Write on, Wednesday! Certain Words

By Leslie Lindsay

Ever notice how there are certain words that make you feel good (hycionic, dawn) and those that make you cringe (moist, languid)…how about laugh?! In a sort-of-kind-of recent issue of Writer’s Digest (not sure the actual date, ripped this article out), they talk about just that, “How to Add Humor without Really Trying.”

Here’s a sampling the words from their list that is sure to illicit a chuckle:

bamboozled
canoodle
cheeky
flanker
girdle
hornswoggle
kerplunk
knickers
lackadaisical
monkey
noggin
persnickity
rumpus
snarky
tater
waddle
wonky

Back to those definitions…I have no idea what a hornswoggle is.

horn·swog·gle

verb \-ˌswä-gəl\

horn·swog·gledhorn·swog·gling\-g(ə-)liŋ\

(From Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary)

Definition of HORNSWOGGLE

transitive verb

slang

: bamboozle, hoax

Examples of HORNSWOGGLE

<I think we’ve been hornswoggled by that carnival barker.>

Origin of HORNSWOGGLE

origin unknown

First Known Use: circa 1829

Related to HORNSWOGGLE

Synonyms: bamboozle, beguile, bluff, buffalo, burn, catch, con, cozen, delude, dupe, fake out, fool, gaff, gammon, gull, have, have on [chiefly British], hoax, hoodwink, deceive, humbug, juggle, misguide, misinform, mislead, snooker, snow, spoof, string along, sucker, suck in, take in, trick

Antonyms: undeceive

another I didn’t know….

flank·er

noun \ˈflaŋ-kər\

Definition of FLANKER

: a football player stationed wide of the formation slightly behind the line of scrimmage as a pass receiver —called also flanker back

First Known Use of FLANKER

1940

Rhymes with FLANKER

anchor, banker, canker, chancre, franker, hanker, rancor, ranker, spanker, tanker, thanker

There, learned something new!