Many years ago when the world, and I, were young I stumbled across a book that I found inordinately funny. Called “The Meaning of Liff” it was written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. This slim tome was written on the premise:
In Life*, there are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no words exist. On the other hand, the world is littererd with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places. Our job, as wee see it, is to get these words dow off the signposts and into the mouths of babes and sucklings and so on, where they can start earning their keep in everyday conversation and make a more positive contribution to society. *And, indeed, in Liff.
One of my favorites:
ABILENE (adj.) Descriptive of the pleasing coolness on the reverse side of the pillow.
You can peruse the entire book here.
