Word Nerd: Words I Want to Find in a Story
snollygoster: a clever, unscrupulous person. What a fabulous word! It reminds me of a villain lurking in the pages of a Lemony Snicket book.
banderole: a small flag or streamer fastened to a lance, masthead, etc. I imagine this will be a handy term for upcoming Fourth of July parades.
ferdutzt: confused; bewildered. It sounds like have a fuzzy brain.
skrik: a sudden fright or panic. Yes, that’s exactly the word when I’m startled.
quidnunc: a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip. I am surprised I don’t come across this word in my English village novels. It so sounds like a person found in a Miss Marple story.
reboant: resounding or reverberating loudly. Definitely describes the train horns that barrage our area on a daily basis.
pluviophile: a person who enjoys rain and rainy days, and who is fascinated by the sights, sounds, etc., of rain. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where you learn to live the rain or go bonkers in winter, spring, and fall.
farouche: sullenly unsociable or shy. Not just shy but shy with an attitude. That is inspiration for a character, for sure. Maybe this person meets up with the local quidnunc and sparks fly. Hmmm…
ferhoodle: to confuse or mix up. A companion of ferduzt.
bloviate: to speak pompously. You know, that part of the movie where the snollygoster monologues about how clever they are right before they are undone by the clever hero.
tawpie: a foolish or thoughtless young person. I see this being home in a Gaiman tale for some reason.
ceilidh: a party, gathering, or the like, at which dancing, singing, and storytelling are the usual forms of entertainment. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream!
scintilla: a minute particle; spark; trace. It’s right companionable with “smidge”and “scootch.”
pwn: to totally defeat or dominate, especially in a video or computer game. Did the vowel get vanquished when this word came into being?
pervicacious: extremely willful; obstinate; stubborn. Oh dear, what if they are farouche as well?
proceleusmatic: inciting, animating, or inspiring. The problem is by the time the word is properly pronounced the moment has passed.
oppugn: to assail by criticism, argument, or action. This when the snollygoster shows their true colors.
lambent: running or moving lightly over a surface. Oddly, this is an adjective not a verb.
rubricate: to mark or color with red. So for equality purposes other colors should have their own verb—yellow would be “yubricate” and brown would be “bubricate”?
schmatte: an old ragged garment; tattered article of clothing. This sounds more like the state of my door mat after a hard winter of snow and ice abuse.
Challenge!
What word will you work into a conversation this week?
Pam Webb 
snollygoster is officially my favorite new word!
Top of my list as well!
Bloviate is the perfect verb for some blowhards I know.🤣
It sounds like bloated, doesn’t it😉
Quite a word collection, and only a few were familiar to me.
Words are so amazing! Some I have never heard of either.
Isak Dinesen (‘Babette’s Feast’) advised writers to use Latinate (logically constructed) words when necessary for preciseness, but to mix in as many tactile words as possible, i.e. Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Yiddish, etc.–words that “just sound like what they mean.” The ones on this list are all so wonderfully tactile!
I’m smitten with snollygoster but not sure I would use it logically 😉
;>)
I have to say my favorite word is snollygoster. I love learning new words. I listen to British books and watch a lot of British Television shows and hear words I am not familiar with. Sometimes I will look them up because I am curious. You can figure some words out by the context with which they are used but it is always fun to use a word that make people say “What?” Then you get to teach them a new word! 😉
Snollygoster is indeed a favorite. I need to work more of these word treasures into my daily lexicon.