Tuesday 16 November 2010

obarmate

If you agree that elevating refudiate to a literate status is the very height of impudicity, then you might enjoy the finely crafted site Save the Words (sadly no more) from the Oxford Dictionaries consortium.  This is a great resource that celebrates the poetic exactness of the English language and rehabilitates obscure and nonce-words.  Who, in his quiver of vocabulary, would have sinapistic (consisting of mustard) at his disposal when singing the praises of the Grey Poupon marketing campaign?  Or that primifluous (that which flows first) is an excellent term to describe the tapping of the keg that opens Oktoberfest, when the master-of-ceremonies adimpleates the Munich Burgermeister's MaรŸ?  One can register to receive a word a day or adopt a neglected word, pledging to use this word in conversation and correspondence, as frequently as possible and to the very best of one's ability.