Words You Never Heard

Waggle Dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. Dogs eat bees because they like to chase and capture things. Did you know that one of every three or four bites of food we eat is thanks to honeybees? Bees pollinate about 90 different crops, from apples and oranges to almonds and blueberries! People have known about the importance of bees for centuries.  Cave paintings in Europe show that people were harvesting honey 8,000 years ago!  The Egyptians were beekeepers, and their methods were copied throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.   The average honey bee can fly at speeds of 20 miles per hour and communicate with each other by dancing!  A typical hive has up to 60,000 honey bees in constant bombination.  The world couldn't survive without bees.  Einstein predicted that “if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only 4 yrs of his life left!" The stinger of a bee is one-tenth of an inch long the other nine-tenths is pure imagination. What do you call a person whose grand terror is being stung by a bee? An endidophobe  (NI-de-FOBE!)  The average American consumes 1.3 pounds of honey a year. We steal honey from the bees and then get mad when they sting us.  What's another word for this kind of hypocrisy? Tartuffish (tor-TOOF-ish)!  What is a word for fear of bees? Melissophobia or apiphobia.        

Well, we're leaving the goblin season and entering the gobbler season! Did you know only male turkeys (or toms) gobble? Females (or hens) make a clicking noise.  The heaviest turkey on record was raised in England and weighed 86 pounds! Hey ladies, if you're tired of cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year, you might try to get your guy to barbeque or deep fry a turkey.  This involves danger and men love danger. What's a word for a male cook? A bobachee!   Other countries such as  Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and more celebrate Turkey Day.  Ironically the country of Turkey doesn't.  One thing's for sure, at my house my sons always fight over who gets the wishbone.  What's a word for stealing food from another person?  Leptobiosis!

  Did Scotch tape originate in Scotland? Nope, the popular gift-wrapping tape was actually developed right here in the United States!   In 1926, the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company,  (3M) was being a bit rapacious, tried to save a  little scratch,   and started using a cheaper adhesive on their sticky tape! A Detroit automaker ordered some of this newer, cheaper tape to use for spray-painting auto bodies. The automaker complained that the tape was “Scotch” a politically incorrect word that meant cheap or stingy).   While the tape didn't have the adhesion to satisfy the automaker,  it was hardly a gefoojet, that's an unnecessary thing-it had many other uses, as we all know: so the tape was kept in production, and the name SCOTCH just “stuck”!     

Autumn used to be called “harvest” Until about 1500, autumn was just called “harvest.”  The full moon closest to the autumn equinox is known as a harvest moon. Before cities were electrified, the bright night, the harvest moon was essential for farmers harvesting their late-year crops.  Apple cider is nearly as popular as pumpkin spice during the fall. But keeping up with the demand for fresh cider requires a whole lot of apples—just one gallon of apple cider requires 36 apples. What's a word for the last small apples remaining on the tree after harvest? Griggles! Churn Supper  is a term from the 1800s  for a feast at the end of the hay harvest, (the onset of autumn with memories of  the sweet tang of the newly-crisp air, and the colors of the foliage.) Pumpkins, perhaps the most iconic image of autumn, are grown on six of the seven continents (sorry, Antarctica). Their name comes from the Greek word pepon, roughly meaning “large melon.”

  Let me get right to the question: “Do you have an “innie or an outie”?  Yes, we're talkin' bellybuttons!” If you're an outie you are definitely the minority, but that's good news because you don't have to worry about a little problem that people with innies have. Bellybutton lint.  I know it's disgusting but someone's got to talk about it.   Did you know there's a word for “the small mass of lint, such as that which accumulates in the belly button”?  It's called pledget. Researchers say the color of the pledget in your belly button is related to the clothing you wear, it usually ends up being a blue-grey color just like the lint that collects in your clothes dryer! Have I turned you into an omphalopsychite yet? That's a person who's obsessed with their belly button. Why do you suppose women pierce their belly buttons? Maybe it's because of all that pledget they need a place to hang some air freshener!

Are you ready to gobble till you wobble?  Americans alone feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on thanksgiving!  The word  ‘turkey' may  originate  from the fact that turkeys make a turk, turk, turk, sound when they're it is scared. The skin that hangs off the turkey's neck is called a Wattle!  Turkeys have great hearing and have a wide field of vision, which makes sneaking up on them difficult.  But, when you do, they quickly become bumsquabbled!   Some of us crave certain food for the Thanksgiving meal. Personally, I look forward to the cranberries or bounceberries as they're sometimes called! (You know they're ripe if they bounce when you drop them on the floor!) What's a word for craving a certain food to the point of madness? AHP-suh-MAY-nee-ak) opsomaniac!  

