HAPPY BIRTHDAY @HaggardHawks! 🎂
6 years ago today, HH fluttered into life here on Twitter. Since then, we’ve shared something like 40,000 extraordinary words, from AASVOGEL to ZENZIZENZIZENZIC.
But sometimes, we come across a word that’s too bizarre even for HH…
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6 years ago today, HH fluttered into life here on Twitter. Since then, we’ve shared something like 40,000 extraordinary words, from AASVOGEL to ZENZIZENZIZENZIC.
But sometimes, we come across a word that’s too bizarre even for HH…
[1/16]
One question that pops up here more than any other is whether the words HH posts are real. Yes, they really are.
But some words are so bizarre and so eyebrow-raising that if we were just to post them on here, absolutely nobody would believe they were genuine.
[2/16]
But some words are so bizarre and so eyebrow-raising that if we were just to post them on here, absolutely nobody would believe they were genuine.
[2/16]
So. Here’s a thread of 12 of the weirdest, most ridiculous, most baffling words we’ve ever found. And, yes, these all come from genuine English dictionaries.
Oh, and 🚨 SPOILER ALERT 🚨 – some of these are, er, pretty crude. You have been warned...
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Oh, and 🚨 SPOILER ALERT 🚨 – some of these are, er, pretty crude. You have been warned...
[3/16]
CROTCH-TROLLING
It’s all to do with fishing for pike, apparently.
(A General Dictionary of Provincialisms, 1840) [4/16]
It’s all to do with fishing for pike, apparently.
(A General Dictionary of Provincialisms, 1840) [4/16]
GRANDISSIMUS
Herman Melville thought the English language so desperately needed a specific word for a whale’s penis, he made this one up.
(OED) [5/16]
Herman Melville thought the English language so desperately needed a specific word for a whale’s penis, he made this one up.
(OED) [5/16]
BA’MONEY
Because nothing says Happy Wedding Day like pooling all your spare change, abandoning the ceremony, and going to buy a football.
(An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 1887) [6/16]
Because nothing says Happy Wedding Day like pooling all your spare change, abandoning the ceremony, and going to buy a football.
(An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 1887) [6/16]
COBBLE-DICK-LONGER-SKIN
The least appetizing name for a type of apple imaginable.
(A Cornish-English Vocabulary, 1836) [7/16]
The least appetizing name for a type of apple imaginable.
(A Cornish-English Vocabulary, 1836) [7/16]
TEATY-WAD
What’s a teaty-wad? It’s the same as a sugar-teat. What’s a sugar teat? It’s a nipple-shaped linen pouch filled with sugar for a baby to suck on.
(A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1847) [8/16]
What’s a teaty-wad? It’s the same as a sugar-teat. What’s a sugar teat? It’s a nipple-shaped linen pouch filled with sugar for a baby to suck on.
(A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1847) [8/16]
CHITTERIE-CHATTERIE
You may never need a word for a piece of bread eaten immediately after taking a bath, but have this one anyway.
(A Scots Dialect Dictionary, 1911) [9/16]
You may never need a word for a piece of bread eaten immediately after taking a bath, but have this one anyway.
(A Scots Dialect Dictionary, 1911) [9/16]
THOROUGH-COUGH
Because nothing is more ‘thorough’ than coughing and farting at the same time.
(A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785) [10/16]
Because nothing is more ‘thorough’ than coughing and farting at the same time.
(A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785) [10/16]
TADAGO PIE
If you thought that stargazy pie was the weirdest food Cornwall has to offer, think again.
(A Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, 1857) [11/16]
If you thought that stargazy pie was the weirdest food Cornwall has to offer, think again.
(A Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, 1857) [11/16]
CUM-TWANG
A term of abuse. Couldn’t really be much else.
(A Supplementary English Glossary, 1881) [12/16]
A term of abuse. Couldn’t really be much else.
(A Supplementary English Glossary, 1881) [12/16]
HIPPURIS
A ‘debility and weeping of the genitals’ caused by too much horse riding.
(The Philadelphia Medical Dictionary, 1808) [13/16]
A ‘debility and weeping of the genitals’ caused by too much horse riding.
(The Philadelphia Medical Dictionary, 1808) [13/16]
SPUNK-WATER
The rainwater that gathers in tree stumps? That’s spunk-water.
(A Dictionary of American Regionalisms, 2000) [14/16]
The rainwater that gathers in tree stumps? That’s spunk-water.
(A Dictionary of American Regionalisms, 2000) [14/16]
CHRISTMAS HOLD
And finally, seeing as it is nearly Christmas, a suitably festive term from wrestling for a handful of nuts.
(Slang and Unconventional English, 2006) [15/16]
And finally, seeing as it is nearly Christmas, a suitably festive term from wrestling for a handful of nuts.
(Slang and Unconventional English, 2006) [15/16]
Congratulations if you made it this far!
And if you’ve made it through the past 6 years and 40,000 @HaggardHawks tweets, a huge thank you—HH would not exist to, er, share words like these without you.
Now. Who’s for a quick bit of crotch-trolling?
[16/16]
And if you’ve made it through the past 6 years and 40,000 @HaggardHawks tweets, a huge thank you—HH would not exist to, er, share words like these without you.
Now. Who’s for a quick bit of crotch-trolling?
[16/16]
