The Marginalian
The Marginalian

A Visual Alphabet-Dictionary of Unusual Words

As a lover of language and words, especially obscure and endangered words, I was instantly besotted with Project Twins’ visual interpretations of unusual words, originally exhibited at the MadArt Gallery Dublin during DesignWeek 2011.

Acersecomic
A person whose hair has never been cut.
Biblioclasm
The practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media.
Cacodemonomania
The pathological belief that one is inhabited by an evil spirit.
Dactylion
An anatomical landmark located at the tip of the middle finger.
Enantiodromia
The changing of something into its opposite.
Fanfaronade
Swaggering; empty boasting; blustering manner or behavior; ostentatious display.

Gorgonize
To have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect on: Stupefy or petrify

Hamartia
The character flaw or error of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall.
Infandous
Unspeakable or too odious to be expressed or mentioned.
Jettatura
The casting of an evil eye.
Ktenology
The science of putting people to death.
Leptosome
A person with a slender, thin, or frail body.
Montivagant
Wandering over hills and mountains.
Noegenesis
Production of knowledge.
Ostentiferous
Bringing omens or unnatural or supernatural manifestations.
Pogonotrophy
The act of cultivating, or growing and grooming, a mustache, beard, sideburns or other facial hair.
Quockerwodger
A rare nineteenth-century word for a wooden toy which briefly became a political insult.
Recumbentibus
A knockout punch, either verbal or physical.
Scripturient
Possessing a violent desire to write.
Tarantism
A disorder characterized by an uncontrollable urge to dance.
Ultracrepidarian
A person who gives opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge.
Vernalagnia
A romantic mood brought on by Spring.
Welter
A confused mass; a jumble; turmoil or confusion.
Xenization
The act of traveling as a stranger.
Yonderly
Mentally or emotionally distant; absent-minded.
Zugzwang
A position in which any decision or move will result in problems.

Some of the designs are available as prints in the Project Twins shop.


Published July 2, 2012

https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/07/02/project-twins-unusual-words/

BP

www.themarginalian.org

BP

PRINT ARTICLE

Filed Under

View Full Site

The Marginalian participates in the Bookshop.org and Amazon.com affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to books. In more human terms, this means that whenever you buy a book from a link here, I receive a small percentage of its price, which goes straight back into my own colossal biblioexpenses. Privacy policy. (TLDR: You're safe — there are no nefarious "third parties" lurking on my watch or shedding crumbs of the "cookies" the rest of the internet uses.)