Futility Closet

muliebrity
n. the state of being a woman

Sneezes around the world:

• France: Atchoum!
• Finland: Atsiuh!
• Iceland: Atsjú!
• Sweden: Atjo!
• India: Akchhee!
• Denmark: Atju!
• Netherlands: Hatsjoe!
• Lithuania: Apchi!
• Germany: Hatschie!
• Hungary: Hapci!
• Poland: Apsik!
• Russia: Apchkhi!
• Italy: Etciù!
• Spain: ¡Achís!
• Portugal: Atchim!
• Romania: Hapciu!
• Philippines: Hatsing!
• Japan: Hakushon!
• South Korea: Achee!
• Vietnam: Hát-xì!

See also “Lides to Bary Jade.”

The Latin phrase Malo malo malo malo can be translated as “I would rather be in an apple tree than a bad boy in adversity.”

Even better, Malo malo malo malo malo malo malo, quam dente vento occurrere means “I would rather meet with a bad apple with a bad tooth than a bad mast with a bad wind.”

See Could You Repeat That?

perioeci
n. people who live at the same latitude on opposite meridians, so that noon for one is midnight for the other

See Small World.

Seven ways to pronounce ough:

• dough
• tough
• hiccough
• bough
• ought
• cough
• through

“If the English language made any sense,” wrote Doug Larson, “lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.”

exungulate
v. to pare the nails

onychophagy
n. nail-biting

This verse by Lewis Carroll is remarkable for more than its melancholy:

It can be read both “across” and “down.”

The seven seas contain seven Cs:

What’s unusual about this list of elements?

• Protactinium
• Radium
• Praseodymium
• Oxygen
• Iron
• Sulfur
• Silicon
• Oxygen
• Nitrogen
• Aluminum
• Sulfur

Assemble their symbols and you get PaRaPrOFeSSiONAlS.

Other long “chemistry words”: HYPoThAlAmICoHYPoPHYSeAlS and PNEuMoCYSTiS CArInII PNEuMoNiAs.

temulence
n. drunkenness