could avail her.
Perhaps a combination of flabber + aghast, suggestive of the shaking one does when utterly astonished.
Portmanteaux, Sounds Silly
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tenterhook
Middle English |
TEN-tur-hook |
noun |
1. a sharp, hooked nail for fastening cloth to a tenter
2. something that causes suffering or painful suspense |
Ex.
Etym.
Rel. Themes: |
Fans of thrillers enjoy being kept on tenterhooks until the final minutes.
From the Middle English teyntur, from medieval Latin tentura, from tenta, "tent"
+ hook
Sounds Silly
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tom-FOO-luh-ree, -FOOL-ree |
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the action or behavior of a tomfool; playful or foolish behavior; silly trifling |
Ex.
Etym.
Rel. Themes: |
Mother got so fed up with the neighbors' tomfoolery that she up and moved.
From the Middle English nickname Thom Foole, given to any half-witted man.
Eponyms, Sounds Silly
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WI-dur-shinz |
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1. in a direction opposite to the usual; the wrong way; counterclockwise
2. in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun (considered as unlucky or causing disaster) |
Ex.
Etym.
Rel. Themes:
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"The coracle whirled round, clockwise, then widdershins." (Anthony Bailey)
Chiefly a Scottish dialect word, probably from Middle Low German weddersinnes, lit. "against the way"
Likely Literary, Little-known Synonyms, Sounds Silly
Technically not a German word, since modern German (or "New High German") is different from the Middle Low German (c. 1100 - c. 1500) from which this word is likely descended
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