Monday

Five (Unfortunately) Obsolete Words

As the English language continues to grow and develop, many new words are added, but many are also discarded or rendered obsolete. Though you won't find these words in most modern dictionaries, they remain valid but just incredibly under-used, unfortunately:

1. Chantepleure: To sing and weep at the same time.

2. Dibble: To drink like a duck (lifting up the head after each sip)

3. Eyeservice: Work done only when one's supervisor or boss is watching.

4. Groak: To watch people silently while they are eating, hoping to be invited to join them.

5. Neanimorphic: Looking younger than one's true age.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

My favorite obsolete word is 'abend.' It is an early computer abbreviation for 'abnormal end.' It is so useful: "Our phone conversation abended." "My washing machine made a loud noise and abended." Short and sweet. The word itself says "Don't bother asking me what happened because I don't know, it just stopped."