I think you need to give a definition there.

My wife complains about this in the opposite direction, as my uptake of German vocabulary has been pretty limited (shame on me). That coupled with a young son, has resulted in her German slipping over the last few years.
Time for us both to go back to school .....

I think you'll love this: this website displays a beautiful list of over 500 obscure, arcane, weird words. The nice part is each word features both a definition and a short (not so short, really) etymological reference.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/index.htm

I realised when reading this thread that I use these words a lot in my day to day life / work.

I truly love these words. Just don't get me started on Shakespearean insults

" Thou wimpled clapper-clawed hedge-pig!"

Drunken shutterbuggery: taking pictures whilst drunkenly engaging in a**l-sex ? (combining the words shutterbug and buggery)

...ps The Shakespearean insults come courtesy of: http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html?

Plethora and perusal.

As in

"There is a plethora of fine words in this thread for my perusal"

Uh, No. Me, being American, I do not partake in the use of words such as buggery or snogging etc.

The word was coined by Canadian friend. Drunken shutterbugery would be the inebriated taking of pictures when out at the bars that always comes as a great laugh the next morning as not everyone really remembers exactly when/where/why the pictures were taken.

But seriously? What kinda girl you think I am?

My favourite is callipygian. Try it on www.dictionary.com

Not forgetting pontification and edification, as in:

"There is a plethora of fine words in this thread for my perusal, pontification and edification"

Aaaah, well it all depends whether you're from the US or UK, I believe most people from the UK would spot the word "buggery" in shutterbuggery, whereas Americans would probably not know what it means to begin with. You'd just have to be careful using that word in the UK I guess

A very popular one if the first definition had been correct.

Inspired by this thread I have just described a fellow work collegue of the female persuasion as a

" A damn fine filly"

I feel like a cad now.

If you like UK style cryptic crosswords, these can be extremely helpful in maintaining your vocabulary.

For an online British English dictionary, I use Chambers Reference Online.

edited to add: I find it incomplete, so other suggestions welcome.

griffonage ... the art of writing / wordsmithing

Sanguine - as in (stolen from some war poem I had to do at school and which stuck in my head) "...their fresh and sanguine sacrifice"

Three books you might find useful:

Troublesome Words - Bill Bryson
Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson
Roger's Profanisaurus - Viz

Also, perusal doesn't mean to casually glance at something written, it means to inspect very closely a document or writing, although the opposite meaning is starting to take a hold. Boo!

I think you might be able to ascribe that to Mike Meyer's use of the word in Wayne's World.

Can I change the spelling to Shutterbugery? Or would all your pervos from the UK still think of the other meaning?

I'll make sure and warn my friend too.

Can anyone tell me the origins of the word: snog. It's such an ugly word, IMO.

'we got five thousand doll-ars, we got five thousand doll-ars!'

I still catch myself saying the 'Hmm. Hmm. Yes.. I like what you've done here. Yes.' from that scene whenever given anything to read...

Proposal: Drunken Shutterbugism

no?