a list of words that are only ever used in one phrase and one phrase only

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1. fro - "to and fro"

― JZ, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

2. petard - "hoisted on your own etc."

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:16 (twenty years ago)

Tony Robinson did a whole special the other day where he demonstrated what a petard was.

(And actually, it has two meanings - one for people involved in medieval warfare, and another on ships!)

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

It's a kind of mediaeval grenade is it?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

http://www.merlinnj.com/shop/media/holy_hand_grenade.jpg

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:21 (twenty years ago)

pyrrhic - as in 'pyrrhic victory'

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

jetsam
morans

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

"willy nilly"

― elmo (allocryptic), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

2. petard - "hoisted on your own etc."

Funny, I was trying to come up with a list like this a couple years ago with a friend of mine, and this is the first one we came up with, I think.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

woogie. (boogie woogie)

auk (auk and style)

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't an Auk an extinct type of bird? (Or am I thinking Auroc, which is an animal anyway.)

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

I knew I was right!

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/1/0/7/11073/11073-h/images/auk.jpg

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

The great auk is extinct, but there are still plenty of other auks around.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

unrequited

― autovac (autovac), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

(Actually the list I was trying to construct was more specifically words that were once in common usage but only exist now in an idiomatic context.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

'vim and vigour'
'spic and span'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

'sleight of hand'
'fleet of foot' (in that sense of the word anyhow)

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

pale and wan

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

'and never the TWAIN shall meet'

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

'as is my WONT'

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

I don't agree about 'wan' - I use it and have heard it used alone quite frequently.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

I don't agree about 'wan' - I use it and have heard it used alone quite frequently.

Well, you *are* on a Belle and Sebastian mailing list...

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Hue and cry

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

hatch-"down the hatch" (not in the context of eggs)
render-"render unto Caesar what is Caesar's..."

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

(xpost) zing!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

'woe betide'
'kith and kin'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

I always thought that "profusely" had a limited usage, in that I would wager that 80% of the time, it's used with one of the following words: cry, sweat, bleed, apologize, and thank.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

haha, bloody poets showing up and saying "Nah, 'wan' is in common use"! (xpost to Archel)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

'rent asunder'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

(did I spell that right?)

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

'stark naked'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

cleave (in the sense of join, not split) "cleave to one's principles"

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha Nick just reminded me of one of Billy Connelly's finest

Teacher: Woe betide the boy who plays football instead of coming into class

Young Billy: Who's this fucking Woby? He's got the right idea!

(or words to that effect)

― Rumpea, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

"Render" is not uncommon.

― elmo (allocryptic), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

The quick and the dead – quick as in alive
Hold fast – fast as in, er, not moving at all

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

You use a derivative of fast still - as in fasten.

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

Duh

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

I guess I meant render in the sense of "to pay", the whole action, not using "render payment" which is redundant.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

Brimstone
Mickle, muckle
Hale

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

'Hale', of course, is usually used in conjunction with 'twat'.

http://www.20six.co.uk/pub/channel26/hale_and_pace2.jpg

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

After the 'wan' thing I just shouldn't say that I use 'hale' and 'brimstone', should I?

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

Hale, Satan

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

Hoist on his own petard is from Hamlet, right?

Pétard in French is slang for a joint.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

"For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his owne
petar" Shakespeare, Hamlet III iv.

"Hoist" was in Shakespeare's time the past participles of a verb "to hoise", which meant what "to hoist" does now: to lift. A petard (see under "peter out" for the etymology) was an explosive charge detonated by a slowly burning fuse. If the petard went off prematurely, then the sapper (military engineer; Shakespeare's "enginer") who planted it would be hurled into the air by the explosion. (Compare "up" in "to blow up".) A modern rendition might be: "It's fun to see the engineer blown up with his own bomb."

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

cleave

the only word in the english languaged that means one thing and also its opposite.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

nah, there's loads

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

eke!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

quench

When is it ever used not in conjunction with "thurst" ?

― JTS, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

short SHRIFT
out of KILTER

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

.cx

― LeCoq (LeCoq), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

roffle!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

(well except for joshblog)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

One autoanytonym that I just came across that isn't on that list: muck, as a verb, which means to remove the muck from something, and to put the muck on something.

