The Word Nerd Sez: G is for ...

gallimaufry

I was thinking and thinking over this letter for quite some time, because there wasn't a perfect "G" word that sprang to mind. (Actually, there were several words that suggested themselves, but none seemed unique enough.) So I started browsing the dictionary ...

... whoops, got distracted for a moment there (the Latin galact- means milk!). Anyway, a couple pages in I came across this little gem of a word, which means "jumble" or "medley," from the Middle French for "hash." It's a great word to describe this particular blog entry, or the Word Nerd feature, or even this blog as a whole. Plus, this word just trips off the tongue: gal-uh-MAW-free. It sounds so fancy, but means something totally messed up. (Again, a good description of this blog.)

And to jumble things up a little more: here's some of the "G" words I considered but didn't use. Most of them are actually double-G words; I have a weakness for alliteration:

• gregarious
• gargantuan
• googolplex
• gargoyle
• gewgaw
• gingersnap
• gigantic
• galligaskins*
• gesticulate
• glockenspiel

Okay, those last two don't have the double G, but I still like them. And now that I've used the letter "g" so much that's it's starting to look foreign, I shall bid you Good-bye.

*I lie, I wasn't really contemplating this earlier. But I found this 16th-century word meaning "loose breeches" during my dictionary browse and I had to share.