Hungry For a Bigger Vocabulary? Slonk These Words in 2019

Have you ever been part of a conversation in which everyone is talking, but no one is listening? There’s a word for that: Anecdoche. If such an experience has left you unable to feel pleasure, there’s a word for that condition, too: Anhedonia.

Alphabetically, those are the first entries in Wayne State University’s tenth annual Word Warriors list. Instead of “banishing” overused or useless words and phrases, the Word Warriors list proposes to reintroduce words that are useful, but underutilized. 

“There are a lot of people who want to help us,” says Jerry Herron, dean emeritus of the Irvin D. Reid Honors College at Wayne State. He’s one of the list’s editors.

“We have so many words in the English lexicon that, a lot of times, great words get overlooked.”–Word Warrior Jerry Herron.

Herron says entries come from all over the world, through the Word Warriors website.

“There you’ll find the complete list of words on this year’s list, and also plenty of information on how to submit a word,” Herron says.

Here’s the rest of the 2019 Word Warriors list:

• coadunation (noun) the union (as of dissimilar substances) in one body or mass.
• fubsy (adjective) fat and squat.
• lickpenny (n.) something that uses up money.
• logorrhea (n.) excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness.
• salburious (adj.) health-giving; healthy.
• slonk (verb) to swallow greedily.
• slugabed (n.) a lazy person who stays in bed late.
• trenchant (adj.) vigorous or incisive in expression or style.

You’ll also find lists from past years at the website.

Click on the audio player to hear the conversation with WDET’s Pat Batcheller.