Pyrrhic is a proper name (relating to Pyrrhus), and so I'm not sure it qualifies.

I'll add the sense of "brand" used in "brand [spanking] new".

For "stark naked", see also "stark raving".

I'm kinda with Archel in this, in that I use many of these words in other contexts, but Martin will tsk me as well I suspect.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

Re the autoantonyms: is there a term for flammable/inflammable, words that look like they should be opposites but in fact mean the same thing?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

'stark naked'

also used with contrast

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

scantily clad.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

INTENTS and purposes

― Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 22:37 (twenty years ago)

INTENSIVE PORPOISES

ihttp://www.crru.org.uk/images/porpoise_callout.jpg

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

damn.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

When is it ever used not in conjunction with "thurst" ?

when it's used in conjunction with 'desire'?

I love autoantonyms!

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 23:23 (twenty years ago)

The word tuffet exists nowhere outside of Miss Muffet's direct sphere of influence.

― Aimless (Aimless), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 23:29 (twenty years ago)

kith (and kin)
rack (and ruin)

― isadora (isadora), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 01:45 (twenty years ago)

fast = fast asleep!
stark = stuff is always getting put "in stark relief"
hatch = hatch-as-mouth is just a metaphor, though
fro = limited to haircuts
spic = you can imagine why people don't say it a lot
wan = I'm with Archel
wont = as is my wont, as he is wont to do
render = on all yr bills, at least
profuse = lots of "profusion," though
muck = muckraking, mucking drains, etc
scantily = original "scant" gets used plenty
intents = "intent" gets used all the time
rack = nice one

― nabiscothingy, Wednesday, 24 August 2005 02:11 (twenty years ago)

'Wreaking' is nothing without 'havoc'

― Lurky McLurk, Wednesday, 24 August 2005 03:01 (twenty years ago)

Hue and cry

is "hew and cry," innit?

― Leeeeeeee (Leee), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 03:22 (twenty years ago)

i came across a good for real one playing scrabble the other day but i can't remember it for the life of me. it started, i think, with a t, and means essentially an object of fond desire.

also -- livelong, as in "the livelong day"

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 03:27 (twenty years ago)

Nab, I just meant "muck" as an autoantonym, not as a word that is used in one phrase only.

You can wreak terror as well.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 03:40 (twenty years ago)

Only pools are limpid.

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 06:00 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and last night I also thought that "fast" meaning still is in "hold fast" and "make fast". So there.

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 06:52 (twenty years ago)

See http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/antagonym.html for words with two contradictory meanings (I don't think 'antagonym' is quite the official term but then I'm not sure there is one.)

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:31 (twenty years ago)

Well I'm not really worried about this,
But can some one please answer me this -
Apart from on commentary, where else on earth
Can you hear the word 'aplomb' being used?

(Half Man Half Biscuit- Keeping Two Chevrons Apart)

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:36 (twenty years ago)

Hrmmm. I enjoy summer fruits - sometimes I feel like eating a peach, and sometimes I feel like eating aplomb.

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:43 (twenty years ago)

Peel and Unpeel aplomb.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

Not quite on topic but I vaguely remember a line in PG Wodehouse about Jeeves (I think) being, if not disgruntled, not exactly gruntled either.

― beanz (beanz), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

I am a very dolent person
I eptly work.
Don't tell me a secret, I'll only be creet.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

Flammable - might burst into flames.
Inflammable - might burst into flames.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

I am norant.

― beanz (beanz), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 08:56 (twenty years ago)

http://paul.merton.ox.ac.uk/language/gruntled.html

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

"Contemplate suicide"

Suicide is only ever contemplated, never "thought about" or "considered".

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 10:11 (twenty years ago)

"lo" and behold

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Lo: Appears in proclamation-ish uses, ie "Lo, how a rose ere blooming/from tender stem hath sprung". Probably used about as much as O, as in "O Archel, how I admire thee".

Quench: Also a blacksmithing term, meaning to plunge the hot item into water (or into captured enemy soldiers, if you're a samurai). Basically refers to applying liquid.

Rack: Racked with guilt/sobs/etc.

Cleave: Biblical! Genesis 2:25: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh".