Studies show people who smile more tend to live longer than those who don't.  It seems the simple act of smiling causes a positive emotional state in a person!  Of course, smiling can have a positive effect on those around you as well.   It has been shown that waiters and waitresses who smile generate larger tips, especially if there's a little huzzlecoo, or flirting thrown in!    Fake smiles are 10 times bigger than genuine smiles, because they're meant to be seen!   The  TV news anchor who wishes you “Good evening”  and then proceeds to tell you why it isn't, is a good example of a person feigning a smile.  What's a word for someone who fakes a smile?  An eccedentesiast!  Women generally smile more than men.  Apparently, the smile muscle, or the zygomaticus major, is thicker in gals than in guys. However, it's unclear whether females are born with a bigger smile muscle, or if it just bulks up from more exercise.

Studies show people who smile more tend to live longer than those who don’t.  It seems the simple act of smiling causes a positive emotional state in a person!  Of course, smiling can have a positive effect on those around you as well.   It has been shown that waiters and waitresses who smile generate larger tips, especially if there’s a little huzzlecoo, or flirting thrown in!    Fake smiles are 10 times bigger than genuine smiles, because they’re meant to be seen!   The  TV news anchor who wishes you “Good evening”  and then proceeds to tell you why it isn’t, is a good example of a person feigning a smile.  What's a word for someone who fakes a smile?  An eccedentesiast!  Women generally smile more than men.  Apparently, the smile muscle, or the zygomaticus major, is thicker in gals than in guys. However, it's unclear whether females are born with a bigger smile muscle, or if it just bulks up from more exercise.

I didn't realize how much I would miss  Cwtch, that's a Welsh word meaning "to hug, or a safe welcoming place.”’ People in Sweden often send virtual hugs via text message, signing off with the word  'kram' which means to hug.  Huggle is a cross between a hug and a cuddle, and canoodling is another word for cuddling. As for those people who truly cannot tolerate hugging or touching? They would be known as haphephobic. Someone said when hugging a child, always be the last to let go, you never know how long they need it.  Hugs and thanks so very much for listening!

Selfies may seem vain and frivolous, but there’s actually a lot more to this cultural phenomenon than meets the (camera’s) eye.  Your favorite selfie pose can say a lot about your personality. In a study published in Computers in Human Behaviour, researchers connected self-portrait styles to specific character traits.  People who like to look directly into the camera are more likely to be philodemics or agreeable and loving.  Those who have a go-to “duck face” pose are more likely to be emotionally unstable. But they don’t mind feeling kenspeckled, or conspicuous.36% of all people admit to doctoring their selfie or editing it before sharing it. This includes enhancing a skin tone or using a filter. What’s a word for a condition where things appear more beautiful than they really are?  Kalopsia!    

Women have been wearing lipstick for thousands of years. Even the ladies of ancient Rome wore lipstick, however much of the lipstick from the old days were made with toxic ingredients like lead for example.  (No wonder they didn’t live for very long back then.) Today, lipsticks are safe and come in millions of shades and textures.  What’s another word for the noise made by smacking one's lips?  Plapper! Lipsticks also range from inexpensive to the dramatical, or luxuriously extravagant.  The most expensive and exclusive lipstick in the world is Guerlain’s Kiss Kiss Gold which retails for $64,000 a tube.  Of course, this may be because the tube is made of gold and encrusted with diamonds. Winston Churchill once remarked that lipstick will continue to be produced during the war because it boosted the morale of the women who wore it, and the men who beheld it.  What’s a word for a person who is attracted to someone’s lips?  A cheiloproclitic! This leads us to the kiss. One kiss uses up to 3 calories, with or without lipstick.  Let's hear it for osculating. What’s a word for the art of kissing?  Philematology 

What’s a word for a device that saves time and labor?  A timmynoggy!  Speaking of timmynoggys, I was hiking in Colorado and found some old cans near an abandoned logging camp.  The cans were so thick, I wondered how in the world did people open these back then? Early cans for storing vegetables were made of iron lined with tin and could be as thick as 3/16th of an inch.  A hammer and chisel wasn’t just the informal way of opening them, it was the manufacturer’s suggested method. The first can opener was invented by Ezra J Warner who received a patent in 1858. Warner’s can opener was a blade that cut into the can lid with a guard to prevent it from puncturing the can itself.  Though never a big hit with the public, Warner’s can opener served the US Army during the Civil War and found a home in many grocery stores, where clerks would open cans for customers. What’s a word for one who depends on others for food?  An opscheplooper!

