From Zhaghzhagh to Arborcade
Today marks the beginning of a new feature for me: Made-It-Up Mondays.
On Mondays when I’m in the mood, I am going to throw out a 100% made-up word and ask you to a) define the word, and b) then use the word in a sentence that indicates how the word could be used.
Why? Because someone recently gave me the book The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World.
(Of course, it is my new favorite book.)
I read that that there are approximately 1,010,649.7 words in the English language. And while this seems like a really enormous lexicon, many nuances of human language sometimes leave us tongue-tied.
Sometimes it is necessary to turn to other languages to find a word to find le mot juste.
As Bill DeMain noted in his article “15 Wonderful Words With No English Equivalent”:
“Zhaghzhagh” is a Persian word, a noun, meaning the chattering of teeth from extreme cold or rage.
We don’t really have a word for that in English, do we?
When I can’t find the right word on the word-shelf to fit my mood or predicament, I just make one up.
It will be fun to see what other people come up with.
Remember, you can’t be wrong because the word I throw out will be a 100% fictional word.
If you’d like to submit a made-up word of your own, feel free to contact me. (My info is under the “Contact Me” tab.)
I’m starting alphabetically.
This week, the made up word is:
ARBORCADE
What the heck is that? When would you say it? Define it and give me a sentence in which you show me how you would use it.
You know, if it were a real word. 😉
1,010,649.7 words? What is the 7 tenths word? I need to know!
Maybe “feh”?
Arborcade: (noun) the row of trees lining a long driveway. related to “motorcade”. As I approached the old plantation home, a admired the canopy of shade created by the arborcade and the spanish moss hanging from the branches.
Oooh, I love this — especially the picture of Louisiana you have implanted in my head.
Arborcade- (noun) A natural structure formed by trees and filled with low-tech video games created by woodland creatures, mostly with their dung.
Sentence: Last night, at the arborcade, Sammy the Squirrel got over ten thousand points playing Sh*tris and Donny the Deer beat the entire Crapman game.
An arborcade is a video arcade nestled in a lovely forest. You enter through an archway of weeping willows and find yourself in a magical playground of sight and sound.
“My mother feels the arborcade is less damaging to my brain than the video arcade on State street; at least there I can commune with nature as well as fry my brain cells.”
I know a moose who loves playing Words With Douche-Bags in the Arborcade! 😉
Arborcade is a grove of trees with a grassy center. Sentence: They went to their picnic in the arborcade.
Arborcade [noun] (ah-bur-cayd)
A technique used in film and television whereby a person sneaks around the scene disguised as shrubbery, stopping still whenever they are noticed.
“Sadly, George Clooney’s dramatic interpretation of a banana tree will go unrecognized as there is still no Oscar for ‘Best Arborcade Sequence’.”
Christian – your sentence made me laugh!
I’m glad I could do that! 🙂
Marie: I like how your arborcade sounds portable. Kind of like they went somewhere in the “Pope-Mobile.”
Christian: I thought that was Mickey Rooney not George Clooney. 😉
*lol* You’re right Renée; Rooney would’ve been the better choice for that role. 😉
When shall Macbeth lose the crown? Not till Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane (castle). Which it did – in the form of an arborcade – branches carried by Malcolm’s (I think) army as camouflage – so also a bit of an ambuscade too.
Outstanding Paul!
Everyone loves a good ambuscade.
Unless, of course, you are on the other side.
Arborcade – (noun) – The transport of many trees with multiple vehicles.
Did you see the arborcade this year? It was huge, the nurseries are going to have tons of trees to sell by the size of the arborcade.
That’s what I’m talking about. The word does sound kind of “on-the-move,” doesn’t it? I mean, look at those shrubs go!
Dang it! I can see I’ll have to be quick with your new Monday musings. Everybody took my ideas…This is fun! Thanks.
What are you talking about, woman?! There are a million ideas!
Now, make haste and get me a glass of arborcade. You know, the green stuff in the pitcher in the refrigerator that is made from tree clippings and lemonade. 😉
Okay, seeing that arbor is definitely tree related, and I looked up the meaning of cade. Cade is when an animal is brought up from birth by a human rather than another animal. So a concise definition of the word would be…
A tree that is brought up like a pet in the home. It is spoken to and fed as a member of the family.
So, like, the arborcade leopard slept in the same bed with its owners?
All my ideas were stolen via vague psychic connections with your gang o’ commenters, so I guess I’ll have to step outside…way outside the box.
Arborcade – verb – This is military jargon for laying waste to combatants. It should always be shouted with all caps ~
We’ll ARBORCADE their as_es until they run home cryin’ to their mommas.
I cannot give you an exact description of the action, becasue if I did they’d have to kill me. ;}
Teresa:
Nice to make my innocent should-be word sound all hopped up on steroids and pissed off.
Of course, I love it. 😉
Especially the screaming part.
Hi – my name iz Arborcade Whimmdunkle. Ay’m with Whimmdunkle Septic Service and ay’m here to suck out’chore septic. Whar’s yur garden hose? Ma mouth is dry az cotton.
Oh, Arborcade! You’re too much! Thanks for coming to my rescue — and for tending to all my septic needs. 😉
From the secret Ivy League Book of Terms that Makes Us Better than Other People :
Ar-bor’-ca-de’ (pronounced Aw-boore’-kah-day’) adj.,adv. noun. 1. a lacklustre caddy, esp. during charity gold tournaments, assigned without compensation, and not proficient in the mixing of highballs from flask provisions. 2.collegiate Hangover, esp. after a frat house party. Meant to reference a really booring caddy who lacks mixology proficiency. 3. meat loaf. 4. when students swing naked from the trees lining the driveway to the Deans office, usually a nocturnal activity, involves the deposit of draping underpants as a signature.
eg: “Dude…we TOTALLY Arborcadee’d the Deans driveway last night. Think if he finds out, he’ll make us Caddy for him in the Scholarship Tourney next month?…no way ma-aa’n. No way I’m gettin outa bed on a Sunday morning all aborcaded and all, and then go there and aborcade for no pay, not even a slice of aborcade in the club house! Wait till my Dad hears about this. He will so aborcadiate the Dean right out his office window. His Foundation built that whole wing…O, wait…where is my underwear again? Oh, yeah. Better get to class before we get aborcaded into state schools.”
Arborcade – that well-intended planting of trees across the back of your yard that you pictured as a beautiful, well-maintained sanctuary for people and wildlife that has grown into a wild, impenetrable tangle of growth that could swallow small children and now has barricaded you from some of your favorite neighbors.
Brian Henke, you are the person who has come closest to the meaning of the way I actually use this word.
We have, in fact, planted a boat-load of trees in the back of our house in an attempt to arborcade ourselves off from the school in the backyard.
What do you win?
A mention in the next exciting contest!
I humbly accept this honorable award that you have been so gracious to bestow upon me. May your days be ever blest with rain, sun and flourishing arbors, providing you with an unblemished view of your hinterlands.
BB