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

And really, isn't the opposite of "inept", "apt"? Somehow I always thought it was.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

Some of those "antagonyms" -- e.g. "apparent" and "bound" -- are total bullshit!

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 19:20 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Nabisco, I noticed that about "apparent" -- the two uses given aren't opposites in any true sense, just different applications of the same idea (visibility, broadly speaking). The sloppy reasoning pissed me off so much that I didn't read any further.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

Grrr.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

Also, I know there's a song lyric that runs "...thought about suicide..." but I can't place it right now. Will think on the way home from work.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

"I've thought so much about suicide / parts of me have already died" is from an Old 97s song. Suspect the overuse of "considered suicide" is just newcasters & reporters trying too hard and then people adopting the construction they hear on the news and think is most correct/proper.

― Laurel, Thursday, 25 August 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

When you are "disappointed" does that mean your furniture have been removed?

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 25 August 2005 03:12 (twenty years ago)

Oops, meant "has." Time for bed.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 25 August 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

"Sure as eggs is eggs, mantle with aplomb!"

(I always think of that when I see that word)

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 25 August 2005 03:15 (twenty years ago)

Flann O'Brien did this thread first, in 1941.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 25 August 2005 04:15 (twenty years ago)

ten years pass...

auk (auk and style)

Turns out there's no such saying.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 25 May 2016 10:40 (ten years ago)

Booby trap

Obviously "boob"/"booby" is still used in, er, another context, but I think this is the only contemporary usage of its original meaning (a foolish person).

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 25 May 2016 11:30 (ten years ago)

booby prize

― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 25 May 2016 11:38 (ten years ago)

Achingly beautiful?

― real orgone kid (NickB), Thursday, 26 May 2016 07:50 (ten years ago)

Oh, I didn't know the English term for the concept of "booby prize", thanks for enlightening me.

― Tuomas, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:19 (ten years ago)

Also, I guess the term "boob tube" is still used in the US, or is it?

― Tuomas, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:20 (ten years ago)

(Meaning television, not the piece of clothing.)

― Tuomas, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:21 (ten years ago)

No it's not. And there's no piece of clothing called boob tube.

― Josefa, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:27 (ten years ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_top

A tube top, colloquially known in the U.K. as a boob tube, is a shoulderless, sleeveless women's garment that wraps around the upper torso.

― Tuomas, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:35 (ten years ago)

Ah OK, well in America we don't have that term

― Josefa, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:38 (ten years ago)

huh I always thought it was an Americanism

― reader, if you love him so much why don't you marry him? (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:50 (ten years ago)

much of a "muchness"

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:50 (ten years ago)

Finland... UK... USA... do we even speak the same language?

― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:51 (ten years ago)

"Boob tube" in America means TV, yes, but only someone over age 60 would use that term in that way. We say "tube top" for the garment.

― Josefa, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:52 (ten years ago)

... but only someone over age 60 would wear one.

― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:53 (ten years ago)

You should come to Brooklyn

― Josefa, Thursday, 26 May 2016 08:55 (ten years ago)

The high water mark of "boob tube" was probably the 70s, so "over age 60" is a little exaggerated, but it's not a current hip hep and happening phrase. It is definitely generally understandable still. "The tube" for tv is probably a little more in use, but then again tvs aren't as in use as they used to be.

― Three Word Username, Thursday, 26 May 2016 10:05 (ten years ago)

Genuinely surprising that there's no porn streaming site called BoobTube.

― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 26 May 2016 11:18 (ten years ago)

"Boob Tube"? You don't mean "Goggle Box" ?

― Mark G, Thursday, 26 May 2016 11:40 (ten years ago)

Wit in "To wit"

― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 May 2016 11:45 (ten years ago)

two years pass...

Raring in 'Raring to go'?

― Alan Alba (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 July 2018 17:58 (seven years ago)

six months pass...

I don't think I even quoted it secondhand. Actually, my students want Maduro gone, and I've seen the strange-bedfellows approach b/w the Trump administration and the parents of the students who have no butter or meat.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 10 February 2019 01:04 (forty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq7LM4rOcV4

― Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Sunday, 10 February 2019 01:54 (seven years ago)

druthers

― ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Sunday, 10 February 2019 03:08 (seven years ago)

seems like the word 'fraught' is accompanied by 'with danger' at least 95% of the time. partly to be perverse, I like to dislodge it from danger and use it in other contexts.

