Self-invented words ...

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Being female and the boss too I called the cat Pusstress

 

[a.twiddler]

Being female and the boss too I called the cat Pusstress

Another good name for a (male) cat would be Oedipus. When asked why you called him that, you could reply "'Cos Oedipus that lives here". (not original, I read that somewhere).

 

[MichaelW2]

Handtrousers. A German girl at a campsite used this word to describe her cycling mitts.

 

[nickyboy]

Instead of saying "that's your lot" our family says "that's your small onion"

That's shallot

 

[MichaelW2]

If you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, does to be whelmed mean that you are just managing OK?
Also, just read on Sheldon Brown about a "mono buttocked solution" which after some thought I realised was a polite way of saying "half ar**d solution".

Whelmed is a nautical term for turning over a hollow boat, by heavy seas or by design ( for shelter on a beach).

 

[a.twiddler]

Whelmed is a nautical term for turning over a hollow boat, by heavy seas or by design ( for shelter on a beach).

So Overwhelmed therefore would be to be capsized or sunk? Interesting.

 

[Beebo]

So Overwhelmed therefore would be to be capsized or sunk? Interesting.

And underwhelmed isn’t a true etymological meaning as it doesn’t make sense to be under whelmed, but we all know what it means.

 

[a.twiddler]

And underwhelmed isn’t a true etymological meaning as it doesn’t make sense to be under whelmed, but we all know what it means.

I was motivated to look it up after the above jnformation. Curiously, it's been in the Collins English Dictionary since at least 1991 (CITE -Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014) even though it does not add to the literal meaning of "whelmed" as "overwhelmed" does.

 

[Landsurfer]

Ridiculous ... has transformed to Ridicledonc in our house ...... no idea ...

 

[Old jon]

My tuppen' orth. Daniel Defoe used 'whelmed down' in Crusoe. Don't have the book anymore, but I bet my mother has. Anyway, this was describing placing a large bowl, or similar, on top of some stuff, pottery or food, that he wanted to heat. Um, this predates any Collins dictionary. Methinks 1722.

 

[a.twiddler]

So as MichaewlW2 said re the nautical term whelming referring to turning over a hollow boat, it looks like it can also apply to a bowl being turned over to use as a cover for heating stuff. I have also discovered that a "whelm" was a wooden drainpipe. Originally, whelms were made from tree trunks, split in half vertically, hollowed out, and "whelmed down" or, as the OED says, "turned with the concavity downwards to form an arched watercourse." Not sure how that would actually work, but it seems that to be whelmed down can apply to any hollow vessel that is overturned, purposely or by accident. Following on from that, it is possible that whelmed down was also an archaic term which was superceded in English by over whelmed or overwhelmed as in "following recent events his abilities were whelmed down and he could not fulfil his duties". Funny the stuff you find out on a cycling forum.

 

[swee'pea99]

Whelmed is a nautical term for turning over a hollow boat, by heavy seas or by design ( for shelter on a beach).

In a similar vein I was delighted one time to find out that gorm means axle grease - a gormless person presumably being someone too stupid to keep their axles greased.

 

[monkers]

Do keep them coming. My fave so far is 'meandathal'.

 

[Archie_tect]

Dayvo's just put 'Testiculate' on the Jokes thread which is brilliant...

 

[a.twiddler]

Dayvo's just put 'Testiculate' on the Jokes thread which is brilliant...

Is that a Bolloquialism?