{"id":244,"date":"2009-02-26T07:06:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T07:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omeoflittlefaith\/2009\/02\/funny-words-and-suggested-usage.html"},"modified":"2009-02-26T07:06:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-26T07:06:00","slug":"funny-words-and-suggested-usage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2009\/02\/funny-words-and-suggested-usage.html","title":{"rendered":"Funny Words and Suggested Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days back, <\/span>I clicked on a Google ad somewhere linking to a book called The 100 Funniest Words in English<\/span><\/a>, by Robert Beard. The book’s website<\/a> listed those funny words (but without definition) and I agreed that most of them were, in fact, funny words.<\/p>\n

It occurred to me that our lives would be better if we could work some of these words into our daily conversations, so as a public service, I would like to help you do just that. Here is a random selection of the 100 Funniest Words (according to Beard), with definitions and my own personal recommendations for usage:<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

Batrachomyomachy <\/strong>(noun): A fight over something unimportant, or “making a mountain out of a molehill.”<\/p>\n

Suggested usage: <\/span>“Pete! Jerry! There’s no need to punch each other because you both showed up at the party wearing the same Aeropostale shirt. Nothing good ever comes from such batrachomyomachy<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

Crapulence<\/span> <\/strong>(noun): Sickness caused from overeating or excessive drinking.<\/p>\n

Suggested usage: <\/span>“Don’t party with Melissa. She suffers from Saturday-night crapulence<\/span> and is just as likely to vomit on you as she is to do the Sprinkler with you on the dance floor.”<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

Fard<\/span> (verb): to paint or apply cosmetics to one’s face.<\/p>\n

Suggested usage: <\/span>“Sorry I can’t join you for the pre-game cookout. Craig and I will be in the men’s room. Gotta fard <\/span>up for the big game. Because nothing shows Hoosier loyalty like facepaint.”<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

Godwottery<\/span> (noun): purposefully using archaic language<\/p>\n

Suggested usage: <\/span>“Kip is such a blowhard, with all that talk about sitting on his ‘divan’ and carrying his ‘satchel’ and accusing people of ‘batrachomyomachy.’ All that godwottery<\/span> gets on my nerves.”<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

Snollygoster<\/span> (noun): a clever, unscrupulous person.<\/p>\n

Suggested usage: <\/span>“Say what you will about Bernie Madoff, but that snollygoster<\/span> pulled a pretty impressive scam. I expect most of the crapulence you see on the Upper West Side is directly related to his scandal.”<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

Snickersnee<\/span> (noun): a knife fight.<\/p>\n

Suggested usage: <\/span>“When that Yankee snollygoster<\/span> made fun of my farded face, I did what any self-respecting Red Sox fan would: I pulled out my Leatherman Micra<\/a> and challenged him to a straight-up snickersnee<\/span>. To the death. Obviously.”<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

If you like these, I can do it more often. Because I’m all about godwottery when appropriate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days back, I clicked on a Google ad somewhere linking to a book called The 100 Funniest Words in English, by Robert Beard. The book’s website listed those funny words (but without definition) and I agreed that most of them were, in fact, funny words. It occurred to me that our lives would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lists","category-random"],"yoast_head":"\nFunny Words and Suggested Usage - O Me of Little Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2009\/02\/funny-words-and-suggested-usage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Funny Words and Suggested Usage - O Me of Little Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few days back, I clicked on a Google ad somewhere linking to a book called The 100 Funniest Words in English, by Robert Beard. 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