20 “Forgotten” Words That Should Be Brought Back

From LIFEHACK:

November 22 by Lana Winter-Hébert in Leisure, Lifestyle | 8.6K Shares

Languages are living things that shift and evolve over time. If you look at the history of the English language, from Anglo Saxon through the Great Vowel Shift to what we consider Standard English today, you’ll notice that it has undergone some spectacular changes over the centuries. Some basic words have stuck around through the ages, like “father”, “house”, “egg”, “boat” and so on, but just as new words developed over time, other words were discarded along the way.

Many others from Shakespeare’s time through to the early 20th century have fallen out of common usage, and we are undoubtedly the poorer for it. Here are 20 words that could only serve to add a bit more colour to our daily lives if they happened to come back into regular use.

1. Bunbury

noun

An imaginary person whose name is used as an excuse to some purpose, especially to visit a place.

“Auntie Jane the cottage dweller” was my go-to bunbury whenever I wanted to take a day off to go play in the forest.

2. Scurrilous

adjective

The description of something said or done unfairly to make people have a bad opinion of someone.

Mrs. Mumford had spread rather scurrilous gossip about Miss Violet in the hope of tarnishing her reputation. Honestly, who would do that sort of thing with a llama?

3. Gallimaufry

noun

A hodge-podge, or jumbled medley (can also refer to an edible dish).

Lydia’s casserole was a veritable gallimaufry of beans, raisins, cauliflower, sausage, cheap wine, and cabbage. Guests never asked for second helpings.

4. Thrice

adverb

Three times.

I’ve told you twice not to eat raw pork with mustard or you’ll get sick—don’t make me say it thrice!

5. Blithering

adjective

Talking utterly and completely foolishly, OR used to describe a foolish person.

The blithering idiot was blithering on about something or other, but I tuned him out.

6. Pluviophile

noun

A person who takes great joy and comfort in rainy days.

Your average pluviophile will be in utter glory when thunder roils, as she can curl up with blankets and books while rain pours down outside.

7. Librocubularist

noun

One who reads in bed.

When you’re married to a librocubularist, you can rest assured that you’ll have to compete with a stack of books for nighttime attention.

8. Febricula

noun

A slight and transient fever.

Attending the opening of Twilight’s 17th sequel gave Arabella a mild febricula, but the air-conditioned cinema interior cleared it up quickly.

9. Starrify

verb

To decorate with stars.

The student council would starrify the high school gym every year in preparation for the homecoming dance.

10. Sophronize

verb

To imbue with sound moral principles or self-control.

It’s vital that parents sophronize children, not just expect them to behave properly of their own volition—you know what havoc they’d wreak.

11. Mullock

noun

Rubbish, nonsense, or waste matter.

I don’t know what kind of mullock you’re gibbering on about today, but you really need to stop reading those conspiracy magazines.

12. Uglyography

noun

Poor handwriting, and bad spelling.

His uglyography was so heinous that his essay was used as kindling, but the flames extinguished themselves rather than be tainted by association.

13. Namelings

plural noun

Those bearing the same name.

There were six boys named Jason in that particular class, prompting the teacher to address them all by their last names. When faced with namelings who both answered to “Jason Birch”, she called them “Birch” and “tree”, respectively.

14. Ultracrepidarianism

noun

The habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge.

Child-free people who try to give parenting advice are often guilty of the worst kind of ultracrepidarianism.

15. Pannychis

noun

An all-night feast or ceremony.

Edmund took another energy drink, hoping that its caffeine content would help him survive this raucous pannychis.

16. Guttle

verb

To gobble greedily; to cram food into one’s gut.

The dinner guests watched in horror as Lord Penderquist guttled an entire roasted boar into his maw.

17. Snollyguster

noun

A person, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles.

The snollyguster who won the mayoral election just lines his pockets with cash to support his drug habit.

18. Welkin

noun

The upper sky; “vault” of heaven.

