Gardyloo, Gobemouche

Do you know how wonderful G-words are? They're good. Great. Grandiloquent. Think about it: If it weren't for the letter G, we wouldn't have such great words as Gardyloo! and Gobemouche!


Gardyloo!:
Ma: Creole expression that you say whenever you have to go to the bathroom
Pa: Scottish greeting for one's mother-in-law
Jess: What you say when a girl's dress flies up in the wind
Kev: Expression for surprise after sitting on a bagpipe

Gardyloo! It could very well be one of those expressions. Really, if you combine Mom and Dad's answers, you get pretty close.
Gardyloo! is something that Scots used to yell when dumping a wash bowl or bucket of toilet-related matter out of windows and into the streets. Hopefully, there is no longer any use for this exclamation, because I sincerely hope that nobody is still throwing their toilet stuff into pathways.
The term Gardyloo! comes from French, but then adopted by the Scottish. Here's the legend:
King Philippe II, who ruled from 1180 to 1223, was apparently walking through the streets of a plebeian town, when he was doused. By a bucket. Full of bathroom liquids. And that kind of annoyed him. But he was cool about it. Instead of banishing the poor peasant, the King suggested that they start yelling "Watch out for the water!" before they toss. Guess what "Watch out for the Water!" is in French. "Garde à l'eau!"
So how might we bring back this expression? Nobody is using it for what it used to mean, of course. I propose that we say Gardyloo! before we say something that is a complete lie or sarcasm, rather, before we spew a load of bullshit out of our mouths.

Gobemouche:
Ma: French term for an ugly face that your mom always says "Don't make an ugly face or it will stick that way!"
Pa: When you don't put the wood in the fireplace properly. Or a chauffeur
Jess: A person that is in charge of collecting tickets at a movie theater
Kev: The type of asshole who parks across two parking spaces

****Move this paragraph to the end.****

I'd like to actually start by saying this, because I am thinking about it right now. I'll probably edit this to move it to the end but whatever. So I learned when I was reading about Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts that Starbucks employees will often spell names wrong on purpose to get free advertising. Thank you selfies!

So Gobemouche. Another French word, Gobemouche is one of my new favorite ways to describe people. And it's likely that you are one. Yes, most of you reading this are Gobemouches. So what is it? Well, a Gobemouche is someone who is highly gullible, and will believe a lot of what they hear or read. That thing about Starbucks? Made it up. I'm cool.

And no, it has nothing to do with
basketball. Just the mouth.

It's likely that this term comes from the picture on the left. (Not this picture exactly. Just the idea of it.)
Basically, whenever someone is in shock or surprise of hearing such a wonderful, made-up story, their mouth hangs open. And we all know what happens then: Flies get in your mouth. Of course. So that's where this word comes from.
Gobemouche is a compound word, from Gober, meaning "to swallow," and Mouche, a fly.
So a Gobemouche is a fly-swallower, or someone who believes everything and really needs to find a way to clamp their mouth shut. 

Flibbertigibbet, Batrachomyomachy, and Finifugal

Take a guess why I chose these three words for this week.

You're wrong.

I chose Flibbertigibbet, Batrachomyomachy, and Finifugal because they are specifically words that you will never remember how to say. Even when writing this post, I could never say the first two the same way twice. So have fun.

Flibbertigibbet: Flibber-te-GIB-bit
Depending on whether you understand this word to be a noun or an adjective, it could mean exactly what it says. You could even go as far to say that it's onomatopoetic. As an adjective, Flibbertigibbet means "balderdash" or "nonsense." How convenient.
On the other hand, Flibbertigibbet can also be a noun, meaning "Someone that is a talkative chatterbox." It's usually in reference to a woman, but really anyone can be a Flibbertigibbet. Heck, sometimes I can be a Flibbertigibbet.
This word likely is just a nonsense phrase from the 1400s, much like yakkity-yak or yadda-yadda-yadda. Fuzzy-Wuzzy. Handy-Dandy. Jibber-Jabber. Those are called Rhyming Compounds. 

Batrachomyomachy (n.): But-rock-uh-my-AH-muh-kee

Face the facts. You'll never be able to pronounce this. I've tried so many times and a couple minutes later, I have to try again.

Don't worry. Phineas and Ferb know
what you're talking about.

