What words do you think of as funny?
Here are 25 of the funniest words in the English language
from a list by linguist, Robert Beard.
Abibliophobia The fear of running out of reading material.
Borborygm A rumbling of the stomach.
Canoodle To hug and kiss.
Codswallop Nonsense, balderdash.
Collop A slice of meat or fold of flab.
Collywobbles Butterflies in the stomach.
“GARDYLOO! Ecdysiast.”
Ecdysiast An exotic dancer, a stripper.
Flibbertigibbet Nonsense, balderdash.
Gaberlunzie A wandering beggar.
Gardyloo! A warning shouted before throwing water from above.
Gongoozle To stare at.
Goombah An older friend who protects you.
Hobbledehoy An awkward or ill-mannered young boy.
Hoosegow A jail or prison.
La-di-da An interjection indicating that something is pretentious.
Lickspittle A servile person, a toady.
Mumpsimus An outdated and unreasonable position on an issue.
Pettifogger A person who tries to befuddle others with his speech.
Slangwhanger A loud abusive speaker or obnoxious writer.
Smellfungus A perpetual pessimist.
Snollygoster A person who can’t be trusted.
Snool A servile person.
Troglodyte Someone or something that lives in a cave.
Wabbit Exhausted, tired, worn out.
And . . . wrapping it up with #25:
@ The “at” sign.
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Robert E. Beard is a linguist whose specialty is morphology (the study of words). He owns and writes at alphaDictionary.com under the pseudonym “Dr. Goodword”. Take a look at his site. It’s a writer’s nirvana.
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What fun! I recognized some of these. My personal favorite: la-di-da with goombah coming in a close second.
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