Icarus would have passed through the welkin on his legendary flight, but we all know how that turned out for him.

19. Barbigerous

adjective

Characterized by having a beard.

I had wanted to compliment him on his fiancee’s beauty, but her barbigerous aspect was so dominant that I had to remain silent.

20. Eventide

noun

The end of the day, just as evening approaches.

Moonflowers only bloom at eventide, opening their petals as the sun slips below the horizon.

As a special little addition, we’ll also reach into the annals of history for a fun little Anglo-Saxon term that we can all relate to:

Uhtceare

verb

To lie awake in the period just before dawn because you’re worrying too much to be able to sleep.

How many of these do you often use? If You’ve Never Used These English Idioms, You’re Probably Not a Native English Speaker
Featured photo credit: Ancient letter and pen

Why are fountain pen sales rising?

"You might expect that email and the ballpoint pen had killed the fountain pen. But sales are rising, so is the fountain pen a curious example of an old-fashioned object surviving the winds of change?

For many people, fountain pens bring back memories of school days full of inky fingers, smudged exercise books and piles of pink blotting paper.

But for others, a fat Montblanc or a silver-plated Parker is a treasured item. Prominently displayed, they are associated with long, sinuous lines of cursive script.

Sales figures are on the up. Parker, which has manufactured fountain pens since 1888, claims a worldwide "resurgence" in the past five years, and rival Lamy says turnover increased by more than 5% in 2011.

Online retailer Amazon says sales so far this year have doubled compared with the same period in 2011. They are four times higher than 2010."

This is a very interesting article, with hundreds of reader comments, as well as English author Neil Gaiman explains why he writes his novels with fountain pens.

Writing

A terrific slide show and narration by Wendy Stein of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, concerning handwriting.

Link

Fountain of imagination and joy in the hand - Opinion - Editorial - General - The Canberra Times

File photo: Getty

"It's true that fountain pens are anachronistic: relics of an age before television and radio, let alone internet and mobile phones. Moreover, they have acquired a certain status. For my parents' generation, they evoke ink-spills, exercise books and schoolroom whippings. Nowadays, they are a mark of wealth or style, particularly if they are topped by Mont Blanc's white snowflake. But my pen is not primarily a status symbol. It is a simple, useful tool..."

Click the title to read the rest of the editorial

National Archives Discovers Date Change on Lincoln Record

"Washington, DC…Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero announced today that Thomas Lowry, a long-time Lincoln researcher from Woodbridge, VA, confessed on January 12, 2011, to altering an Abraham Lincoln Presidential pardon that is part of the permanent records of the U.S. National Archives. The pardon was for Patrick Murphy, a Civil War soldier in the Union Army who was court-martialed for desertion.

Lowry admitted to changing the date of Murphy’s pardon, written in Lincoln’s hand, from April 14, 1864, to April 14, 1865, the day John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. Having changed the year from 1864 to 1865, Lowry was then able to claim that this pardon was of significant historical relevance because it could be considered one of, if not the final official act by President Lincoln before his assassination....

Against National Archives regulations, Lowry brought a fountain pen into a National Archives research room where, using fadeproof, pigment-based ink, he altered the date of the Murphy pardon in order to change its historical significance."

Click the title bar to see a video and photos of the alteration

The Twenty-Six Old Characters

A neat film from Sheaffer in 1947 about the development of writing.

Mourning the Death of Handwriting

From the upcoming issue of Time magazine.



"I can't remember how to write a capital Z in cursive. The rest of my letters are shaky and stiff, my words slanted in all directions. It's not for lack of trying. In grade school I was one of those insufferable girls who used pink pencils and dotted their i's with little circles. I experimented with different scripts, and for a brief period I even took the time to make two-story a's, with the fancy overhang used in most fonts (including this magazine's). But everything I wrote, I wrote in print. I am a member of Gen Y, the generation that shunned cursive. And now there is a group coming after me, a boom of tech-savvy children who don't remember life before the Internet and who text-message nearly as much as they talk. They have even less need for good penmanship. We are witnessing the death of handwriting."