As long as we're talking about words about themselves and onomatopoetic, we come to Batrachomyomachy. How many times did you want to tell someone that they were over-exaggerating something that is completely pointless, but you didn't want to use the hackneyed phrase "Making a mountain out of a molehill"? That's why you can just say "Stop being a Batrachomyomachist!"
Oddly enough, by saying Batrachomyomachy, you are making a mountain of a problem by trying to say a molehill of a phrase.
The word comes to us from Latin. Ah, those Romans, always coming up with weird phrases. So the Latin root Batracho- means "Frog", Mys- means "Mouse", and -Mochy means "Fight". So, really, by making a Mountain out of a Molehill, you're just making the frog and the mouse fight.
This is also the title of a short epic poem, translated to The Battle of Frog and Mice. You can read it here, but it's pretty self-explanatory as to what it's about.

Finifugal (adj.): Fini-FEW-gull
I find that this is actually one of the most interesting words I've found in a while, besides the other two in this post. Briefly, the word Finifugal is used to describe someone who doesn't like ending things, albeit relationships, books, blog posts, etc. I sometimes feel like I'm not very Finifugal, but then I rememb--

Lots of Words

Yay lots of words:


Yarborough:
The word Yarborough comes from the year 1897, when the Earl of Yarborough, Charles Worsley, bet a 1 in 1000 chance of getting a poker or bridge hand with no cards above a 9.

Purlicue:
Hold out your hand. Spread your fingers apart. Now look at that web of skin in between your thumb and index finger. That's your Purlicue. It rhymes with Curly Q. Supposedly, when you have a headache, doctors suggest that pinching your purlicue is helpful. Let me try that after I finish all my English homework..........

Jamais Vu
If you remember my post on Semantic Satiation, then you may already know the meaning behind Jamais Vu. While Semantic Satiation is saying a word so many times that it starts to sound weird, Jamais Vu is when you stare at a familiar word for a long time.
Take the word tongue:
 tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue              tongue

Doesn't it look weird now?
Of course it does.

Rheum:
You know when you wake up and you have those disgusting little "eye-crispies"? Yeah, those are officially called Rheum. I used to call those Sleepers, but people also call them Eye Rocks or just Sleeps.

1950's slang

So, as an avid reader of my blog, which I just know you are, you should remember my post on Victorian-Era slang. It was a great post- one of my favorites, actually. So I decided I want to do one again, because it was a lot of fun. Fun fact: Slang is actually a slang word. It's simply short for Shortened Language. It's a autonym. So here, have some 1950's slang.

I bet you're wondering, how does a flutter bum like me get to be so hep? Well, I'll clue you. Around round up time of 2013, I wasn't very cranked to go to the corral. I had a lot of moldies who gave me a crazy lot of mush. So I thought "Hey, this place is such a Nowheresville." So my reds and I, who were quite radioactive, all shucked, sluffed, and shot down. Now I'm just some fream, circled with a couple ankle-biters. It's a good thing that I lit up the tilt sign when I told you this.

Well, that didn't make much sense, now did it... Here, let me help:

I bet you're wondering, how does a handsome young man like me get to be so awesome ? Well, I'll tell you about it. Around the end of Summer Vacation of 2013, I wasn't very excited to go to the schoolyard. I had a lot of bad teachers who gave me a buttload of homework. So I thought "Hey, this place is such a Lame place to be." So my Communists and I, who were quite popular, all lied, cheated, skipped classes, and failed. Now I'm just some guy that doesn't fit in, married with a couple children. It's a good thing that I made this all up when I told you this.

Wait, but there's more, okay? Just some great phrases that we should bring back:

Apple-Butter - someone who is a smooth-talker
Clyde: A regular guy
Sophie: Another boy's girlfriend
What's Buzzin', cuzzin?: What's new? / What's up?
What's your tale, Nightingale?  What's your story? What's the matter?
Come on, Snake! Let's Rattle!  May I dance with you, miss?
and, my favorite: Another way to say Make like a tree and Leave:
Put an egg in your shoe and beat it!

One thing that I've noticed from this reading is that we still use so many of their slang, even on a regular basis. I mean, Dr. Seuss coined the word nerd in the 50's, and I call people nerds all day, every day. Spaz, a tight group of friends. punks, "No sweat!", even to Make Out-- all of these phrases come from the 1950's!

Anyway, if you disregard the war, the blatant sexism, the blatant racism, the discrimination, Jim Crow laws still in effect, Polio, Domestic Violence, Joe McCarthy, Civil Rights-- Ah, hell. It was all pretty bad. EXCEPT FOR THE SLANG. THAT WAS REALLY COOL!