Valentine’s Day is almost here, or as guys like to call it, Extortion Day!  My husband doesn’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. He says when he thinks about romance, the last thing on his mind is a chubby toddler coming at him with a weapon.” Valentines Day is celebrated worldwide. Studies show that 64% of American men don’t make plans ahead.  What’s a word for the act of setting a romantic mood with flowers and a candlelight dinner? Anthorexia!  Sounds more like a disease to me. Anyway, as you can see, love is a many-syllabled thing:)   This year as men are on a charrette, or last-minute effort to find the perfect Valentin’s Day card, Hallmark alone offers more than 1400 choices from the romantic to the humorous.  Trying to choose the perfect card for your valentine is enough to give anyone abulia, that’s difficulty making a decision! But some don't give a flip! What's a word for the act of falling in love with a schnook when you should have known better? Anaxiphilia!

While many people say “opposites attract”, when it comes to choosing a mate, research suggests people who are similar tend to do better in a relationship.  What’s a word for a well-matched relationship? Homogamosis. A recent survey of 5000 single people said they would not be able to be in a romantic relationship with someone who didn’t share their political views.  Studies show we are naturally more attracted to people who are similar to ourselves in appearance, beliefs, and interests.  It’s no fun hanging out with someone who thinks your hobbies are stupid, right? However, it turns out that introverts and extroverts make great couples.  Introverts are typically good listeners and extroverts love to talk.  Sounds like the perfect marriage to me.  What’s a word for an unhappy marriage?  Cagamosis.

A new study just published in Scientific Reports claims domestic cats do recognize their own names — they just couldn't care less!  Apparently, cats are just as good as dogs at learning, they’re just not as keen to show their owners. Did you know cats are the most common pets in America? There are around 66 million cat owners in America compared to 58 million dogs, with Parakeets “flying” a distant third at 14 million. The average cat will cost its owner around $7000 dollars during its life to cover its expenses. Now that’s a lot of spondulicks! An ailurophile is what you call a real cat aficionado.  You’ve heard of a flock of sheep or a herd of goats, but what’s the correct term for a group of felines? A clouder of cats!    

Recently, a pilot helping to fight the fires in  California had an unexpected guest board his helicopter mid-flight.  Dan Alpiner, a pilot with Sky Aviation, was helping conduct water drops over the Creek Fire in Medera county when mid-flight, an owl flew in through the window and perched calmly inside his helicopter! What’s a word for something being really strange? Ostrobogulous! Fortunately, the owl didn’t cause any trouble and after riding in the helicopter for a short time, flew right back out the window. A baby owl is called an Owlet.  A group of owls is called a Parliament. The name Parliament originates from C.S. Lewis’ description of a meeting of owls in The Chronicles of Narnia. Owls are zygodactyl, which means their feet have two forward-facing toes and two backward-facing toes. What's a word for the fear of owls? Strigiformophobia!

There are many towns with funny names, but some are truly unfortunate.  Take the town of Asbestos in Canada. When you’re named after a carcinogenic mineral banned in 60 countries, it's kind of hard to attract visitors. The towns of Boring, Dull, and Bland, in the US, Scotland, and Australia were all named after the surnames of their early settlers.  Tightwad, Missouri has become somewhat famous for its bank, as customers from all over the country open accounts there just so they can have checks printed with the Tightwad logo on them.  What’s a word for making money any way you can?  Quomodocunquize! How would you like to live in Accident, Maryland, or Embarrass Minnesota?  There’s even a Belchertown, Massachusetts.  But the town that would win my award for the strangest name is Slickpoo, Idaho.    

During these uncertain times, more and more people are feeling pretty stressed out.  Well, there’s a forgotten way to help eliminate the stress that’s making a comeback.  Cow Cuddling!  Some people are turning to this natural wellness practice of snuggling up to cows.  Known as Koe Knuffelen in the Netherlands where this form of therapy supposedly originated, cow cuddling, reduces stress in humans by releasing the bonding hormone oxytocin. The people who lie down next to cows say they find it very relaxing because of the bovine’s warm body temperatures and calm demeanor.  What’s a word for having a comfort-loving temperament?  Viscerotonic. The word for a cow in Latin is Bos.  This is why many farmers call their cows Bossie.  Cows are attracted to music and also have the ability to recognize human faces.  What’s a word for the condition of not being able to remember faces? Prosopagnosia

Taking a shower isn’t just good for your hygiene, but according to The Psychological Science Journal, they’re also good for your creativity. For many people, taking a shower provides a sort of zeigarnik effect or a brief respite from our tasks that helps to improve our mental focus. More men than women take daily showers. Showers can be a good way to wash off your troubles if you’re feeling narky or ramfezzled.  You might think that Americans take more showers than people in other countries, but Mexico on average has the highest amount of shower takers. Nolan Bushnell,  creator of Atari and Chuck E Cheese once said, “Everyone who has taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.”