Click the title to read the entire article.

The Art of Letter Writing

Another terrific piece from the wonderful 'The Art of Manliness' website.



The Art of Letter Writing | The Art of Manliness

Those Medieval Monks Could Draw!

“Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, features 50 rarely-seen works on view.

Roberta Smith writes:
The works span nearly five centuries and reveal medieval drawing to be vital, evolving, remarkably diverse and essential to the medium’s Renaissance blossoming.



Read the full NY Times article here.

...and then we have...

Air Writing: Next Big Thing in Cell Phones?

"Forget fumbling with tiny cell phone keys. A prototype of a new application allows cell phone users to write short notes in the air and send them automatically to an e-mail address.

This represents just one possible step toward allowing people to naturally merge the real world with the information power of the Internet. Travelers and other mobile users could air-write notes to themselves rather than have to text on the run.

"By holding the phone like a pen, you can write short messages or draw simple diagrams in the air," said Sandip Agrawal, an electrical and computer engineering student at Duke University in North Carolina."

Full article here.

...and something of a counterbalance to the post below...

iPhone Cursive Writing App Hits the App Store

"Deep Pocket Series has unveiled ABC Cursive Writing 1.0, a handwriting improvement app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app was designed to help children learn the basics of cursive writing for the first time, as well as help adults improve their handwriting skills."

Read the full article here.

Decoding antiquity: Eight scripts that still can't be read

"WRITING is one of the greatest inventions in human history. Perhaps the greatest, since it made history possible. Without writing, there could be no accumulation of knowledge, no historical record, no science - and of course no books, newspapers or internet.

The first true writing we know of is Sumerian cuneiform - consisting mainly of wedge-shaped impressions on clay tablets - which was used more than 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Soon afterwards writing appeared in Egypt, and much later in Europe, China and Central America. Civilisations have invented hundreds of different writing systems. Some, such as the one you are reading now, have remained in use, but most have fallen into disuse.

These dead scripts tantalise us. We can see that they are writing, but what do they say?"

Read the full article here

Holiday cards and the lost art of letter writing

"I’ve always been a writer. Not just out here in public, where everyone and anyone can read me, but privately, in the comfort of my home, at my desk, or curled up on my my sofa, lap tray, pens, paper and postage stamps in place. I am a letter writer. A compulsive letter writer.

It’s a compulsion that manifests itself in the months leading up to Christmas, months when I haul out my once finely honed Palmer penmanship - once done with Parker fountain pen, inkwell and blotters - taught in grueling detail by the nuns at the French Catholic school of my childhood. Honed further still by my mother, whose penchant for cards, notes, letters and postcards were unrivaled in our neighborhood. I get it from her. And her mother and father before her."

Read the full article here.

Writing traced to nature, ancient shapes

"The shapes of letters in all languages are derived from common forms in nature, according to a new hypothesis.

The idea, in some ways seemingly obvious and innately human, arose however from a study of how robots see the world.

Robots employ object recognition technology to navigate a room by recognizing contours. A corner is seen as a 'Y,' for example, and a wall is recognized by the L-shape it makes where it meets the floor.

"It struck me that these junctions are typically named with letters, such as 'L,' 'T,' 'Y,' 'K,' and 'X,' and that it may not be a coincidence that the shapes of these letters look like the things they really are in nature," said Mark Changizi, a theoretical neurobiologist at the California Institute of Technology.

Changizi and his colleagues think letters and symbols in Chinese, Latin, Persian and 97 other writing systems that have been used through the ages have shapes that humans are good at seeing.

"Evolution has shaped our visual system to be good at seeing the structures we commonly encounter in nature, and culture has apparently selected our writing systems and visual signs to have these same shapes," Changizi said.

The idea is put forth in The American Naturalist magazine.

