Bent Words

Bent Words

October 28, 2004

jocoserious
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[joh-koh-SEAR-ee-us] half jocular, half serious; partly silly and partly somber; blending jokes and serious matters. The noun, used only once, is jocoseriosity.

verticordious
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[ver-ti-KOR-dee-us] an obsolete and rare word that means 'turning the heart from evil'. From a Latin word meaning 'turner of hearts', used as an epithet for Venus.

bubulcitate
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[buh-BULL-si-tate] to cry like a cowboy, to work as a cowboy. (The cowboy meant here, of course, is more like cowherd, but it's funnier to think of it as a lonesome American cowboy.) From a Latin word meaning 'cowherd'.

Written at 8:31 a.m.