Have you ever butt-dialed someone?  The Dutch have a word for it, broekzakbellen.  The English translation is “The pocket-dial giveth, and the pocket-dial taketh away. Butt-dialing someone can be an awkward or even embarrassing miskobble. But it’s pretty funny when it happens to someone else.  What’s a word for deriving pleasure from another’s misfortune?  Schadenfreude.  It’s estimated that over 100 million calls to 911 last year were butt-dialed.  I accidentally pocket dialed my fitness trainer at a restaurant just as I was ordering a cheeseburger and fries.  Boy, I felt like a goomstromnoodle. What do you call the act of being impolite in a social situation by looking at your phone instead of paying attention to the person you are with?  Phubbing!  

Since we’ve all been staying home a lot more, many of us have been spending more time in our slippers!  According to Mark Forsyth's: A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language, pantoffle is another word for a bedroom slipper. The word slipper dates all the way back to the mid 1400’s and there’s really nothing more comfortable to wear around the house. Most people have a pair of slippers they put on after waking up in the morning.  An expergefactor is anything that causes one to wake up.  An expergefactor could be a barking dog, or, of course, an alarm clock.  What’s another word for the snooze button on an alarm clock?  A rawley! Now that you’re out of bed and your toes are snugly pantoffled, You might look down and notice the indentation on the bed where you’ve been sleeping all night.  This little dip in the mattress is called a staddle!

As much as I love Words You Never Heard, I enjoy a good word joke just as much. Did you hear about the oxymoron that walked into a bar?  The silence was deafening.  I dated an apostrophe once, but he was too possessive. Having fun with words has always been a passion of mine and I say this with all jocoseriosity.  Jocoseriosity implies a combination of humor mixed with seriousness.  Oddly, I have never been much of a grammar nazi though.  Why get all worked up over it I say?  Someone who gets upset over trivial things is called a microlipet.  Of course, this is just my opinion.  What’s a word for a person who loves their own opinion?  A philodox.  Arial and Helvetica walk into a bar, but the bartender hollered at them to get out!  He said they didn’t serve their type!  

You may have heard about the fox that was caught stealing shoes from people’s porches and gardens in Germany.  Berlin resident Christian Meyer noticed that his expensive running shoes went missing from his porch and decided to investigate the theft.  After checking with neighbors, he learned he was not the only one who recently experienced missing footwear. Days later, he spotted a red fox with two blue flip-flops in its mouth.  He followed the fox to a thicket and discovered a stash of more than 100 shoes! A group of foxes is called a skulk or a leash.  A male fox is a dog and a female is a vixen.  Baby foxes are called pups, kits or cubs.  Foxes can run up to 31 mph and jump over 6 ft fences.  Foxes are also smarter than most dog breeds. The foxy shoe thief apparently preferred Crocs as the majority of the shoes he made off with were these popular sandals and clogs.  

Is an African grey parrot smarter than a Harvard University Student?  Probably not, but it does appear to be better at the classic Shell Game! The perspicacious parrot did as well as or bested the Harvard students in 12 out of 14 trials, using his beak to point! Perspicacious is another word for wise or shrewd. Parrots have zygodactyl feet which means they have 2 toes pointing forward and 2 pointing to the back! Griffin has been the subject of cognitive and communicative studies since he was two months old.  What’s a word for the will to win? Spizzerinctum!

Rocco Figaretti recently hit a hole-in-one on a par three at the Oglebay Park Golf Course in Wheeling, West Virginia.  That might not be so remarkable, except that Rocco is only four years old.  The odds of the average golfer hitting a hole-in-one are about 12,000 to 1.  Even Tiger Woods didn’t hit his first hole-in-one until he was 6 years old.  Rocco’s incredible shot is the reason for a little cock-a-hoop or celebration. Rocco swings right-handed with a left-handed grip.  A mollydooker is a slang for a left-hander.  He started practicing his golf swing at 3 years old hitting balls around the yard at home.  The first golf balls were known as gutta-percha balls because they were made from gutta-percha, a substance obtained from a tree native to East Asia.  Gutta-percha was also used by dentists to fill cavities.  Some people say that golf is just an expensive way of playing marbles!  

