h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How about "Sangfroid"? It means "self-possesion or imperturbability especially under strain". I don't have sangfroid, but I want it.

~Irving

trouser is nothing in comparison to things such as "horse" or "stoat" though in my opinion, "thud" rank above either of these

I don't know about the Oxford, but in this Mirriam-Webster dicionary there are exactly two words beginning with q which niether have u as the second letter nor are abbreviations. Those words are:

1) qintar, which after following the 'see ' trail turns out to be Albanian money

2)qiviut: The wool of the undercoat of the musk-ox.

n. reasoning that is misleading and oversubtle

I'm rather fond of
avuncular - in the manner of a friendly uncle.

I'm prepared to share two of my favourite words with you, at no small cost to myself I might add...

Scrofula: n. A constitutional state, usu. hereditary, tending to the development of glandular swellings and consumption, also called King's evil. scrofulous a.

and

philtrum, which is apparently the little dippy-in bit on your top lip just below your nose.

Mmmm.

How about CARPHOLOGY - Delirious fumbling with bedclothes. This is my test of a good dictionary.

I found some great ones in the Wuthering Heights glossary, but i've forgotten them.

Still, howsabout mine being considered?

ONe of my personal favourites is ...
EXPUNGE - to strike out, obliterate, or mark for deletion

of course a bit more expunging in the inbox can save a lot of disk space! or download time of replied
to news articles!

Stuart

Are we allowed slang?
If you want a really great word, look up my posting on the word "Rah!".

It is only used within the area of Burton-On-Trent in Staffordshire, where it is used VERY often, and confuses the hell out of visitors.

It only means "mingle together" (a tautology (q.v.), surely), but lots of people seem to think it sounds like something rude.

rhabdomancy-

(n.) The discovery of things that are concealed in the ground by the use of a divining rod.


quagga-

(n.) A wild ass of Africa related to the zebra.

How about GRIN... tis a good word for jollyfication purposes... ~grin~... see!!!

Peripatetic - adj. Walking about from place to place; traveling on foot.

And it sounds so nifty.

"frugal" (adj.)
1. thrifty, sparing.
2. meagre and inexpensive.

What a great word!!!!!!
M@x

One word that I'd love to see included particularly because most people who use it don't understand it's true meaning, is ha'p'orth, as in "You are a daft ha'p'orth!". Most people who bother to try and write it often spell it as aporth or apath, but since it's a contraction of half-penny worth, you can see the correct spelling.

If that's a bit too dialectic for this list (I am a Yorkshire exile after all ) how about a couple of my other favourite words:

xeric - of, pertaining to, or having dry or desertlike conditions. "I'm really xeric, buy me a beer!" This word comes from the same Greek stem as Xerox (dry copying) (Also there aren't any X's in the list yet!)

googolplex - a particularly large number, being 10 raised to the power of a googol, which is itself 10 raised to the 100th power.

I hope to see at least one of these on the list soon!

Hmm...
How about Hypermyrmiophobia?
It's the extreme fear of ants...

Now that we areon the subject of phobias:

arachibutyrophobia: the intense fear of having peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth

apparently, it's one of those bizarre words that only show up in the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary (so I'm told, I myself have not been able to find myself an unabridged version of the OED)

Samhainophobia: Fear of Halloween
(BTW, extreme fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth would be hyperarachibutyrophobia or megarachibutyrophobia)

Tmesis: the placing of one word inside another, e.g. abso-bloody-lutely. Also, the only word in the English language to start "tm" (if you exclude its partner, 'tmitcism' [I think that's how you spell it] which means an example of the above.