― A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 10 February 2019 04:23 (seven years ago)

i rarely use fraught in the "with danger" context. I use it as a replacement for "problematic" which has semantically shifted in recent years.

― sarahell, Sunday, 10 February 2019 05:08 (seven years ago)

Only pools are limpid.
― weather1ngda1eson (Brian)

only green is limpid

― the scientology of mountains (rushomancy), Sunday, 10 February 2019 12:16 (seven years ago)

just read this wonderful malapropism:

"These guys covered the gamete with Rock N’ Roll, Blues, R&B and splendid jams."

which reminds me that mature haploid cells aside, the gamut is only ever run.

― the scientology of mountains (rushomancy), Sunday, 10 February 2019 15:20 (seven years ago)

three months pass...

Damsel in distress.

― Ned Caligari (Tom D.), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 07:08 (seven years ago)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damselfly

― specific goats my way (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 08:10 (seven years ago)

one year passes...

Swingeing cuts.

― Boring blighters bloaters (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 November 2020 12:08 (five years ago)

three months pass...

The ides of march.

― visiting, Monday, 1 March 2021 16:00 (five years ago)

two months pass...

bandy around

― I was born anxious, here's how to do it. (ledge), Friday, 7 May 2021 09:35 (five years ago)

bandy about

― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Friday, 7 May 2021 09:56 (five years ago)

bandy words with

― Number None, Friday, 7 May 2021 09:59 (five years ago)

'about' - same thing
'words with' - i'll allow it.

― I was born anxious, here's how to do it. (ledge), Friday, 7 May 2021 10:08 (five years ago)

slake

― One Of The Bad Guys (Tracer Hand), Friday, 7 May 2021 11:55 (five years ago)

bandy-legged

― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Friday, 7 May 2021 12:14 (five years ago)

lol, just watched an episode of Survivor where someone was called a "bandy-legged troll" last night

― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Friday, 7 May 2021 12:34 (five years ago)

fun thread, btw!

― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Friday, 7 May 2021 12:39 (five years ago)

For a second I considered that "wreak" was only used with "havoc." On reconsidering I think you can also wreak vengeance.

― Triumph of the Willa Cather (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 7 May 2021 12:44 (five years ago)

"And that's Bent Coppers."

― the pinefox, Friday, 7 May 2021 13:00 (five years ago)

"score" in the numerical sense is pretty rare outside of "Four score and seven years ago" but occasionally I guess you see people writing "scores of ___."

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 7 May 2021 15:27 (five years ago)

I think "wrought" is only used in two phrases, each with a somewhat different sense of "wrought" -- "What hath god wrought" and "wrought iron"

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 7 May 2021 15:30 (five years ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well_Wrought_Urn

― the pinefox, Friday, 7 May 2021 15:35 (five years ago)

all that glisters is not gold

― sharpening the contraindications (Aimless), Friday, 7 May 2021 16:43 (five years ago)

Been a long time since I heard "doth" without "protest too much."

― Triumph of the Willa Cather (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 7 May 2021 16:52 (five years ago)

Figgy

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 7 May 2021 16:53 (five years ago)

would "overwrought" count for "wrought" ?

― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Friday, 7 May 2021 17:34 (five years ago)

the wrought’s set in

― One Of The Bad Guys (Tracer Hand), Friday, 7 May 2021 17:43 (five years ago)

wrought you like a hurricane

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 7 May 2021 17:46 (five years ago)

seems like the only time anyone is wroth anymore, it's that they've been waxing wroth

― sharpening the contraindications (Aimless), Friday, 7 May 2021 17:48 (five years ago)

This is a story of Johnny Wroughten

― Triumph of the Willa Cather (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 7 May 2021 17:49 (five years ago)

Nook and cranny. Nooks can exist on their own but there's never a cranny without a nook.

― BrianB, Thursday, 13 May 2021 13:27 (five years ago)

A tempest can seemingly only exist in a teapot.

― henry s, Thursday, 13 May 2021 13:57 (five years ago)

cranny is a great one... i feel like tempests are a bit more prominent thanks to Shakespeare, the arcade game, tempestuous feelings, etc.

― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 13 May 2021 16:09 (five years ago)

There is no Bob Dylan album titled "Cranny", as of May 13th, 2021.

― Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.), Thursday, 13 May 2021 16:19 (five years ago)

https://www.discogs.com/artist/3032992-Cranny

― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 13 May 2021 16:22 (five years ago)

two months pass...

Handbasket

― Piven After Midnight (The Yellow Kid), Monday, 19 July 2021 22:07 (four years ago)

yes, in famous saying "a stitch in time saves handbasket"

― making splashes at Dan Flashes (Neanderthal), Monday, 19 July 2021 22:12 (four years ago)

“de-exhuming”, as used in the phrase “Can We Try De-Exhuming McCarthy, US Politics July 2021”

― tean mean poleand cheaseang theas means hamseak feasts (breastcrawl), Monday, 19 July 2021 22:15 (four years ago)

'Weft' would be nothing without 'warp'

― Hideous Lump, Monday, 19 July 2021 22:27 (four years ago)

"soulwinner"

― making splashes at Dan Flashes (Neanderthal), Monday, 19 July 2021 22:37 (four years ago)

three months pass...

Are there any hangars other than aircraft hangars?

― Des Weerelds Dool-om-berg ont-doold op Dool-in-bergh (Tom D.), Friday, 5 November 2021 13:50 (four years ago)

bike hangars

i.e. https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/cycle-parking-guide/

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 5 November 2021 14:03 (four years ago)

Ah, never heard of those.

― Des Weerelds Dool-om-berg ont-doold op Dool-in-bergh (Tom D.), Friday, 5 November 2021 14:06 (four years ago)

coat ?

― Chicks and Ducks and Geese better scurry (Ste), Friday, 5 November 2021 14:09 (four years ago)

oh hangAr

― Chicks and Ducks and Geese better scurry (Ste), Friday, 5 November 2021 14:09 (four years ago)

i will indeed fetch mine

― Chicks and Ducks and Geese better scurry (Ste), Friday, 5 November 2021 14:09 (four years ago)

hangar steak

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 5 November 2021 14:33 (four years ago)

lol brainfart, that's spelled hanger

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 5 November 2021 14:34 (four years ago)

Hackles, as in To raise one’s…

― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:14 (four years ago)

(things I learned today...)

the hairs on the back of the neck of cats, dogs, and some other animals that stick up when they are angry

― Kim Kimberly, Friday, 5 November 2021 16:27 (four years ago)

Is "petting" always heavy?

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 13 November 2021 03:24 (four years ago)

it seems so? “petting” is such a strange word in that context, it feels zoological almost

― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 13 November 2021 09:10 (four years ago)

Petting zoo

― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Saturday, 13 November 2021 09:46 (four years ago)

Is pent always up?

― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Saturday, 13 November 2021 09:47 (four years ago)

Dictionary says it's hypenated: pent-up.

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 13 November 2021 11:42 (four years ago)

Ah but it can be non-hypenated.

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 13 November 2021 11:46 (four years ago)

Love me some moderately-weighted petting

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Saturday, 13 November 2021 13:58 (four years ago)

betwixt

inclement

― Lee626, Saturday, 13 November 2021 21:27 (four years ago)

Light petting is a thing!!! You do it over the shirt.

― A Pile of Ants (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 14 November 2021 02:09 (four years ago)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D0AC3kUXQAAuju7.jpg

― emil.y, Sunday, 14 November 2021 15:45 (four years ago)

surprised will patrons kept going to that pool tbh

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Sunday, 14 November 2021 15:53 (four years ago)

lol

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 14 November 2021 17:27 (four years ago)

Bill stickers is innocent!

― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Sunday, 14 November 2021 18:52 (four years ago)

lest we forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Fz8Ze7v74

― it isn't even a Fraktion (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 November 2021 18:57 (four years ago)

I'm sure the word "rictus" sometimes gets used outside of "rictus grin" but it's got to be very rare

― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Monday, 15 November 2021 00:19 (four years ago)

Can you run afoul of anything but the law?

― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Monday, 15 November 2021 01:19 (four years ago)

Nets/lines

― fix up luke shawp (darraghmac), Monday, 15 November 2021 01:58 (four years ago)

Was about to say that wreak is only ever applied to havoc but I guess you can also wreak vengeance.

