Save the Words - Oxford's Drollic to the Squiriferous

Between the "lols" and "roflcopters" there are plenty of brand spanking new words being tossed around on this big, wide spectrum we call the Internet on a daily basis. And, if you can believe it, there are even some tools that connect you with real dictionary type speech, too.

Case in point: savethewords.org, a linguistic experience from Oxford University Press that allows you to fly through a list of words that used to be common day and are now going extinct. Poignant red underlines of modern spellcheckers symbolize these words' endangered status.

Peruse around the list of odd words and click each to find out the meaning and common conversational use.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Once you've located your very favorite, you can register with the site and make a promise to begin using your new word in daily conversation, thus taking a nearly extinct part of language and making it useful again.

Here's ours: The internet is full of those with icasms, but Happycat is king. What's yours?

link:// savethewords.org

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8.18.10

By Levy

Neutral

Brephophagist- One who eats babies. O_o

8.21.10

By DJ Wilson

Highest Rank

I noticed that your list does not contain the word "niggardly" meaning stingy or miserly. I first encountered the word in reading Silas Marner for High School English. I think that it is obvious why it has fallen into disuse in America, because one group perceived it as being racist. It has nothing to do with race and is not even spelled the same as the infamous "N" word. It is sad when a perfectly good word is banned for alleged racism. If you will remember, a college professor was chastised over using the word. Unacceptable! As long as my husband and I are alive, this word will live in our vocabulary and
probably among the well-educated of our generation. Bah humbug!