FARK.com: (2466293) Names for 33 things you never knew had names

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(Some Guy)		Names for 33 things you never knew had names (canongate.net)		197
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52947 clicks; posted to Main » on 10 Dec 2006 at 4:15 PM | Favorite | share:

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Chiggity Chza		2006-12-10 11:51:00 AM

That was a pretty good list.

HumbleGod		2006-12-10 04:05:40 PM

Some good gems to add to my Wordie list. (Although someone there, presumably another TFer, beat me to adding 'hemidemisemiquaver' and 'obdormition.')

Honest Bender		2006-12-10 04:17:33 PM

Everything has a name. And that name is Thinger.

/hand me that thinger over there.
//what the hell is that thinger?
///etc.

Yukon Cornelius		2006-12-10 04:18:11 PM

Somehow I knew before clicking on the link that "aglet" was going to be on there. It has to be one of the best-known unkown words.

onairos		2006-12-10 04:18:36 PM

I thought the Columella Nasi was actually called the Septum Nasi.

Ambient		2006-12-10 04:18:49 PM

Honest Bender

I believe it's actually "thingy" not "thinger."

YouPeopleAreCrazy		2006-12-10 04:19:06 PM

30. SPRAINTS
Otter dung.

I don't care you are..that's funny right there.

ChimbleySweep		2006-12-10 04:19:36 PM

Yukon Cornelius: Somehow I knew before clicking on the link that "aglet" was going to be on there. It has to be one of the best-known unkown words.

Ha, ditto. Firefox doesn't seem to recognize it as a word though.

Honest Bender		2006-12-10 04:20:57 PM

Ambient

I say thinger. I find it to be more masculine. Thingy sounds too effeminate.

wiredroach		2006-12-10 04:21:40 PM

Rich Hall unavailable for comment.

Marcia Brady's Ex-Boyfriend		2006-12-10 04:21:57 PM

That ain't what we mean by "tang" in S.C. !

YouDriveAnIROC		2006-12-10 04:22:21 PM

i knew about five of those before i read them here. i'm such a loser.

mcreadyblue		2006-12-10 04:22:41 PM

$www.fractalus.com$

Does anyone know what this?

squidloe		2006-12-10 04:23:12 PM

It seems like the French have a word for everything.

DickEverhard		2006-12-10 04:23:17 PM

Quasidiploid: Describing a cell that seems to have the usual two full sets of 23 chromosomes, but does not. Many malignant cells are quasidiploid. Also called pseudodiploid.

Englebert Slaptyback		2006-12-10 04:23:36 PM

Hmmm. Are aglet, ferrule, minimus, kick/punt, peen, octothorpe, snorkel box, and tang (context, people!) really that uncommon?

Nakon		2006-12-10 04:23:48 PM

mcreadyblue

an image that can't be hotlinked.

The Man From Mars		2006-12-10 04:23:51 PM

ABILENE (adj.)
Descriptive of the pleasing coolness on the reverse side of the pillow.

crossthread		2006-12-10 04:24:07 PM

I say thinger. I find it to be more masculine. Thingy sounds too effeminate.

"Doohickey" works equal well. So does "watchamabob," if you'd been my grandfather. Every damn unknown thing was a watchamabob to him. And ever single foreign person was a DP. He was a funny guy.

tsunami2001		2006-12-10 04:24:19 PM

Also one could say "what would you call that if you had to write home and were short on paper"
/ a little loner than thinger or thingy.

Githerax		2006-12-10 04:24:19 PM

There's a reason these names are unknown. They're all things that take care of themselves without needing maintenance or replacement, unlike:

phone
computer
transmission
air conditioning
marriage

Eidolon		2006-12-10 04:24:27 PM

Does anyone know if there's a collective word for sunrise and sunset? Just any time the sun is low over the horizon? I've been looking for such a word for a while and I think I may have to invent it.

Paid Triot		2006-12-10 04:24:30 PM

The Question: "The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister."

tsunami2001		2006-12-10 04:25:02 PM

Also one could say "what would you call that if you had to write home and were short on paper"
/ a little longer than thinger or thingy.

dumpstergirl		2006-12-10 04:25:05 PM

mcreadyblue

hotlinking pwnage?

