Comflogisticate

This is a purposely made up word. It seems that sometime in the 1800s there was this fad for making up nonsense words. Basically this word means to utterly confuse someone. It can also mean to embarrass or show-up someone.

One wonders why they thought they needed a word for that. Was it because utterly confusing someone had become some sort of sport? Did they go all in on this? Were there competitions in comflogistication?

I’ve utterly confused people in the past but, honestly, it wasn’t on purpose. So now I have a word for it in case I ever accidentally do it in the future. Or maybe it will be on purpose, just so I can declaim, “I’ve just comflogisticated you, haven’t I.”

Thunder-plump

I’ve debated on and off over the years whether or not a hyphenated word is actually one word or in reality a phrase. But for the purpose of these Weird Word posts, I treat them as words.

I just like the way this one sounds. It’s meant to indicate a sudden and heavy rainstorm. I think thunder-plump perfectly describes how it feels and sounds. I’ve been outside hiking on a number of occasions during a thunder-plump. It can be both exhilarating and annoying.

Kittle-pitchering

Oh boy. I wish I’d found this word a long, long time ago. It never occurred to me to do this. I wish it had.

Kittle-pitchering is how you stop someone from telling a long and boring story by constantly interrupting them with questions and contradictory statements.

This is a brilliant idea, but I do wonder how effective it actually is. I can imagine a number of scenarios where it simply draws the whole thing out even longer. Still, I’d love to give it a try some day.

I’d have to say that the character, Temperance Brennan, on the TV show “Bones” is a consummate practitioner of kittle-pitchering. My husband and I bought the entire series on DVD and have been slowly working our way through the episodes. I’ve noticed on numerous occasions the Brennan will often stop people from continuing to speak by asking questions about what they’ve just said and/or pointing out where they are in error. In essence contradicting what they’ve just said.

I usually like to end these Weird Word posts by using all the weird words I’ve just written about in one sentence. These words have me a bit stumped for how I might do that.  Maybe two sentences would work …

Speaking metaphorically, this may have been a thunder-plump of comflogistication. You’re probably ready to perform a little kittle-pitchering.

Photos courtesy of Managing IP, The Glo Show and the Gloria, and Shutterstock, respectively. Quote courtesy of Pinterest.