― weregoats of boston (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 15 November 2021 12:53 (four years ago)

three weeks pass...

One phrase and p much one context: knoll

― coombination gazza hut & scampo bell (wins), Saturday, 11 December 2021 19:15 (four years ago)

https://d1hu4133i4rt3z.cloudfront.net/attachments/759/759876-6d0674b58f8a47feec05b7b03a636135.jpg

― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Saturday, 11 December 2021 19:20 (four years ago)

Elizabeth Fraser named the album after a peak in southern Utah called Bluebell Knoll.[1][2]

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 11 December 2021 19:23 (four years ago)

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0051/1380/6921/products/Cocteau_Twins_-_Blue_Bell_Knoll.jpg?v=1547210060

― let's make lunch and listen to five finger death punch (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 11 December 2021 19:24 (four years ago)

Ah beaten too it

Pretty sure there is some knollery in Kingdom of Loathing too

― let's make lunch and listen to five finger death punch (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 11 December 2021 19:25 (four years ago)

are there any extenuating things besides circumstances?

― I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 11 December 2021 19:45 (four years ago)

Good one.

Did you know?
Extenuating is almost always used today before "circumstances".

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 11 December 2021 19:48 (four years ago)

Extenuating buttholes

― hopefully this review helped someone (Neanderthal), Saturday, 11 December 2021 23:29 (four years ago)

one year passes...

Extol? as in "extol the virtues of"

― visiting, Sunday, 11 December 2022 21:14 (three years ago)

Does anyone ever do anything with "umbrage" besides taking it?

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 11 December 2022 23:27 (three years ago)

One Biden adviser reacted with umbrage at a private meeting with reporters this month to the suggestion that Republicans were likely to win back control of Congress.

― Kim Kimberly, Monday, 12 December 2022 01:45 (three years ago)

Huh! Okay then.

― Doctor Casino, Monday, 12 December 2022 03:24 (three years ago)

eight months pass...

Is the noun 'fancier' used in any other phrase but 'pigeon fancier'?

― Monthly Python (Tom D.), Monday, 4 September 2023 18:21 (two years ago)

there's a thing called a "dog fancier's license" (or permit)

― mark s, Monday, 4 September 2023 18:25 (two years ago)

two months pass...

I suspect this may be US-specific (i.e., the word is used more broadly elsewhere), but bow about "britches" as in what you get too big for?

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 21:03 (two years ago)

idk Dr Dre had "Britches Ain't Shit"

― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 21:14 (two years ago)

caboodle

― budo jeru, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 21:35 (two years ago)

idk Dr Dre had "Britches Ain't Shit"

Fair enough, as I had the epiphany that led me to add the word to this thread I made many similar jokes

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 21:43 (two years ago)

my parents used to use britches as a simple synonym for pants/trousers ie get on your britches

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 22:15 (two years ago)

beck

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 22:23 (two years ago)

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 23:06 (two years ago)

Soz but

beck1
/bɛk/
nounNORTHERN ENGLISH
a stream

― Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 23:43 (two years ago)

linguists call these fossil words, related and fun is the cranberry morpheme

― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 02:06 (two years ago)

Britches always makes me think of Washington, DC clothing retailer Britches Great Outdoors, which started out as a store that sold slacks.

― peace, man, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:27 (two years ago)

I suspect this may be US-specific (i.e., the word is used more broadly elsewhere), but bow about "britches" as in what you get too big for?

I think "britches" is American? It's breeches in England and breeks in Scotland.

― The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:39 (two years ago)

... breeks is much more commonly used than breeches.

― The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:40 (two years ago)

breeches is often the spelling in English, especially older prose, but i still think it's pronounced "britches"

― Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:41 (two years ago)

Yes, could be.

― The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:44 (two years ago)

Maybe not by Genesis P-Orridge though.

https://boingboing.net/2009/04/17/genesis-p-orridges-c.html/amp

― The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:46 (two years ago)

Lol I mean he could be making a play on the word without strictly thinking it's pronounced that way, but on the other hand it's one of those words that you're likely to have seen written down and never heard spoken aloud, I guess anybody who reads books much has a few of those

― Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 15:17 (two years ago)

Peace, man: Britches (the store) has had an interesting resurgence.

https://warthog.vip/

It was a staple of my preppy-ass youth. People in my personal orbit treasure memories of it. I haven't been back (because I don't dress that way anymore) but it is there if you want it.