Comic book fans seem to have a language all their own. With terms like Variant cover, Retcon, Splash page, and Zine, one would have to be a Pannapictagraphist to understand it all.  A Pannapictagraphist is a collector of comic books.  A Zine is a self-published and often hand-drawn comic and a Floppy is a slang term for a single issue comic. Comic book collecting can be quite lucrative for those who are a part of the Comixology crowd.  An original copy of the Action Comics first issue which introduced Earth to Superman sold for 3.2 million dollars on eBay making it the most expensive comic book in the world. What do you call the Boom, Pow, Bang sounds often depicted in comic books like Batman and other superheroes? Onomatopoeia!  

Why are mosquitos more attracted to some people than others?  Mosquitos in general find their prey by sensing the carbon dioxide humans and animals produce when they exhale.  Mosquitos can lock onto a carbon dioxide emission from over 50 meters away. Recent studies have shown that mosquitos or gallinippers are also more attracted to people with type O blood.  However, the most important variable that determines if a mosquito prefers you to someone else is the scent of the chemical compounds produced by microbes and bacteria that live on our skin.  That's why insect repellants that use DEET are the most effective for masking the smell of our skin. What's a word for the fear of itching? Pruritophobia! The real question is, “Why didn't Noah just swat those two mosquitos in the first place?”

As the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in lockdowns of much of India, monkeys, who are common on the streets of Delhi are rapidly becoming a nuisance.  Normally the streets of Delhi are filled with people who regularly give food handouts to the Rhesus Macaques who live there, but now without their regular food source, the emboldened monkeys have resorted to sneaking into homes and stealing food and personal belongings.  What's another name for a thief?  A Jackroller! Recently a lab assistant from the Meerut Medical College in Delhi was attacked by a group of monkeys who ran off with some patient coronavirus test samples.  Fortunately, the monkeys weren’t able to get into the sample packaging and left them on the ground under some trees. What’s another word for taken aback?  Sharooshed!

  The Social Security Administration has released a list of the latest frequently used baby names in the US.  Currently, Emma and Liam are the most popular for 2020. Luna tops the list for baby girls in the UK.  Luna was the name of the Roman Moon Goddess.  The most popular girl’s name in the world right now is Sophia! Apollo, Birdie, Bear and Zelda are trending for baby names in Italy, and Cian and Roisin are peaking in Ireland.  A sobriquet is a descriptive name given to someone because of a physical trait such as Red, red hair or Peanut because of diminutive size. Food oriented names are also gaining popularity worldwide such as Cinnamon, Dijon, Kale, and Benedict. Of course, if you don’t like your name, it’s not that difficult to change it.  What’s a word for the fear of change?  Kainotophobia.    

  It’s been just over 100 years since the first traffic light appeared.  Early traffic lights weren’t automatic but operated manually by a police officer in a booth next to the road.  At first, there were only red and green lights.  The yellow light didn’t come into use until the 1920’s when officers noticed that drivers needed an interval of time to be able to slow down in order to clear the intersection. The first fully electronic traffic light was installed on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914.  But stoplight technology has evolved over the decades into sporting energy-saving LED’s and being controlled by traffic management computers. A Korean company is working on a traffic light that displays news headlines to keep drivers from looking at their cell phones at a red light.  What’s a word for that fuzzy state of almost falling asleep while waiting at a traffic light?  Hypnopompic.

This summer marks the 45th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s epic blockbuster Jaws.  This movie that literally scared moviegoers out of the water, was the first movie to gross over $100 million at the box office.  Now that’s a lot of dooteroomus! The movie Jaws was adapted from author Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel of the same name, which was based on a series of shark attacks that occurred off the coast of New Jersey in 1916.  The filming of Jaws was marred with numerous technical issues including constant mechanical failures with the animatronic shark nicknamed Bruce. Jaws Amity Island was actually Martha’s Vinyard and the famous line, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” wasn’t in the script, but improvised by Roy Sheider while shooting the scene. What’s a word for the fear of sharks?  Selachophobia!    

  What’s a word for a person who tells artful lies? A mendaciloquent. In the world of branding and advertising, this technique is all too well known, and just because a product is named for a place, doesn’t necessarily mean it came from there. For instance, The Outback Steakhouse actually originated in Tampa, Florida.  And New York Brand Texas toast is produced in Ohio. Arizona Iced Tea is headquartered in New York City and Old Milwaukee Beer is brewed in Detroit.  What’s another word for the foam that forms on top of your beer? Barm! Uno’s Chicago Grill is a Boston based restaurant chain, Irish Spring Soap is made in the USA, and the London Broil method of marinating a flank steak began in the American Midwest and is virtually unheard of in England!  

