Funny, Interesting, Unusual English Words -- Like Sardoodledom

boyfriend ---

boyfriend, such a cool word, not funny or unusual, but somehow connected to any teenage girl’s sardoodledom.

Boyfriend -- a temporary male companion, a dance partner at a school dance, a boy with whom I will go and with whom I will leave when I attend a dance, a concert, a party, a ballgame, or other social function. For the duration of the event, I will blow on his and no other boy’s dice. With him, I will hold hands, hug, dance, kiss, and I will learn about boys, and I hope he will learn about girls.

--- Definition from Ghid’s Mom’s Book of Smart

For years now, I have been paranoid about not having a boyfriend.

In seventh grade I hatched a plan. I asked a teacher, Mr Hatch, if I could eat lunch in his classroom. I didn’t lie, but that was not the whole truth. I had other reasons to eat lunch in a classroom instead of the cafeteria. I wanted a safe place where boys could notice me and feel safe about being my friend. I wanted a place where I and like-minded students could study. Maybe the most important reason, I loved a boy in the sixth grade. He loved his video games more. I have gotten over that.

When I asked Mom for help, I called it a study group. She has donated food like pizza and submarine sandwiches, and she asked other parents to support the group.

Anyone may join the group. We ask only that they not text and that they not play video games while attending the group. Mr Hatch enforces that rule, and I need not be the bad guy. As I matriculated to high school, so did he, and he is still the group’s advisor.

The group has worked well. Every girl who wants a date (escort?) gets one. Everybody who needs a tutor gets more than one. We study together. We make stacks of index cards. We study with random repetition. We try to prioritize. For example, Toussaint Louverture (cool picture in Wikipedia), which is more important, he was a literate slave, or he kicked the French out of Haiti? Or about José Maria Morelos, he kicked the Spanish out of Mexico, or he came on deck when Frank said, “José can you see?” We ask questions like, “Who was president during the Civil War, Benito Juarez, Abraham Lincoln, or Jefferson Davis?” How many stars are on the Star Spangled Banner, 15, 18, or 50? What is the last line of the National Anthem, “Gentlemen start your engines,” or “Play ball.” How many articles are on the Bill of Rights? When does a police officer use his or her weapon during a misdemeanor arrest?

And best of all, I have a boyfriend, Super J, whom I hope I will be a BFF.

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Simon and what?

Oh Simon and Garfunkel? I have heard of Mickey and Minny, Tobias and Tris, Peter and Katnis, Romeo and Juliet, Tom and Becky. ....

but Simon and Garfunkel?

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Simon and what?

Oh Simon and Garfunkel? I have heard of Mickey and Minny, Tobias and Tris, Peter and Katnis, Romeo and Juliet, Tom and Becky. ....

but Simon and Garfunkel?

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I am such a ditz. All day, I have been wondering how a mother could name a child, Garfunkel. All of the other combinations were first names. I did not consider the possibility that they could be last names like in Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

And no wonder I had never heard of them. They were pop singers back in the dark ages.

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And no wonder I had never heard of them. They were pop singers back in the dark ages.

It must be nice being young (I'm in my 50's) although, at least over here (I'm UK), I'd have guessed some of their songs like The Boxer would still be recognised by younger generations but maybe not...

One of their popular hits is pretty ancient btw. Paul Simon was interested in folk music and came over here during the 60s folk song revival (I'm to young to have participated in that) he learned a version of Scarborough Fair from another singer called Martin Carthy who I think put it together from traditional sources (eg. you'll find a number of the words in this Child Ballad section (Francis J Child was an American collector of folk songs and scholar). Anyway, Simon and Garfunkel added their Canticle and it became this:

 
I am such a ditz. All day, I have been wondering how a mother could name a child, Garfunkel. All of the other combinations were first names. I did not consider the possibility that they could be last names like in Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

And no wonder I had never heard of them. They were pop singers back in the dark ages.

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Not a ditz! Don't despise your own youth! :) 1 Timothy 4:12
 
I did not consider the possibility that they could be last names like in Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Oh and heres a word in case you don't know it. Mondegreen.

It refers to a mishearing, typically of lyrics. I believe it stems from something like "They'd slain the Earl of Murry and laid him on the green" being heard as "They'd slain the Earl of Mury and Lady Mondegreen).
 
How do you all go for dictionaries btw. I know of but have never had Websters (in that case US) but what else is there? I've not actually used our best known which is I think is The Oxford English Dictionary,. The family favourite (and a good one for compact quick references and a lot of words - not that my own vocabulary is worth knowing, more I sometimes dabble with the simpler crosswords) is Chambers I quite like their android app too.
 
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It must be nice being young (I'm in my 50's) although, at least over here (I'm UK), I'd have guessed some of their songs like The Boxer would still be recognised by younger generations but maybe not...

One of their popular hits is pretty ancient btw. Paul Simon was interested in folk music and came over here during the 60s folk song revival (I'm to young to have participated in that) he learned a version of Scarborough Fair from another singer called Martin Carthy who I think put it together from traditional sources (eg. you'll find a number of the words in this Child Ballad section (Francis J Child was an American collector of folk songs and scholar). Anyway, Simon and Garfunkel added their Canticle and it became this:


Well, that is beautiful. I'm somewhat surprised that, in a classroom with 40 students, none of us had heard of it. The ice breaker had other last names like Jekyll and Hyde, which I knew, and Martin and Lewis with which I was somewhat familiar. My mother and grandmother are MDA volunteers. They worship Jerry Lewis, but who is Dean Martin? And I did not know that they had a nightclub act, even further back into the Dark Ages. This is a total OMG. :)
 
Oh and heres a word in case you don't know it. Mondegreen.

It refers to a mishearing, typically of lyrics. I believe it stems from something like "They'd slain the Earl of Murry and laid him on the green" being heard as "They'd slain the Earl of Mury and Lady Mondegreen).

Some of my friends are mondegreenian out the door. They appear to listen to the most vulgar, vile lyrics, but in reality they don't hear any of the lyrics. Also, here in the South West, we have ethnic groups, Chicano and Gringo. Chicano is Hispanic and Gringo is white. The word Gringo is said to be like Mondegreen because it is said to originate in the Mexican War when American soldiers sang Green Grow the Lilacs, or possibly something similar, and to Spanish ears it became Gringo, a derogatory term for American, but around here it is not derogatory.
 
Well, that is beautiful. I'm somewhat surprised that, in a classroom with 40 students, none of us had heard of it. The ice breaker had other last names like Jekyll and Hyde, which I knew, and Martin and Lewis with which I was somewhat familiar. My mother and grandmother are MDA volunteers. They worship Jerry Lewis, but who is Dean Martin? And I did not know that they had a nightclub act, even further back into the Dark Ages. This is a total OMG. :)


Glad you liked. S & G were very competent popular performers IMO.

As for Dean Martin he is really even way before my own time. He was what was called a "crooner" but I like some of his stuff and think he knew what he was doing as a singer.


You'll be getting me onto Perry Como next... (again before my time!)
.

As for the Dean Martin/Lewis comedy,. It never worked for me. Maybe their humour does not work my side of the Atlantic or maybe it's just me. I'm not sure
 
I'm at school, and I have a minute, but I won't be able to watch the video until I get home. This morning I asked Mom about Dean Martin. She says he's on Granny's A-list. He made a movie, Rio Bravo, that Granny likes. I told Mom about Sardoodledom, and she says the word describes to movie. It has John Wayne, Dean Martin, Pancho Gozalas Gonzalas, Angie Dickenson, Ward Bond, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan all people on Granny's A-list I. think maybe I don't recognize any of these names except maybe Brennan. He might have been in an old Dark Ages movie about an American war hero. I know that when I have time to consult my Kurzweilian brain, I will find them all. Maybe I should say: my Hyperionic brain. I could say Simpsonic brain because Dan Simpson wrote a book, Hyperion, about a world in which the computers almost achieved Issac Asimov's worst nightmare.

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Have we mentioned floccinaucinihilipilification yet. OED gives it as "The action or habit of estimating something as worthless."

I remember our English teacher, Dr Drew at the time, introducing this word but I can't remember why. I never paid that much attention to English in school, though I do remember him (I only had him for my fourth year of secondary school) giving us the poem Leisure (what is this life if full of care) and tryng to take us through Julius Ceasar.
 
Another thought on words are there are dialect ones. In Norfolk where I live a "bishy barnabee" is a ladybird (I think US would say ladybug).

We also have some odd pronunciations. eg. The place name of Stiffkey can be said as "Stookey" and Potter Heighham as "Potteram"

My own English is such that I might throw the odd Welsh word I picked up into conversation with someone (like my mother) who would understand the tiny fragments I have. Where might I go in this, "it's anobeithiol!" (hopeless).
 
Never liked Jerry Lewis. Am I bad? To tease me, my so used to turn on movies he was in, just to hear me screech!
 
Never liked Jerry Lewis. Am I bad? To tease me, my so used to turn on movies he was in, just to hear me screech!

I'm not qualified to judge you (or my reaction) but his voice would make me cringe.

A much older comedy (from the real dark ages, sorry Ghid) is needed, I think...

 
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