MusicMakeMyHeadPound		2006-12-10 04:25:15 PM

33. ZARF
A holder for a handleless coffee cup.

www.clognition.org

"AH HA HA HA HA! That is a funny word.

But does this mean I should go by 'Minimus' from now on?"

Shadow Blasko		2006-12-10 04:26:30 PM

Eidolon: Does anyone know if there's a collective word for sunrise and sunset? Just any time the sun is low over the horizon? I've been looking for such a word for a while and I think I may have to invent it.

Twighlight might have you there.

swahnhennessy		2006-12-10 04:26:33 PM

"Aglet" and "peen" were the only ones I knew. Not like I ever use them.

Shadow Blasko		2006-12-10 04:27:29 PM

Paid Triot: The Question: "The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister."

An Aglet was a key plot point in a CSI NY episode recently if I recall correctly.

Englebert Slaptyback		2006-12-10 04:29:44 PM

Shadow Blasko beat me to it. From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

Main Entry: twi·light
Pronunciation: 'twI-"lIt
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
1 : the light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night produced by diffusion of sunlight through the atmosphere and its dust; also : a time of twilight

Shadow Blasko		2006-12-10 04:29:55 PM

Okay, I have to do this just because. I knew many of these, and for the same reason.

Because I am feeling anal I will compile a list of what and why.

/Keeps me out of trouble. Nothing else to do while the GF is untangling Xmas lights

Englebert Slaptyback		2006-12-10 04:30:44 PM

(That was for Eidolon, btw.)

spatulacity		2006-12-10 04:31:27 PM

I've always wanted to know what the "TPS" in TPS Report stands for. Anyone know?

Bob Down		2006-12-10 04:32:02 PM

Ferrule is a word I see and hear all the time

Felch isn't on the list thought

Rob4127		2006-12-10 04:32:48 PM

I learned "octothorpe" in college, back in the early '90s, in assembly language class (68000).

cerejaninja		2006-12-10 04:34:15 PM

I only knew about dragées. Hmmm, now I'm in the mood for candy.

picturescrazy		2006-12-10 04:34:17 PM

23. PHOSPHENES
The lights you see when you close your eyes hard. Technically the luminous impressions are due to real ultimate power.

Thunder King		2006-12-10 04:34:34 PM

Krelm- The crap left behind under(and in) the ketchup lid.

nogames2k4		2006-12-10 04:35:07 PM

No Snarf?

Snarf - person or persons who bite the fart bubbles in the bath tub.

/Oh...REAL words.
//Still have real slashies.
///Is slashies a real word?

Bloginspanken		2006-12-10 04:35:20 PM

No one really says quaver in the US because it's European music terminology. It means an eight note and slapping on the prefixes just keep halving it.

duckpoopy		2006-12-10 04:35:33 PM

Frenulum.

xsarien		2006-12-10 04:36:52 PM

I'm calling shenanigans on "Zarf." It's just too, too bizarre.

Eegah		2006-12-10 04:38:01 PM

Sniglets

DeepDownHounds		2006-12-10 04:38:23 PM

I have one word for you people: Sniglets

www.gosh.org

Not Impressed

MOSTLY CERVICAL KREMS		2006-12-10 04:40:15 PM

31. TANG
The projecting prong on a tool or instrument.

Well, looks I was wrong this WHOLE TIME.

Biermaken		2006-12-10 04:40:21 PM

33. ZARF
A holder for a handleless coffee cup.

Had a finance professor use this in a class example once. Thanks, Dr. Wachowicz!

The Southern Dandy		2006-12-10 04:40:27 PM

An aglet is "ornamental"?

Good luck getting your shoelace into the hole without it. I think that qualifies it as "utilitarian" rather than ornamental.

James Brown		2006-12-10 04:41:28 PM

Gonna get me some tang this weekend.

www.humorgazette.com

sw-melkor		2006-12-10 04:41:50 PM

31. TANG
The projecting prong on a tool or instrument.

..all very good, except that it doesn't project. Its the bit of the tool that goes inside the handle.