I know I haven't been around to do the full on blogs with all the bells and whistles lately, but in the meantime I wanted to share one of my favorite websites in all of Netland with you guys. I've been going here for years, sometimes just perusing through all the unusual terms for hours as if I was stuck in some weird cycle of word-porn. So if you've got a literary sweet tooth then you'll love this site, I promise.
The Phrontistery has a variety of sections with lots of interesting English odds and ends. Even after all this time, I still find it to be one of the most impressive and addictive sites out there, especially if you're interested in Etymology. The best, in my oh so humble opinion, are the International House of Logorrhea and The Compendium of Lost Words.
logorrhea log-uh-RI-uh, n an excessive flow of words, prolixity [Gr logos word + roia flow, stream]
The International House of Logorrhea:
a free online dictionary of weird and unusual words to help enhance your vocabulary.
"Did you ever have an English teacher who told you 'Whenever you read something, and find a word you don't know, look it up in the dictionary and write it down'? Well, I took that advice to heart. Of course, once you have a few hundred words down on your list, you think to yourself (if you are as obsessive as I am), 'Wouldn't it be a lot easier if I just read the whole dictionary, so that I could just do this word writing thing once and be done with it?' The result, after nearly a decade of conscientious word-collecting, is the International House of Logorrhea.
I have compiled a list of 15,500 English words, ranging from the merely uncommon to the extremely rare, nearly obsolete and just plain nutty! Each word is listed along with a brief, one-line definition. You should be able to get the general sense of most words, without having to read through pages of dictionary definitions. Having said that, don't go out and discard your dictionary. "
The Compendium of Lost Words
"The Compendium lists over 400 of the rarest modern English words - in fact, ones that have been entirely absent from the Internet, including all online dictionaries, until now. By revealing the existence of these words online, I do not necessarily promote their revival, but I do encourage an appreciation of the flexibility of English vocabulary. In theory, the Compendium will be the only web page on which each of these words occurs in its proper English context."
***All kinds of props to the wonderful Stephen Chrisomalis who runs the site.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to be cosmogyral somewhere...
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to be cosmogyral somewhere...