Changizi notes that a basic shape such as "L" can be easily bent to form a "V." He found 36 shapes that require just two or three contours, and he then correlated these shapes to common scenes in nature and in ancient architecture.

"So the figures we use in symbolic systems and writing systems seem to be selected because they are easy to see rather than easy to write," he concludes. "They're for the eye."

Even graphic art that is not necessarily alphabet-based conforms to the idea.

"Company logos, for example, are meant to be recognized, and we found that logos have a high correlation," Changizi said. 'Shorthand systems, which are meant to give a note-taker speed at the expense of a commonly recognizable system of symbols, do not.'"

BOB HANGS UP HIS PENS AFTER A LABOUR OF LOVE

"A RETIRED school teacher, who has hand-written the church electoral roll in Horsted Keynes for the last 20 years, is hanging up his pens.



Bob Cullens, 82, of Highbrook, took up the job of listing all the names and addresses of parishioners at St Giles' Church after attending an evening class in scribe work.

Though his predecessor had typed the list of 130 names, Bob said he got a lot of pleasure from his writing and every year he re-wrote the document by hand using a variety of nibs and a pot of ink.
Bob said: 'I was never good at typing, and hand-written script is one of the things I've always wanted to do.

'With all the various fonts you can get with a PC, you can get some splendid work but there was something about having it hand done. We like hand-made things, like hand knitted jumpers.'

Bob, who also makes and decorates ornate cakes on request, said he used to spend more than five hours in half hour sessions on his labour of love which could often be frustrating.

He said: 'You have to think a long way ahead because it has to be completed before a certain time and there are always people who don't think about putting their name forward until the last week, so often names have to be added at the end.'

Bob finally decided to pass the job on so he could look after his wife. He said: 'I don't think my writing is as good now. My hand is fairly steady but I'm past my prime. I decided to give up because my wife was ill and I have to spend my time with her. So I no longer go to church regularly and I'm getting out of touch.'
The role will now pass to ex-postmaster Jim Brimfield of Horsted Keynes. Bob said: 'It's up to Jim how he will present it but I expect he will type"

Putting pen to paper

"You would think that the pen, with the advent of the computer, was going the way of the quill-no way! There still is an aura around writing instruments, with clubs and magazines and societies devoting much passion to these instruments.

There continue to be pens with legendary names, which, to the aficionado, are as renowned as Rolls Royce, Aston Martin or Lamborghini. And for pens of this kind, connoisseurs will go to truly extraordinary lengths."

Click the title to read more

Email to the Future

Although time travel technology doesn't exist yet that would enable a person to visit their future self, you can send an email to the person you will become via FutureMe.org, which lets you specify a date, up to 2035. Forbes.com recently ran a similar experiment, collecting email 'time capsules' to be sent out over the next 20 years.

As if we didn't have enough to do getting this year's Christmas cards done!

Pushing the envelope on love letters

"Love may be in the air but it is no longer in the mail, according to a new competition to revive the lost art of love letter writing.

Run for the first time last year in the United States when it attracted 5,000 entries, philanthropist Henri Zimand's competition to find the best written love letters has now opened to entrants from Britain as well.

'In this age of one-line e-mails and abbreviated text messages, the simple art of letter writing has all but been forgotten,' he said. 'Writing a love letter is a dying art and to me that is a real shame.'

The competition is dedicated to the memory of Zimand's wife Anda who died from breast cancer in 2003 aged 49.

'No one should underestimate the power of a letter that truly comes from the heart and with every letter I receive, I am moved, and remember my Anda,' Zimand said.

For each of the first 10,000 letters submitted to the website www.AndaSpirit.com in Britain or www.AndaSpiritUSA.com in the United States, Zimand will make a contribution to a cancer facility in the area where the letter originated.

If inspiration is needed, an example of one of last year's entries is as follows: 'Heartfelt and true, your beauty shines through, with love, emotion and everlasting devotion, I yearn to marry you.'