The language experts at Babbel sent us a few of the new coronavirus-inspired words that humanity has added to its covidictionary. You know when you’re in lockdown, one might have a tendency to overeat and gain a little weight.  Well the Germans have a word for that  additional poundage.  Kummerspeck, which literally means “grief bacon”. The  word  spendemic was coined by The New York Post and refers to the increase in online shopping during the corona virus outbreak. According to Babbel, coronials is the term being used for the babies who will be born after the pandemic is over: “Coronials began trending on social media when people wondered if more time spent in the home could lead to slightly bigger families in the future.” On the other hand, the pandemic has taken its toll on the dating scene with more and more romantic relationships developing on Zoom and other online services.  Now if someone breaks up with you online, there’s a new word for that… You’ve just been Zumped!   

During this difficult time of quarantine and social distancing, most of us find ourselves in the process of figuring out how to cope with this new way of life.  Before Coronavirus, I never realized how much I touch my face.  One study showed the average person touches their face with their hands 23 times an hour.  How are we supposed to put on makeup? Daddles is a British variant of the word hands.  In order to avoid touching our faces during this time, many people have found other ways to keep their daddles occupied, like working in the yard, doing puzzles, cooking, or planting flowers.  What’s a word for the pleasure one feels from doing mundane things? Eudemonia! Many of us have also been forced into an everyday routine of Hurkle-Durkle, which is a Scottish term for getting up and hanging around the house rather than going to their job or office.  This may prove to be a little too much togetherness for some working couples.  Then again, we might just see another baby boom 9 months from now.  

Due to the coronavirus, the UK  has been under lockdown, and people only allowed to leave their homes under very strict conditions! However, one blunderbuss felt the urgent need to go shopping and dressed up like a bush in order to disguise himself from the police lest he is discovered walking the streets! Blunderbuss is another word for a stupid, blundering fellow. Neighbors happened to catch some video of the man covered head to toe in leaves as he tried to scurry from the street to his door, stopping from time to time and assuming a pose as a ‘shrubbery’  to avoid drawing any attention to himself.  At one point, he even trips and falls clutching his precious grocery bag!  What’s another word for a clumsy person?  A gawkhammer!  The short video of the bushman has gone viral on TikTok with the caption, Neighbor Sneaking Out To Get His Shopping.  The question is, how would the police handle this anyway?  With a bottle of Roundup perhaps?

During this difficult time when many all over the world find themselves under quarantine, people have had to invent some creative solutions for being able to keep up with everyday activities. For instance, how do you walk your dog if you’re not allowed to go outside?  A man in Cyprus decided to see if a drone could do the job. Vakis Demetriou took some video of his dog walking down the street with a drone following behind holding the leash.  Mr. Demetriou was able to control the entire walk remotely from his balcony. Now a company called Drones Direct, based in West Yorkshire, England, is selling Proflight Walkies Dog Drones, which have a built-in retractable leash, hands-free piloting, and a camera so you can keep an eye on your pet. Guided by a GPS, the Doggie Drone promises to walk your dog for up to 30 minutes along a route of your choosing while avoiding obstacles with "built-in collision avoidance technology," according to its product description. What’s a word for an interestingly bizarre idea? Ostrobogulous  

  Valentine’s Day is almost here, or as guys like to call it, Extortion Day! My husband doesn’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. He says when he thinks about romance, the last thing on his mind is a chubby toddler coming at him with a weapon!Studies show that 64% of American men don’t make plans ahead of time for Valentine’s day.  What’s a word for the act of setting a romantic mood with flowers and a candlelight dinner? Anthorexia!  Sounds more like a disease to me…anyway, as you can see, love is a many-syllabled thing:)   This year as men are on a charrette, or last-minute effort to find the perfect Valentin’s Day card, Hallmark alone offers more than 1400 choices from the romantic to the humorous.  Trying to choose the perfect card for your valentine is enough to give anyone abulia, that’s difficulty making a decision!!

  Sleep is the most important eight hours of the day. A good night’s sleep is essential to health and happiness. But if you have someone sleeping next to you that snores, getting a little shuteye can be a problem. According to a recent study by the University of Wisconsin, 45% of men and 25% of women report habitual snoring.  What’s another word for the sound a snoring person makes?  A stertor. Snoring can be as loud as 90 decibels and is the number one reason why couples find themselves sleeping in separate bedrooms. If you sleep with someone who snores, you might be experiencing a lot of matutolypea,  that’s getting up on the wrong side of the bed! Did you know snoring is actually illegal in Massachusetts unless all bedroom windows are closed and locked? Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone!  

