Here’s a famous goof from the 1935 edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary.
There’s no such word as dord — the chemistry editor had intended it to say “D or d”, but somehow his slip got misinterpreted and the mistake stayed on the books until 1939.
Editor Philip Babcock Gove later wrote that it was “probably too bad, for why shouldn’t dord mean ‘density’?”
“John Doe” in other countries:
In the United States, John Doe is always the defendant. An anonymous plaintiff is Richard Roe.
aboulomania
n. pathological indecisiveness
obnubilate
v. to cloud or obscure
In 2004, French writer Michel Dansel published The Train from Nowhere, a 233-page novel written entirely without verbs.
He even organized a funeral for the verb at Sorbonne in Paris, calling it the “invader, dictator, usurper of our literature.” No word where it’s interred.
hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
n. fear of long words
The sound of Rice Krispies in other languages:
In 2002, pollster Kellyanne Conway found that most Americans could name the three elves but could not name any three of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices.
astrologaster
n. a foolish or petty astrologer
DORMITORY is an anagram of DIRTY ROOM.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
“Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.”