― Oh I believe in Yetis' Day (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 16:10 (two years ago)

Dion Dublin, for the BBC today:

Brighton have played some really good stuff they never panic and always buy their time.

Is "bide" ever used outside of this idiom?

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 25 November 2023 16:36 (two years ago)

The dude bides

― Oh I believe in Yetis' Day (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 25 November 2023 16:56 (two years ago)

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bide-a-wee

(Scottish for wait a while)

― koogs, Saturday, 25 November 2023 17:15 (two years ago)

https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/720a095c-3ae2-41a9-8bfe-490b671980d5/IMG_5287.jpg

― mark s, Saturday, 25 November 2023 17:16 (two years ago)

yeah, 'wait' as in 'stay'. i think 1 in 3 Scottish b&bs are called bide-a-wee

― koogs, Saturday, 25 November 2023 17:37 (two years ago)

Could one bide on a bidet?

― Iris Demented (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 25 November 2023 17:42 (two years ago)

Yes, there are parts of Scotland where the question, "Where do you bide?" will be asked.

― How old Cary Grant? (Tom D.), Saturday, 25 November 2023 18:57 (two years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QTu8ks9X9M

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 November 2023 22:25 (two years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbXSXvt2tb0

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 November 2023 22:28 (two years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t-zC0e1Tgc

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 November 2023 22:30 (two years ago)

So yeah mostly the one set phrase.

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 November 2023 22:30 (two years ago)

Joe Bidin'

― Iris Demented (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 26 November 2023 00:38 (two years ago)

hither and yon
arms akimbo

― henry s, Sunday, 26 November 2023 01:35 (two years ago)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9_XAqUIQAANNSL.jpg

― How old Cary Grant? (Tom D.), Sunday, 26 November 2023 02:35 (two years ago)

https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/yon

― How old Cary Grant? (Tom D.), Sunday, 26 November 2023 02:36 (two years ago)

He, I almost linked the entry for “bide” earlier.

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 November 2023 04:16 (two years ago)

Heh

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 November 2023 04:16 (two years ago)

I have an app for students, Scots ABC. It has a random word generator, from which I just learned the word “oorie.”

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 November 2023 04:20 (two years ago)

Doesn’t have any of the example sentences though, for one thing.

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 November 2023 04:32 (two years ago)

auk (auk and style)
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, August 23, 2005 2:42 PM (eighteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Turns out "auk and style" doesn't exist as a saying at all, I'd heard "dressed in auk and style" but maybe it was really "dressing up in style" or something. I do know of one song where I'd misheard the latter for the former, but I'm sure my hearing predates it.

Unless, y'know, you know?

― Mark G, Sunday, 26 November 2023 09:50 (two years ago)

two years pass...

perched - "precariously perched"

― visiting, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:58 (six months ago)

I've definitely heard the word "perched" without adverbs or modifiers

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:13 (six months ago)

caboodle

― budo jeru, Tuesday, November 21, 2023 3:35 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol, i was going to post this again. not sure why i'm so fixated on this word

― budo jeru, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:16 (six months ago)

xp yeah i thought more about that after posting... i guess it's just not a work i really ever hear and the phrase stuck out to me.

― visiting, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:19 (six months ago)

*a word

― visiting, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:19 (six months ago)

"Precariously" might work though! I'm struggling to think about ways to use that word without saying "perched"

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:48 (six months ago)

Both are used all the time... separately.

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:56 (six months ago)

petard

― Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:04 (six months ago)

bored shitless

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:09 (six months ago)

... I forgot scared shitless, so ignore that.

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:09 (six months ago)

betwixt and between

― henry s, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:41 (six months ago)

i've heard betwixt used alone many times, but rarely heard "betwixt and between"!

― map, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:44 (six months ago)

What is wreaked? Mostly havoc.

