been reading: Reading the OED by Ammon Shea

The book I've been reading is totally word nerdy. It's written by a guy who read the entire Oxford English Dictionary - every entry, all 20 volumes. In one year. My co-workers gave me weird looks when I told them about it, like I was some English major freak or something. Which I am. Also? They are rednecks.

In the book, there's a chapter devoted to each letter of the alphabet. At the beginning of each chapter, Shea shares some anecdotes related to reading the OED, and then for the rest of the chapter he lists the most interesting words for that letter.

I flagged every word that I loved. There were a lot.

I'll share some that I especially like or that seem of particular usefulness in every day life. (Definitions attributed to Shea.)

• accismus: an insincere refusal of a thing that is desired
• constult: to act stupidly together
• gound: the gunk that collects in the corners of the eyes
• jentacular: of or pertaining to breakfast
• maritality: excessive or undue affection on the part of a wife for her husband
• onomatomania: vexation at having difficulty in finding the right word
• pandiculation: the act of stretching and extending the limbs, in tiredness or waking
• ruffing: the stomping of feet as a form of applause
• velleity: a mere wish or desire for something without accompanying action or effort
• yepsen: the amount that can be held in two hands cupped together

I mean, who knew there was a specific word for eye gunk?! Or the annoying bleacher stomping at sporting events? Interestingly, there is a whole subset of delightful nature-related words that I never knew, but that I feel should be brought back into regular usage:

• advesperate: to approach evening
• apricity: the warmth of the sun in winter
• impluvious: wet with rain
• petrichor: the pleasant loamy smell of rain on the ground
• psithurism: the whispering of leaves moved by the wind

Keep in mind that most of these words were used long ago (and even then sometimes only rarely) and will garner only strange looks if you actually incorporate them into your conversations. But as Shea suggests, it's enough just to know they exist.