Spyke
feddit.uk

Pumpernickel, codswallop, hornswoggle, gobbledegook, flummoxed, collywobbles.

33

English: "wug". I love how it means nothing, and it's used because of that, so you can test how children generate grammatical forms without their previous knowledge influencing it:

Portuguese: "traquitana". Dictionary says it is (was) used for a type of horse carriage, but I've always heard it being used for either 1) that old motorcar falling into pieces, or 2) cheap, small things for sale. It sounds funny.

Italian: "zuzzurellone". It's basically "manchild" but not in an insulting way. Ditto, it also sounds funny.

16

i've got the whole test somewhere. it's gorgeous. also a wug is light blue, almost cyan


spower loves his tea

2
Raireply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

it’s obviously “weg”, ez test

(Love your examples, never heard the other two!)

3
mander.xyz

Interestingly enough I remember reading somewhere that, if the test is made with German-speaking children, they automatically pluralise "der Wug" /vu:k/ as "die Wüge" /vy:gə/. And English does show some umlaut words, so… "one wug, two weg" doesn't sound that weird!

2

Ahhh the only other language I speak (very poorly at this point) is Deutsch, so that totally scans!

3

does "scram" qualify? its one of my favorites. i really hope someone uses it for me one day. I'd be overjoyed

"Now, scram!"

and I'd be giddy like 😊😊 heheheee.

14

I actually use 4 of these regularly in my work as a rigger.

Cattywampus (catty) is actually a term of art. When you need to hang something between two beams, you connect a peice of steel to each beam and then bring them together where they dangle, making a bridle, to get the point in space where you want your thing to hang. It becomes cattywampus (catty) when your bridal legs arent perpendicular to the beams you are hanging them from - typically because you need to dodge obstacles in the way.

The others I use myself and am trying to get to catch on

A kerfuffle (kerfuff) is a messy or complicated problem that probably takes longer than you want to solve. For example, if you drop your rope in but it gets tangled in a bridal 20' below the beams, it's a kerfuffle, and your rope is kerfuffed

Shenanigans (shenan) unconventional, creative, and often somewhat unkosher or uncomfortable things you do to solve problems - often how you solve a kerfuffle. If you are straight pulling a motor chain, but then run out of chain right at the top and then tie a foot loop on the rope so you can step off the beam, pull the motor itself into the air, and make the point while you balance/dangle from the foot loop, then that is some shenan.

Bamboozled is when you spend a bunch of time and effort doing something, only to be told that someone else was wrong about something and you need to re-do all your work.

11
lemmy.world

obstreperous

my friends and I used to deliberately use it incorrectly as a synonym for recalcitrant

"Stop being so obstreperous!"

9

I dropped recalcitrant to the IT guy about the printer/copier/mental torture device at work and he legitimately smiled.

Made my day!

1
lemmy.today

I used "kerfuffle" at a meeting at work the other week and it's gotten to be quite popular.

7
feddit.uk

Ferroequinologist: one who studies trains

8
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Did you learn that term from Ologies like I did?

Alie Ward is the bee's knees and so are all the passionate smart people she asks (not actually) stupid questions 🥰

2

I think I found it on a random internet list, but thanks for the link. Now I know many more ology words...

2
pawb.social

I use some of these sometimes. My favorites are discombobulated (because of the meme) and lollygagging (idk, it just sounds funny and I know it best from a line of guard dialog in Skyrim and I use that same tone of voice with my dog when she's sniffing one spot for too long).

I just showed this list to my Asian wife and she described it as "white people deep magics" 😂

4

I mean, Discombobulate is a counter spell in magic as well.

2
lemmy.radio

Pretty sure I've used most of those in my weekly podcast about amateur radio. I'm going to make it my mission to use them all!

4
lemmy.radio

It's my attempt at describing the 1,000 hobbies that encompass amateur radio, it's called "Foundations of Amateur Radio" and (including a rename four years in) it's been going for over 15 years. Episodes are on average about five minutes and as I said, published weekly at 01:00 UTC on Saturday morning.

It comes as audio, text, email, YouTube and is included in several other podcasts, news broadcasts and magazines. You can find it in pretty much every podcast directory and to ensure that it outlives me, it's archived on the Internet Archive.

It's a lot of work, but I love making it.

Thanks for asking.

My podcast home page is here: https://podcasts.vk6flab.com/

4
squirrelreply
cake.kobel.fyi

That sounds nice, subscribed!

Btw, all the subscribe links on your site do a weird google.com redirect before going to the actual URL. Why is that?

1
lemmy.radio

Nice!

As for the redirect, it's a "feature" imposed by Google sites. I have no control over it unfortunately.

1

I get it'd be a bit of work, but if you ever have the time, I'd ditch Google Sites. Don't need to give them more control than they already have.

2

If you're feeling discombobulated by these shenanigans, then perhaps it's time to skedaddle?

2

Dirigibilivious: comparable to a dirigible, usually size, but could also be hot air, or a big gasbag.

2

If your waistline is high enough these words automatically enter into your vocabulary.

2

Lollygagger's Bubkus Discombobulation Syndrome (or LBDS) is a serious illness affecting men over 30. If you're reading this and remember LMFAO at the height of their popularity, get tested today.

2

"Trousers" as an expletive. "Oh trousers! I've stubbed my toe!" (Not my idea, Jay Foreman from YT)

1