Occasionally vengeance. But generally when you have some havoc, it's being wreaked. And if you are going to wreak something, it's probably havoc.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:14 (six months ago)

Spic and span, pretty much always discussed together. Ditto flotsam and jetsam.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:15 (six months ago)

you've got your flotsam, you've got your jetsam, badda bing badda boom

― budo jeru, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:27 (six months ago)

xp i can think of solo uses of both spic and span 😬

― map, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:32 (six months ago)

Two years late, but..."auk and style"??? What the fuck are you on about, Mark G?

― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 23:24 (six months ago)

Helter, and indeed, skelter.
Also, can you champ at anything other than the bit?

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 23:55 (six months ago)

And I don't think you can ever walk, stroll or jog amok

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 23:58 (six months ago)

Jog amok!

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 12:15 (six months ago)

I've been chuckling to myself about that since you posted it Zelda Zonk

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 12:16 (six months ago)

Thither, as in 'hither and...', which I guess is 'here and there'. Hither you'll find in hither and yon or come hither. But thither? Can't think of another usage.

― hennohenno moheji (Matt #2), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 14:30 (six months ago)

Kipling uses it in the last stanza of a fake Horace ode, presumably because it sounds archaic and works with the meter.

Maecenas waits me on the Esquiline
Thither tonight go I
And shall this dawn restore us, Virgil mine,
To dawn? Beneath what sky?

― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 16:11 (six months ago)

went thither in search of adventure.

(Example from wordreference.com, though indeed it seems far more likely these days to be used with "hither".)

― Kim Kimberly, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 16:13 (six months ago)

Good King Wenceslas

Bring me meat and bring me wine!
Bring me pine logs hither!
You and I shall see him dine
when we beat them thither!

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:08 (six months ago)

Sorry BEAR them thither

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:13 (six months ago)

i got some logs for ya King Wencie

― Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:14 (six months ago)

"Hither and thither" there.

― Kim Kimberly, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:15 (six months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xckDFpXa6po

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:17 (six months ago)

sure but the only other available rhyme was “zither” which is an untenable word for medieval bohemia

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:44 (six months ago)

I hereby withdraw thither from thread consideration

― hennohenno moheji (Matt #2), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 18:59 (six months ago)

one month passes...

"panacea" only ever used afaict in the phrase "not a _________"

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:10 (five months ago)

There's also no silver bullet

― Alba, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:14 (five months ago)

Very rarely a one size fits all solution

― Alba, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:14 (five months ago)

"Universal panacea" is a phrase I think I've come across.

― ledge, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:42 (five months ago)

Obviously there isn't one.

― ledge, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:42 (five months ago)

“universal panacea” is redundant

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 January 2026 12:09 (five months ago)

Gentlemen, you can't argue about lazy writing in here!

― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 12 January 2026 12:21 (five months ago)

Not unless you know the recall code.

― Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 12 January 2026 19:38 (five months ago)

On tenterhooks

― Wearing red lipstick and maintaining a neutral expression (Tom D.), Thursday, 15 January 2026 07:55 (five months ago)

Good King Wenceslas
Bring me meat and bring me wine!
Bring me pine logs hither!
You and I shall see him dine
when we beat them thither!

Missed this at the time, but the Oxford Book of Carols calls the lyrics to GKW “doggerel”.

― ICE = Tonton Macoute (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 15 January 2026 13:31 (five months ago)

A tenter is a frame for stretching fabrics. Compare the word tent. Both come from the Latin word for stretching, which also gives us words like tendon.

Anyway the fabric is held to the tenter by means of small hooks. Hence tenterhooks.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 15 January 2026 13:56 (five months ago)

At Christmas eve church service we sang all the verses of all the hymns, and later the other alto said "Next time we don't do all the verses. The cutoff is 'thither.' Anything with thither, we don't sing."

Later her (adult) daughter asked "What the heck is a thither?" which led to a hilarious family riff about cutting things with thithers.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Thursday, 15 January 2026 14:24 (five months ago)

if you hear a zither
don't dither

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 15 January 2026 16:23 (five months ago)

I would be remiss if I did not...

― Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Tuesday, 27 January 2026 15:28 (four months ago)

How remiss of you not to think of at least one other usage of that word.

― Wearing red lipstick and maintaining a neutral expression (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 January 2026 16:33 (four months ago)

You're forgetting my daughters, Miss and Remiss.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 27 January 2026 16:53 (four months ago)

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