  Do Yule Know when and where did the first Christmas tree originate? Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when evergreens were decorated and celebrated in winter in anticipation of spring.  Later, Christians began bringing fir trees into their homes and adorning them with Festoons or carved and painted ornaments to celebrate everlasting life.  Some people built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if the wood was scarce.  Other names for Christmas Tree Ornaments include gimcracks,  pokerwork,  and fiddleheads! One of the main reasons it took time for Christmas trees to catch on (in theUnited States)  is that it was challenging to find a tree unless you lived near a forest or wooded area.  But now the US has over 15,000 Christmas Tree Farms, producing over 350 million trees, and only about 2% of families Christmas Trees are cut from the wild by folks who go Christmas Chopping:) What's a word for those fallen pesky Christmas Tree needles?  Diddledees!

My husband and I lived near the small quaint town of North Pole Alaska while serving at Ft. Wainwright Army Base in Fairbanks Alaska. The North Pole has a population of just over 2000 people. With street names like Kris Kringle Drive and Mistletoe Lane, It's known for its year-round Christmas decorations, including candy cane–striped street lights. The Santa Claus House in the North Pole is a Christmas store with walls covered in children’s letters to Santa. In the early days of Christmas letters, it was Santa who wrote to the children, but soon kids starting writing back, placing their letters on the fireplace smoodging Santa to bring them gifts. Now, the North Pole receives so many letters to Santa from children, they can hardly keep up.  Sounds to me like they could use a wayzgoose after Christmas.  Wayzgoose is a term for a printer’s holiday!   

In our house, it's a running joke that if we can’t find something important, it’s probably in my husband’s sock drawer!  He’s not alone. Millions of men hide valuables in their sock drawers and thieves (also known as priggers and jackrollers) know it! The word sock comes from the Latin word ‘soccus’, meaning a loose-fitting slipper worn by Roman comedy actors on stage. Did you know that 82% of young American men wear mismatched socks at least once a week? The Aussies call socks the walk-a-bouts because they get lost and can’t be found! In China, the city of Datang has come to be known as ‘Sock City’, thanks to its status as the world’s top sock producing region. It is estimated that Datang manufactures enough socks to supply every person on the planet with two pairs each. That’s an awful lot of socks! A Wangdoodle is a person who tosses things around while searching for something, such as matching socks. Ask me how I know!  

   Americans eat out an average of 4.9 times a week. Restauranteurs have discovered that outdoor menu boards are a great way to draw customers in an area that has heavy pedestrian traffic. Also called A-frame signs or sandwich boards, these signs allow establishments to make an impression on customers inviting them to come in and eat. This kind of marketing has prompted some restaurant owners to add a little humor to their menu boards. A sign outside one restaurant read:  “COME IN AND TRY THE WORST MEATBALL SANDWICH THAT ONE GUY ON YELP EVER HAD IN HIS LIFE!” Another sidewalk sign said: WE DO NOT HAVE WIFI…TALK TO EACH OTHER AND PRETEND ITS 1995! Or how about this one? THIS WEEKS SPECIAL: BUY ONE BEER FOR THE PRICE OF TWO AND RECEIVE A SECOND BEER ABSOLUTELY FREE! What’s a word for food that has no nutritional value?  Lubberwort!  

  If you’re like me, you’ve experienced that moment in the conversation when you can’t remember a word, even a simple word! A woman named Brittani Nichols recently shared her story. She called a restaurant to make a dinner reservation when her mind suddenly drew a blank on the word.  So she asked to make a food appointment. Speaking of appointments, a man who was trying to schedule for a trim with his barber, couldn’t think of the word “appointment” and asked if there were any available hair cutting opportunities. Have you ever asked someone to bring you something and then forgot what it was you wanted?  I think we’ve all used words like whoosiewagger, doodad, thingamabob, thingamajig, or you know… That thing in the closet. What’s a word for the inability to remember a word?  Lethologica!

  Halloween is almost here and it’s time to get ready for trick or treaters.  I say, any holiday that condones eating candy is alright with me.  One of my favorite Halloween treats is Candy Corn.  According to Mental Floss Magazine, Candy Corn was invented by George Renninger, an employee of the Wunderle Candy Company in 1888. The Goelitz Candy Company also began producing candy corn marketing it under the name of “Chicken Feed”.  Reeses Peanut Butter Cups top the list of America’s favorite Halloween candies.  What’s a word for the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth?  Arachibutyrophobia! Fifty percent of kids prefer to receive chocolate candy for Halloween, compared with 24% who prefer non-chocolate candy and 10% who want gum.  But no matter what kind of candy you like for Halloween, “bone appetite!"    

