Retro Yakking

Image by sutefani in orlando.

Most of these were found on Wikipedia by entering fabricated words that just about sound real into the search box… and what do you know? Some are legitimate dictionary entries in their own right. I would not be surprised, however, if some of these were deleted before much longer. (Spot the subtle disclaimer!)

• Alabum - not an Italian music compilation CD, but a Roman fort
• Beghilos - spelling on calculators, a word game often played in Mr. Bolton’s Maths class
• Blofib - Guinea-Bissauan football club, but sounds as if it should be an exasperating white lie
• Bloop - ultra-low frequency sound made underwater, or maybe the noise made by a fart in the bath?
• Conchiglie - a type of pasta. What else could it have been?
• Crambo - nothing to do with Sly Stallone, but a rhyming game popular in the 14th Century
• Cringle - a device surrounding a hole in a textile
• Fnurdle - microscopic dust bug that breeds in computer towers
• Flong - sounds like it might be quite rude, but is actually term used in printing
• Hing - Hindi name for a plant of the order Asafoetida, but sounds like the noise made just after ingesting a full tumbler of Scotch
• Klonk - not the sound a key makes in a lock, but a location just south of Prague, Czech Republic
• Knork - item of cutlery combining the functions of both a knife and fork, similar to a spork, but not at all like a spooforkife (spoon, fork and a knife all in one)
• Plodge - informal name given to Chryslers, portmanteau of Plymouth and Dodge
• Pronk - a gazelle behaviour
• Spongle - British slang word for someone high on drugs
• Undecimber - fake thirteenth month used in Java coding
• Zingo - a Swedish soft drink. I suppose that doesn’t really count as a name, but I thought it sounded pretty cool anyway

*The more observant amongst you may have noticed that somewhere in this list I have slipped in a false entry. First person to spot it wins a can of Coke!

Further reading

• Wikipedia: Unusual Articles
• Silly words list. Not real ones, but fun to read nonetheless

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