Do you think dictionaries of obsolete words with definitions in limerick form are cool? If you’re annuent— meaning “nodding”— we’ll take that as a “yes.” You’ll find lots of them at The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form, also known as OEDILF. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
And Grant, do you know the word annuant?
Annuant?
No.
A-N-U-E-N-T?
Something like that?
There are two Ns.
They’re A-N-N-U-E-N-T.
Annuant.
Something related to years or rings?
I don’t know.
Those are very good guesses.
What are they?
They’re not correct.
No.
But I’m going to get back to that in a second.
And the reason that I’m talking about this word is because it’s one of many very cool, obscure words that I have discovered and started learning thanks to the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick form.
Oh, the Oedilf.
Yeah, the Oedilf.
So this is the project where they’re taking every head word from the Oxford English Dictionary, only unofficially, and making a limerick for all of them.
Yes. Yes. And it’s crowdsourced. Anybody can contribute limericks to this.
So they’re limericks that illustrate the use of these words.
So annuant actually has to do with, well, let me read you the limerick that Chuck Folkers wrote for it.
Oh, bobblehead doll, you’re so annuant.
We got takeout Chinese in the vanuant.
As I stepped on the clutch, you were nodding so much that you fell into the mugugai panuant.
That’s great.
That’s like a real professional limerick.
Yes, right?
We should have a Limerick Laureate.
That’s a great idea.
Yeah.
So annuant has to do with nodding.
In fact, the muscles in your neck that let you do that are annuant muscles.
No, super duper.
Isn’t that cool?
And so you can search that website by obsolete words, and you can find all these really cool ones like that.
So just Google O-E-D-I-L-F, and you’ll find the site.
And you’ll also find out that they’re scheduled to finish in 2043.
Yes.
Yes, they’ve got big plans.
That means that hopefully the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary will not come out before they’re done.
Their deadlines are shot.
We’ll share some more limericks later in the show.
Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.
