Wordy

A Business Insider writer features some words that have fallen into disuse, compiled by a guy who's written a book and keeps a Tumblr blog about them.

While I was reading the article, I was struck by a sudden memory of an old Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, in which Captain Picard attempts to understand and communicate with an alien species. I know, I know, that doesn't narrow it down much, but this particular episode was interesting because the alien (Paul Winfield) spoke a language that could be translated but which still made no sense. He would say things like, "Temba, his arms wide," and Captain Picard would understand the words but not the meaning.

Eventually the Enterprise crew figured out that the aliens spoke in metaphor, using stories and myths from their past to communicate whole concepts instead of just individual words. The above phrase, if I remember right, meant the alien wanted to give Captain Picard a gift. The way that Chinese writing consists of pictographs representing words instead of letters representing sounds might be seen as somewhat similar.

So with that in mind, I thought I might come up with some metaphors for a couple of the forgotten words. Instead of saying, for example, "ultracrepidarian," which is supposed to mean "someone who gives opinions on subjects they know nothing about," we might say, "Chris Matthews, his mouth open."

And instead of saying "snollygoster," which is "A shrewed(sic), unprincipled person, especially a politician," we would say, "Harry Reid, his stench abundant." Instead of "zwodder," which is "a drowsy and stupid state of body or mind," we would say, "The electorate, relying on televised political news."

Although it's not in the article's list, I have also heard that the abandoned word "blogger" originally meant, "someone who runs his or her mouth." We probably don't even have to create a metaphor for that one; it pretty much translates directly.