Taradiddle, bumfuzzle, and other obscure words | CPT PPP Coverage

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(WYTV) – Some silly words are still around.

Cattywampus is a great example of 19th century American slang. It means something is askew or awry, it may have come from cater, meaning to move diagonally. That’s why we say it’s catty-corner.

Bumfuzzle is another one, to confuse and perplex, to become flustered. Bumfuzzle is drifting into obsolescence, it may have come from the word dumfounded.

Taradiddle means pretentious nonsense. We don’t know where taradiddle came from but authors from G. K. Chesterton to lyricist W. S. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) have used it. Gilbert wrote it into two operas.

Snickersnee comes from a Dutch phrase meaning to thrust or cut. It’s been around since the middle of the 17th century.

Widdershins to widdershins means to go contrary to everyone or to go counterclockwise. We took it from an old German word meaning “to go against.” But it’s ealiest use was slightly different: it meant having a bad hair day.

Collywobbles means pain in the abdomen and especially in the stomach, a bellyache. Collywobbles most likely came from a Latin phrase cholera morbus, the disease cholera.

Gubbins means scraps, or bits and pieces, of an object of little or no value.

Ill-willie means having an unfriendly disposition. The Scots use it today.

Conjubilant means shouting together with joy. Conjubilant comes to our language from the Latin from jubilare, meaning “to shout for joy.”