‘alexithymia’ (n.): the inability to express or describe one’s emotions in a verbal manner

‘sesquipedalian’ (adj.): 1. (of a word) polysyllabic, long; 2. long-winded or characterised by long words

Example: Lots of people know the sesquipedalian word “antidisestablishmentarianism”

‘tatterdemalion’ (n.): A person dressed in shabby or ragged clothing

‘buckminsterfullerene’ (n.): An extremely stable form of pure carbon which has a cage-like structure consisting of interconnected pentagons and hexagons

See if you can slip that one into your next conversation!

There is a lot suspicion and superstition surrounding Friday 13th and indeed, the number 13 itself. We don’t really know why. There are theories but for some it is simply unlucky and for others it simply isn’t. Regardless of your superstitions, here are some fantastic and strangely named phobias for just that!

First of all, the fear of the number 13:

‘triskaidekaphobia’

Secondly, the fear of Friday the 13th:

‘paraskevidekatriaphobia’ or ‘friggatriskaidekaphobia’

Don’t ask us which you should be using because either way,  you are going to need good luck with that pronunciation, yeesh.

Sourced from: http://speculativegrammarian.tumblr.com – check out this site for other interesting `satirical` linguistics content.

Image sourced from: http://www.todayifoundout.com/

‘ecdysiast’ (n.): A striptease performer (or, more colloquially, a stripper)

‘callipygian’ (adj.): Having well-shaped buttocks

(Okay, so Valentine’s Day has been and gone now, but everyone loves a compliment.)

‘borborygmus’ (n.): A gurgling, rumbling or squeaking noise from the abdomen caused by the movement of gas through the intestines (… in other words, stomach rumbling!)

‘syzygy’ (n.): An alignment of three celestial objects

Fun fact: This is also believed to be the only word in the English language that uses the letter ‘y’ three times!

‘taradiddle’ (n.): Pretentious nonsense

– This one is automatically awesome because it appears in Harry Potter – “We haven’t got time to listen to more taradiddles, I’m afraid, Dumbledore” (Cornelius Fudge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling, 2004)