The winners -- to be selected by a panel including Zimand and judges from the Romance Writers of America -- will be flown to New York and, on the morning of St Valentine's Day, taken on a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride in the city."

The Norman Transcript--Typewritten words

"The history of the typewritten word is a lesson in clumsy marketing, society's changing values and America's economic cycles over the past 150 years.

Much of it is on display at Copelin's Office Center, 425 W. Main, St. where old, black typewriter specimens looking more like industrial machines than office appliances squat on glass shelves. Had they been equipped with the memory and storage functions of today's computers, they might well tell us something of their owners and users, long since gone."

Any newspaper named 'The Norman Transcript' has to be good. This is an interesting article about the history of typewriters, with even a mention of fountain pens:

"Ed Copelin, owner of the office supply business for 22 years, said he has been “haphazardly” collecting antique typewriters, adding machines and cash registers for about half that time.

Copelin said he has the fortune of many old friends who donated their office machines over the years. He decided to exhibit the antiquated typewriters “because they’re reflective of the business I’m in.”

He also has an extensive fountain pen collection and hosts a fountain pen show every few years. Collectors use the show to buy, sell and trade writing instruments."

Pen production halts by May

"FORT MADISON --- After pausing to honor the grandson of the historic pen factory's founder, workers at the Sheaffer plant here were told to expect a complete plant closure by May.

Linda Kwong of Bic Corp., Sheaffer's Paris-based parent company, said production at the plant will be transferred to third-party manufacturing plants in Europe and Asia, a transition that will begin in the fourth quarter.

The pen point assembly department will be transferred to Bic's fountain pen facility in South Carolina, and nib making will be sourced to an outside European vendor, she said.

Molding will wind down by the end of the month, she added.
Bic announced it would be closing the Fort Madison landmark in March 2004, closing the plant two years shy of its 100th anniversary.

Sheaffer pens were a groundbreaking invention, with the lever-filling pen patented by Walter Sheaffer in 1908.

The company was family-owned until it was sold in 1966 to Textron. In 1976, Textron merged Sheaffer with Eaton Paper Co. in 1976 and, 11 years later, sold Sheaffer-Eaton to Genifor, which returned the plant to the original name of Sheaffer Pen Co.

Over the past century, the fountain pens have become an iconic Iowa product, with governors traditionally signing state bills into law with Sheaffers.

Between five and 10 of the company's 120 employees will be laid off by the end of 2005, although Kwong said that number may change due to the seasonality of Sheaffer's business.

'That's our guess-timate,' she added.

The majority of the layoffs will come in waves during the first quarter of 2006, she said.

'All work force reductions will be made according to the unions' collective bargaining agreement," Kwong said. "This means that displaced union employees with seniority will be able to 'bump' into the remaining jobs as depart–ments/functions are shut down."

Production workers at the plant are represented by United Auto Workers Local 1551.

Bic officially put the 301 Avenue H plant, located at the north end of Fort Madison's downtown, on the market last week.

Kwong said administrative functions like customer service, finance and purchasing will be transferred to Bic facilities in Milford, Conn., and Charlotte, N.C., with more details on those transitions expected in the next few months.

Final assembly, packaging, warehousing and distribution also will be relocated to Charlotte.

"During the meeting, Sheaffer management thanked employees for their continued support and patience throughout this difficult transition process and said they would provide further updates as plans were finalized," Kwong added.

She noted that workers at the Sheaffer plant observed a moment of silence to mark the passing of Walter A. Sheaffer II, the grandson of the company's founder.

The younger Sheaffer was named chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the company in 1960. He also served as president of company divisions Sheaffer Western Hemisphere and Sheaffer International.

The U.S. Army veteran, who died at age 83, served in World War II. He also was a former trustee at Iowa Wesleyan College, a member of the Iowa College Foundation board of governors and, at the time of his death, was serving as president of the board of trustees of the W.A. Sheaffer Memorial Foundation."