Friday, June 9, 2017

Are these words English?!! Interesting Words that Might Puzzle You

 
Navigating through the journey of studying a foreign language takes much time and patience, because learners need to work on not only the currently used expressions, but the old and the newly coined ones as well. This week, we would like to go over some funny vocabs that you might or might not have heard.

(source from dictionary.com)

1.   to bumfuzzle: (verb)  to confuse (*originated from Southern US dialect)
e.g., Did you figure out the question #4 on the Math test? It totally bumfuzzled me!

2.   to canoodle: (verb) to be touchy feely/ caress/ fondle/pet amorously (* British English)
e.g., In Paris, it is easy to find young couples and lovers canoodling in the street.

3.   cattywampus (or catawampus) : (adjective) askew/ awry/ diagonally located/ kitty-cornered
e.g., Joshua’s house is cattywampus from my studio apartment.

4.   diddly-squat (or doodly-squat): (noun) something that is minimal/inconsequential,  the least amount, anything at all
e.g. I don’t know diddly-squat about Economics.

5.   diphthong: (noun) two vowel sounds joined in one syllable to form one speech sound The sounds of “ou” in “out” and of “oy” in “boy” are diphthongs
e.g., Practicing the sounds of English diphthongs is really fun and easier than working on tong twisters like “She sells seashells at the seashore.”

6.   dongle: (noun) a little piece of computer equipment/  a small device that plugs into a computer and serves as an adapter or as a security measure to enable the use of certain software
e.g., My grandma says she feels dizzy when she looks at all the tinny-tiny dongles scattered on my desk.

7.    doohickey: (noun) something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known “gadget; a dingus; a thingumabob; whatchamacallit”
e.g., Our garage is filled with a variety of electronic parts and other valuable doohickeys.

8.   fartlek: (noun) Swedish word meaning a system of training for distance runners in which the terrain and pace are continually varied
e.g., For fun and flexible speed work try fartlek training.

9.   gobbledygook: (noun) wordy and generally unintelligible jargon/  speech or writing that is complicated and difficult to understand
They may wish to sound impressive and fancy. They may use it as a technique of avoidance or obfuscation, if they want to hide the truth or are unsure of what they’re talking about
e.g., All the explanation about the geometric shapes sounded like total gobbledygook to the students.
   
     10. jackalope: (noun) totally fictional portmanteau word, but fun. As anyone who’s traveled the American West will inform you, a jackalope is a jackrabbit with … antelope horns
e.g., Children invited to Mr. Suess’ house was somewhat scared by taxidermy owls and jackalopes on the wall.




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