Tuesday, October 23, 2007

33 Names of Things You Never Knew had Names

1. AGLET - The plain or ornamental covering on the end of a shoelace.

2. ARMSAYE - The armhole in clothing.

3. CHANKING - Spat-out food, such as rinds or pits.

4. COLUMELLA NASI - The bottom part of the nose between the nostrils.

5. DRAGÉES - Small beadlike pieces of candy, usually silver-coloured, used for decorating cookies, cakes and sundaes.

6. FEAT - A dangling curl of hair.

7. FERRULE - The metal band on a pencil that holds the eraser in place.

8. HARP - The small metal hoop that supports a lampshade.

9. HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER - A 64th note. (A 32nd is a demisemiquaver, and a 16th note is a semiquaver.)

10. JARNS,
11. NITTLES,
12. GRAWLIX,
13. and QUIMP - Various squiggles used to denote cussing in comic books.

14. KEEPER - The loop on a belt that keeps the end in place after it has passed through the buckle.

15. KICK or PUNT - The indentation at the bottom of some wine bottles. It gives added strength to the bottle but lessens its holding capacity.

16. LIRIPIPE - The long tail on a graduate's academic hood.

17. MINIMUS - The little finger or toe.

18. NEF - An ornamental stand in the shape of a ship.

19. OBDORMITION - The numbness caused by pressure on a nerve; when a limb is `asleep'.

20. OCTOTHORPE - The symbol `#' on a telephone handset. Bell Labs' engineer Don Macpherson created the word in the 1960s by combining octo-, as in eight, with the name of one of his favourite athletes, 1912 Olympic decathlon champion Jim Thorpe.

21. OPHRYON - The space between the eyebrows on a line with the top of the eye sockets.

22. PEEN - The end of a hammer head opposite the striking face.

23. PHOSPHENES - The lights you see when you close your eyes hard. Technically the luminous impressions are due to the excitation of the retina caused by pressure on the eyeball.

24. PURLICUE - The space between the thumb and extended forefinger.

25. RASCETA - Creases on the inside of the wrist.

26. ROWEL - The revolving star on the back of a cowboy's spurs.

27. SADDLE - The rounded part on the top of a matchbook.

28. SCROOP - The rustle of silk.

29. SNORKEL BOX - A mailbox with a protruding receiver to allow people to deposit mail without leaving their cars.

30. SPRAINTS - Otter dung.

31. TANG - The projecting prong on a tool or instrument.

32. WAMBLE - Stomach rumbling.

33. ZARF - A holder for a handleless coffee cup.

source: www.canongate.net

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