Word Nerd: 9 Whacky and Wonderful Words to Describe People

You know when to call someone a tattletale or a copycat. You also know when to brand someone a turncoat or a nerd, a babbler or a blueblood. But these are basics. In today’s Word Nerd, we bring you 9 words which are great for describing people in ways you never thought of before. Enjoy.

1) Apple-knocker: An informal word used mostly in the US to describe ignorant and/or unsophisticated persons. It also means apple picker, or baseball player (especially a batter). In other words, someone who does physical work with no sophistication. Class-prejudice much?

2) Blatherskite: A person who talks at length without making sense. That’s the President of a certain country to you.

3) Deipnosophist: You know that person who is able to fork spaghetti while holding a glass of wine and talking sense about world affairs at the same time? If yes, label him or her a deipnosophist. That’s a person skilled in the art of dining and dinner-table conversation. Cheers.

4) Mouse potato: A cousin of the couch-potato. This one likes to spend their leisure time around computers. Don’t tell us you didn’t think of a mouse carved from a potato too at first.

5) Opsimath: A person who begins to study late in life. It is a Greek-origin word which, ironically, was adopted into English quite late as well – the 19^th century.

6) Peterman: Sounds like a respectable surname but means a thief who breaks and robs safes. It originated in the 19^th century when peter was slang for safe. “That safe would take quite the peterman to blow it!”

7) Possident: This word seems like a cross between Pepsodent and possum but has nothing to do with either toothpaste or mammal. Possident is a possessor i.e; a person who owns something.

8) Screenager: This word and mouse-potato are an ode to our obsession with technology and the total sway it holds over our lives. The word describes a person with an aptitude for computers and the internet. Not all screenagers are teenagers, in case you were wondering.

9) Wowser: You’d be surprised but wowser isn’t used for an Angelina Jolie or an Albert Einstein. Quite the opposite. This is NZ/Australian slang for a puritanical or censorious person, especially a person who frowns on alcohol. In other words, the one who gets dropped off most guest lists.

Are there any other curious words that you would like to share? Email us or leave a comment below.

Read other Word Nerds here.

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