Historical Words That Should be Revived

Hey, you zwodder—stop fudgeling about!

The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg, c. 1851 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)

When you’re a voracious reader — online and off — you come across a wide variety of interesting content.

And when I collect ideas, I’m always trying to link them to leadership lessons we can glean from history and literature.

But some ideas and content don’t always fit neatly into that bin.

So I’ve started this new section of Timeless & Timely that I’m calling Off the Clock.

Whenever the mood strikes me (and perhaps on a regular basis), I’ll add interesting tidbits to this section—which you can see in the sections at the top of the main site. It’ll be an ad hoc effort.

I’d be interested in your feedback.

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Words have always fascinated me. Especially the English language, with all of its quirkiness.

There are times when we know a feeling or circumstance, but struggle to come up with a word that describes the situation.

Arthur Schopenhauer wrote “One should use common words to say uncommon things.” Perhaps the opposite is true: we should use uncommon words to say common things.

Well, look no further! History has examples of English words that fill those gaps.

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Snollygoster

A person who has intelligence but no principles

Peg puff

A young woman with the manners of an old one

Fudgel

The act of giving the impression of working but actually doing nothing

Twattling

Gossiping idly about unimportant matters

Grumbletonians

People who are angry or unhappy with the government

Hum durgeon

An imaginary illness

Groke

Someone who stares at you hoping you'll share your food

Shivviness

The uncomfortable feeling of wearing new underwear

Crapulous

Feeling ill as a result of having eaten too much

Mugwump

Someone of authority who affects being above petty squabbles

Dysania

Difficulty getting out of bed in the morning

Hugger mugger

Secretive or covert behavior

Elflock

Tangled hair (as if matted by elves)

Ultracrepidarian

One who gives opinions on a subjects he knows nothing about

Trumpery

Things that look good but are essentially worthless

Jargogle

To confuse or jumble up

Callipygean

Having beautiful, well-shaped buttocks

Lanspresado

Someone who always conveniently shows up with no money

Cockalorum

A small man with a big opinion of himself

Zwodder

A drowsy and stupid state of mind

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Did any of these speak to you? Leave a comment.

Please share this with someone you’d think would enjoy these kinds of words. And maybe even use some of them in your conversations.