rubes

Vocabularious

You may have noticed a handful of odd words I like to throw in from time to time around here, and may have been curious about their origins. Our complaint department has been getting a little abuse, so maybe some clarification is in order.

•Hront:
Verb; meaning to pillage, destroy, stomp on, smash with a hammer, mosh with authority, drink smuggled whiskey to excess at Giants games, etc. This "word" originated from the Iron Maiden song 'Invaders', first song off 'Number of the Beast', wherein Bruce Dickinson noisily yelps something sonically approximating "HRONTING" near the end of the tune, after 'pillaging', 'invading', and other joyful horseback-and-buggery-inspired activities. Either Commander Scott Kendig or Rich Jankowski first identified it as a legitimate and linguistically/commercially viable verb, and I hope it catches on. It's a frequent participant in my vocabulary, as in "Commander, let's go hront like drooling bastards in North Beach until they have to wet-dry vac us out of the gutter." Hronting is not for the timid.

•Pismotic
Adjective, and a damn good one. I think Kenny P and I developed this word, and its origins are a little convoluted, so bear with me. When a musician/band makes a mistake, it's colloquially called a 'clam.' Where do we find clams, and the perfect climate in which to bake them? Lovely Pismo Beach, CA. Bugs Bunny liked to go there. The Pismo Beach Clam Bake, aka the horribly unforgivable flat note you hit a measure or two ago, got distilled down into 'pismotic'. It finds voice at every rehearsal.

•Domestuffs
Plural noun. Not sure if there is a singular. A Young Ones reference for anything used for house cleaning; sponges, Lysol, scrubbing bubbles, so on. Mike Thecoolperson spied the tremendously neglected toilet and declared, " I better go get some domestuffs," to which the particularly surly toilet remarked, "What's domestuffs?" and then belched. The world needs no more belching toilets to be sure, but it's still a fine British word.

So, I'm thinking about giving Roget a run for his money in the thesaurus racket. I hear there are some serious bucks to be made playing the word numbers and manipulating syllables for profit. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Posted by eric at May 22, 2005 01:58 AM