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A fascinating place to kill a few (or a LOT more!) minutes can be found at the Phrontistery (FRON-tis-te-ri, n. a thinking-place [Gr phrontisterion from phrontistes a thinker, from phroneein to think; applied by Aristophanes to the school of Socrates]). It’s a site dedicated to “obscure words and vocabulary resources”. (Actually, that could describe the last meeting I attended.)

Well, if you want to entertain your friends with your ability to come up with words no one has ever heard of, then this is the place! Here are some of my favorites (definitions provided by the proprietor, Forthright, and example sentences humbly contributed by yours truly):

Aegrotat ee’gro-tat, n (Latin aegrotat, he or she is sick, 3rd person singular of aegrotare, from aeger, sick) A medical certificate of illness excusing student’s sickness. Rarely used today except in Britain, and then only in the context of degrees and courses considered as passed by a student too ill to finish the appropriate material. Aegrotat is the only surviving remnant of the Latin verb aegrotare.

“Doc, it’s such a great day for golf, do you think you could give me an aegrotat for my boss?”

Barathrum ba-rath’rum, n (Latin, from Greek barathron) An abyss; an insatiable person. The second meaning, probably more popular than the first, derives from the metaphor of a bottomless pit, which characterises the stomach of some people, such as my brother.

“Never get stuck buying that guy lunch. He’s a real barathrum.”

Carfax kar’faks, n (Latin quadrifurcus, four-forked) A place where four roads meet; an intersection of main roads at the center of a town. Despite its appearance, it has nothing to do with cars or faxes, but is an anglicisation of the older Latin term. Now largely forgotten except in a few place names in the UK, but there’s no other word to represent the main intersection in a town.

“I’ll meet you at the carfax and we’ll have lunch.”

Delenda de-len’da, n pl (Latin, neuter plural of gerundive of delere, to delete) Things to be deleted or destroyed. The term is best known from the Latin phrase “Delenda est Carthago”, or “Carthage must be destroyed”, spoken by Cato the Elder in 157 B.C. after perceiving that Carthage might pose a threat to the Roman Republic. In this age of censors and shredders, delenda is rare, but most definitely not at risk of being deleted from dictionaries.

“Hey I appreciate the to-do list! I’ll make sure it gets on my delenda.”

Famulus fam’yoo-lus, n (Latin, a servant) A private secretary or attendant. Used especially to describe an assistant to a magician or scholar. I particularly like this word not only because it sounds more refined than ‘lackey’ or ‘Hey, you’, but because of its applicability to graduate students in a modern context.

“I’m sorry Joe, but your position as CEO is being outsourced, but I hear (name of competitive firm here) needs a new famulus.”

Farrago fe-rah’go, n (Latin farrago, mixed fodder, from far, grain) A confused mass of objects or people; any disordered mixture. This is an excellent term to describe the chaos evident in a crowd, jumble sale, or any drawer in my home. It’s not just a mess, but adds the extra context of confusion and clutter.

“This project is definitely a farrago.”

Galimatias gal-i-may’shi-us, n (French, gibberish) Nonsense; a confused mixture of unrelated things. This very cordial-sounding word is extraordinarily useful in contexts where one wishes to inform someone that their ideas are bafflingly ridiculous and incoherent without seeming overly impolite. It combines the senses of ‘incoherent’ and ‘ridiculous’ into a unique and useful term.

“I appreciate your ideas, Mary, they’re really quite galimatias.”

There are plenty more, along with lots of other interesting resources. Now I think I’ll retire to my growlery for some dedicated omphaloskepsis. Hey, don’t ultracrepidate unless you’ve tried it!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!