Words

As President of Trinovante (The Wild Women of Essex) at Western Road URC, Romford, it is my privilege to do two talks a year on subjects of my choice. My most recent talk was about Words and I thought it would be interesting to share a few sections of my talk with you.

The talk covered various word games where I tried to breathe new life into unfamiliar and out-of-fashion words.

Round One: Would you like to be called?
Which of the following words do you think apply to you?

1. Aptycock
2. Crumpsy
3. Inisitijitty
4. A peg-puff
5. Cytherean
6. Daphnean
7. Ephebe
8. Eristic
9. Loquacious
10. Quisquose
11. Pulchritudinous 

Which words have you chosen? Here are the meanings

1. Aptycock - a quick-witted and intelligent young man
2. Crumpsy - short-tempered and irritable
3. Inisitijitty - a worthless, ridiculous person
4. A peg-puff - a young woman with the manners of an old woman
5. Cytherean - of great beauty, pertaining to the goddess Aphrodite
6. Daphnean - shy/timid
7. Ephebe - a young man
8. Eristic - a person who argues over small points
9. Loquacious - talkative
10. Quisquose - difficult to deal with
11. Pulchritudinous - extremely physically beautiful 

Round Two: Bible, Shakespeare or Dickens?
From where would you find the following words and phrases?

1. The green-eyed monster
2. A leopard cannot change its spots
3. Round the Clock
4. Twinkling of an eye
5. A law unto themselves
6. A sorry sight
7. The blind leading the blind
8. Wild goose chase
9. No peace for the wicked
10. Fight the good fight
11. Whiz-bang
12. As white as snow
13. Tongue-tied
14. Flummox
15. There's nothing new under the sun
16. Not slept a wink
17. Knock knock, who's there?
18. The creeps
19. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword
20. On the rampage
21. In a pickle
22. At one's wits' end
23. All that glitters is not gold
24. Out of the mouths of babes
25. Devil may care
26. Red sky in the morning

N.B all Biblical quotes were taken from the KJV

1. Shakespeare, Othello Act 3 Scene iii
2. Bible, Jeremiah 13:23
3. Dickens, Bleak House
4. Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:52
5. Bible, Romans 2:14
6. Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 2 Scene ii
7. Bible, Luke 6:39
8. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene iv
9. Bible, Isaiah 48:22
10. Bible, Timothy 6:12
11. Dickens, Pickwick Papers
12. Bible, Daniel 7:9
13. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar Act 1 Scene i
14. Dickens, Pickwick Papers
15. Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:9 
16. Shakespeare, Cymbeline Act 3 Scene iv
17. Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 2 Scene iii
18. Dickens, David Copperfield
19. Bible, Matthew 26:52
20. Dickens, Great Expectations 
21. Shakespeare, The Tempest Act 5 Scene i
22. Bible, Psalm 107:27
23. Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice Act 2 Scene vii
24. Bible, Psalm 8:2
25. Dickens, Pickwick Papers
26. Bible, Matthew 16:3

Round 3: Collective Nouns
What are the collective names for the following animals?

1. Bears
2. Buffalo
3. Ferrets
4. Frogs
5. Giraffes
6. Hippopotami
7. Hyenas
8. Lemurs
9. Monkeys
10. Otters
11. Parrots
12. Porcupines
13. Ravens
14. Rhinoceroses
15. Sharks
16. Skunks
17. Zebras

How many did you get?

1. A sloth or a sleuth of bears
2. A gang or obstinacy of buffalo
3. A business of ferrets
4. An army of frogs
5. A tower of giraffes
6. A bloat of hippopotami
7. A cackle of hyenas
8. A conspiracy of lemurs
9. A barrel or a troop of monkeys
10. A family of otters
11. A pandemonium of parrots
12. A prickle of porcupines
13. An unkindness of ravens
14. A crash of rhinoceroses
15. A shiver of sharks
16. A stench of skunks
17. A zeal of zebras

Round 4: Anagrams
Here are some prophetic anagrams you may enjoy.

1. Debit card is an anagram of bad credit
2. Punishment is an anagram of nine thumps
3. Halley's comet is an anagram of shall yet come
4. Ronald Reagan is an anagram of a darn long era
5. Ian Botham is an anagram of oh man I bat
6. Albert Einstein is an anagram of elite brain nest
7. Mel Gibson is an anagram of big melons
8. William Ewart Gladstone is an anagram of wild agitator means well
9. Santa Claus is an anagram of casual ants
10. Margaret Thatcher is an anagram of that great charmer
11. Michael Heseltine is an anagram of he is the ill menace
12. William Shakespeare is an anagram of I'll make a wise phrase
13. Florence Nightingale is an anagram of angel of the reclining
14. Lester Piggott is an anagram of got St Leger tip
15. Sean Connery is an anagram of on any screen
16. David Seaman is an anagram of a man did save
17. Nicole Kidman is an anagram of nickname idol
18. Statue of Liberty is an anagram of built to stay free
19. Leonardo Di Caprio is an anagram of ocean idol or a drip
20. Nigel Havers is an anagram of girls heaven

​Finally, some interesting facts...

• The most common letter in the English language is E 
• The most common consonant in English is R followed by T
• More English words begin with the letter S than any other letter
• The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once
• A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a pangram. E.g. the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
• A word formed by joining parts of existing words is called a blend or a portmanteau, such as brunch (breakfast and lunch), motel (motor car and hotel)
• If we place a comma before the word "and" at the end of a list, this is known as an Oxford comma. E.g. I drink coffee, tea, and wine. The Oxford comma ensures we do not mistakenly think the person drinks the liquids together!
• Only two English words in current use end in -gry: angry and hungry
• Whilst we know that Triskaidekaphobia means fear of the number 13, I did not know Paraskevidekatriaphobia means fear of Friday 13th 
• The shortest complete sentence is "I am"
• The word "checkmate" in Chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah mat", meaning the King is helpless
• We pronounce the combination "-ough" in nine different ways, as in the following: a rough-coated dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed ​