Word of the Week
Created | Updated Jun 11, 2003
In the dim dark recesses of h2g2 history
before we moved lock, stock and barrel to our new BBC
home there used to be a front page feature The h2g2 Word of the Day. It was
a way to highlight some of the lesser occurring or
largely obscurer words in the English language. Sadly
this feature was discontinued.
Until now...
Word for the Week
This week's word is possibly going to be a godsend
to scrabble players but you are going to have to have
a really terrible deal to be able to use this Yiddish
word, of a Slavic origin, which accounts for the lack
of vowels. It was suggested by Pitzel on 26 July 2000. Pitzel
had two brief spurts on H2G2 this one in July and
again later on in December of the same year.
tchotchke
n. A trinket, a knickknack, gadget, gizmo, a
gewgaw1.
The word has actually been used around the site
before. Admittedly the outings are rare but give a
rare insight to their users. Rickbot used it in a journal entry2
in his early days on line following moderation for
mild swear words. However he continued to use a spray
of Yiddish words in his tirade he explained the word
in his post by saying that is meant a piece of crap
which is acceptable. Apparently the word was 'learned
after several days of being pleased with being told I
was "tchotchke" in bed'. He also used the word in a
later journal entry that day in which he said Star
Wars Episode I 'audiences (were) queuing up
for 'tchotchke'.
The only other user to utilise this tchotchke of
language was KWDave who
used it in his submission to the article Tips on Moving House. His tip
started by saying 'have a huge garage sale two weeks
before you intend to move. Gather up every tchotchke
and dust collector you own and put them on sale'.
From the Archive
From the archive this week I bring you another word
which is a gem for describing all those little
knick-knacks we gather into our life. Unfortunately my
busy schedule and the ineffectiveness of the H2G2
search engine, at present has again prevented me
digging to the bottom of the Word of the Day threads
to see who suggested the word. However this plus other
omissions I intend to remedy when I get a little more
internet time away from work.
Whim-wham
n. A decorative item that has no real
function.
Its use on H2G2 has been limited to just one
occurrence and was in Emergency Ward 42 on Amy the Ant's journal.
It happened when Also Ran 1
was trying to compose a song:
Towels.....
Glorious towels....
(to the melody of Food, Glorious good......)
Has anyone else noticed how difficult it is to write
music on h2g2. One cannot allow for quavers,
semi-quavers etc. etc. I have tried and tried but
without success. Perhaps some other budding composer
can help!
My head is in a whim wham, but I can contribute a very
nice kitchen towel with lions on it if you want...
Sadly the song does not appear to have been
completed by anyone else.
How can you
contribute?
- Go and check out words in the archive to
avoid duplication. - Check out the discussion threads and nominate a
word that you feel was
overlooked before discontinuation. - Suggest a new word or your forgotten word in the
word of the week archive
conversation.
of French Origin.2Sadly the Subject
removed should be this weeks word.