  Did you know that cows may have regional accents just like humans?  According to the BBC, this phenomenon was first detected by dairy farmers who noticed that their cows had different moos, depending on where they came from.  John Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the University of London, said regional twangs had been seen before in birds! Cows are also capable of recognizing faces, even after long periods of time. Very mooo-ving indeed! Cows vocalize for a number of reasons, including looking for herd mates and sometimes because they are unhappy.  Most cows are simply content to chewing their cud. Fletcherizing is a word meaning to reduce food to tiny particles by prolonged chewing. Apparently, cattle thieves still exist. Names for cattle thieves include poddy-dodgers, ‘cattle duffers, and gully-rakers! My question is: when a cow laughs, does milk come out her nose?”  I know, that’s “Udderly ridiculous!”      

  October is Apple Month and here are some fun facts about apples to celebrate this delicious and popular fruit. Did you know Granny Smith apples are named after a real Granny Smith? There are 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States and 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world. The top apple producers around the world are China, United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy. It’s almost impossible to eat an apple quietly.  Yaffling is another word for eating noisily. Apples range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit.  Apples float because they are made up of 25% air. Nothing satisfies like a crunchy tasty apple.  What’s another word for the feeling of satisfaction? Rassasy!  

  Tim Lomas’ book, Happiness-Found In Translation, features many words from other languages that don’t have English equivalents. For example, Croatians have the word  fjaka, which means “the sweetness of doing nothing.” Or the total state of relaxation experienced by freeing one’s mind and body of activity. Speaking of relaxation, Going for a walk in the woods can sometimes clear your mind just as well as a good meditation session. There’s no one English word that describes the restorative effect of immersing yourself in nature, but the Japanese call it shinrin-yoku. Have you ever met someone whose expression made you feel like you were in on a joke, without even knowing what the joke was?  You might say they had a twinkle in their eye, but the Dutch would call it  pretoogjes, which means “fun or smiling eyes.”

  In a survey conducted by travel website Big 7 Travel, 1.5 million people weighed in on the “friendliest states in America”.  The “Nice” state of Minnesota came in first followed by the state known for its southern hospitality, Tennessee. The Northeast didn’t fare so well on the friendly scale with Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey all ranking near the bottom and New York coming in dead last. Apparently, New Yorkers can’t seem to shake their reputation of being rude.  What’s another word for a rude person?  A stickybeak. Wyoming is another state that ranked high for being friendly.  People in Wyoming tend to exude a sense of community which is welcoming to visitors.  The Germans have a word for feeling safe and at home.  The word is geborgenheit!

  Did you know sneezes sound different in other countries? While people in English-speaking countries tend to say “achoo” , French-speaking countries add an “m” to create an atchoum!  A sneeze in Germany sounds like hatschi and in Japan you’re more likely to hear hakshun! Here are some sneezing facts not everyone “Nose”: Many people believe that your heart skips a beat when you sneeze, but it doesn’t.  Sneezing in your sleep is rare because the nerves that trigger sneezing are also asleep.  It is true that bright sunlight can make some people sneeze.  The medical term for sneezing is sternutation. Some people say gesundheit or God bless you after someone sneezes.  Gesundheit originated in Germany and means “health”, but God bless you originated during the bubonic plague when sneezing was considered an early sign that you might have the disease.    

  There are all kinds of places in the world with funny or unusual names, but these are a few of my favorites as featured in Mental Floss magazine: There is a town in Ontario, Canada named Punkeydoodle's Corners.  Apparently, someone kept stealing the sign with the town’s name, so the residents replaced it with a monument that weighs almost a ton. In the town of Batman, Turkey, a former mayor threatened to sue Warner Brothers over the name in the Dark Knight Trilogy. Eggs and Bacon Bay in Tasmania are actually named after a wildflower with yellow and red petals. Two glacial islands off the coast of Antarctica are known as The Office Girls.  There are so many glacial islands or nunataks as they are also called around Antarctica that committees were formed and charged with the task of naming them all.  The Office Girls were named in 1970 as a tribute to the administrative personnel on the US naming committees.  

  Selfies may seem vain and frivolous, but there’s actually a lot more to this cultural phenomenon than meets the (camera’s) eye.   Your favorite selfie pose can say a lot about your personality. In a study published in Computers in Human Behaviour, researchers connected self-portrait styles to specific character traits.  People who like to look directly into the camera are more likely to be philodemics,  or agreeable and loving.  Those who have a go-to “duck face” pose are more likely to be emotionally unstable. But they don’t mind feeling kenspeckled, or conspicuous. Thirty-six percent of all people admit to doctoring their selfie or editing it before sharing it. This includes enhancing skin tone or using a filter.using a filter. The goal is to take a selfie so good, you can't believe it's you!  What’s a word for a condition where things appear more beautiful than they really are? Kalopsia!