I have a short submission in this weeks edition of Christopher J. Garcia’s The Drink Tank It is issue number 64, but it is titled 100. My entry, which I originally thought was going to be an easy bit of lazy writing, is titled 100 Words You May or May Not Already Know (That You Will Have To Look Up For Yourself…) It is exactly that: 100 words – interesting words, mind you – no sentences, grammar, context, or punctuation.
Here is the list of words: (looking rather like a key-words list…)
accismus afflatus ailurophile antelucan augean banausic biffy bildungsroman borborygmic boustrophedonic brobdingnagian bumf callipygian coprolite coruscate coulrophobia crapulent crepuscular dasypygal deasil drumble entomophagous estivate evanesce exiguous fantods fernticle floccinaucinihilipilification flummery footle formication frisson fulminate galoot gobbet gowpen hircine horripilation hypnagogic hypocorism ineluctable infucate insouciance insufflate jeremiad jobation kerfuffle kickshaw lachrymose lacuna liripoop louche ludic maffick marmoreal mawkish meldrop mendacious meretricious mondegreen mundungus napiform natalitious nekton nictitate nosocomephrenia nudiustertian octothorp omphaloskepsis onychophagist oscitancy palilogy pandiculation pelf perendinate persiflage poetaster prolix pulchritude quagga quidnunc quotidian recondite redolent redoubtable ruction salmagundi schadenfreude sesquipedalian snollygoster spraints sternutation tergiversate titivate uvula veisalgia virgule widdershins wombat zedonk
Now I said that I thought it would be a lazy bit of writing, certainly easier than trying to actually write about something in 100 words. But, as these things usually turn out, I had to edit down a list of over 500 interesting words! I had to play favorites. I had to EDIT more than 80% of the words out! It’s like telling Peter Jackson that he’s got to tell the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy in 30 minutes.
That being said, it is a gratifying experience when you hear people talk about it – giving you their, and others, “scores” (apparently 34 is the least amount of word not-known so far.) So thank you Chris for printing my bit of silliness, and giving me a whole page (plenty of room for you to jot down a definition or two…)