Hornswoggling the Illecebrous Gobemouche

So, back to our alphabetical look at interesting words; and today we are starting with the letter “G”. Funnily enough there are a few very interesting words to choose from. First I wondered about gambol, meaning to skip or leap about joyfully. Just somehow seems an appropriate word for April, when the sun starts shining and baby lambs are gambolling in the fields. Then I thought perhaps I am being a bit too fanciful lets think of something more unusual, and came up with gobemouche, pronounced gob- u- mush. When looking at the spelling of the word it probably won’t be any surprise to you to discover this word is of French origin and literally translates as fly swallower. But how would we use this word today? Gobemouche describes a person who keeps their mouth open; a silly or naive person, who believes everything he or she hears, no matter how absurd. As a test to see if someone is a gobemouche, you can always tell them that the word gullible is not in the dictionary and see if they believe you!

Okay so how about another unusual word, hornswoggle, I really like the sound of this one although its meaning is not funny! Hornswoggle is a slang term meaning to cheat, bamboozle, hoodwink or deceive. You may also use the terms hornswoggled or hornswoggling.  This word has its origins in 19^th Century American West and its first written use can be traced back to 1829. I have tried to discover the etymology of this word, but unfortunately most dictionaries claim that the origin is unknown. However I have heard one story that suggests it was used to describe cowboys who allowed a lassoed cow to wriggle and escape – thus these cowboys were said to have been hornswoggled. I have no idea if there is any truth in this explanation, but I still like it!

Again with the letter “i” I found it difficult to choose just one word. I wanted to share with you impignorate, meaning to place in pawn or to pledge or to mortgage. Although this word is seldom heard in modern times it just has a certain ring to it. Historically it is believed to have been used mostly in Scotland. There is even evidence of Robert Louis Stevenson using it in a letter to a friend in 1899. However, to complete our look at unusual words for this week I wanted to leave you with pleasant thoughts, so how about Illecebrous. Thus lovely adjective means pretty, attractive, alluring and enticing. Now I think this is a word that is worth slipping into a conversation over the weekend. Best of luck.

 Don’t forget to have a look at our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com