EVERYDAY THINGS YOU HAD NO IDEA THERE WAS A WORD FOR

PHILTRUM

Human beings have philtrum’s, and they’re not some obscure

organ left over from when we all still lived in trees. It’s just the

name for the groove between your nose and your top lip.

NIBBLING

Convinced you’ve never met a nibbling? No, it’s not a creature from

a fairy-tale, it’s just a gender-neutral word for either a

niece or a nephew. 

HYPNIC JERK

No, it’s not the name of slightly scary heavy metal band.

A hypnic jerk is that weird twitch that wakes you up just

as you’re falling asleep. 

SEMANTIC SATIATION

You know when you say or read a word so many times

it stops seeming like a word at all? That’s called semantic satiation.

TITTLE

This is something we’ve all used countless times

without having any idea it had its own name.

It’s the word for the dot that goes over an ‘i’.

GRAWLIX

Don’t know what a grawlix is? #!%& off!

A grawlix is the name for using symbols in place

of a swear word.

GRIFFONAGE

This is a problem most doctors seem to suffer from for

some odd reason. Griffonage is handwriting that’s just

completely illegible.

 AGLETS

If you’ve ever bought trainers, you probably have aglets

in your wardrobe. They’re the little plastic bits on the

end of shoelaces that stop them fraying.

PETRICHOR

This is a word that specifically describes that incredible smell

that only happens when rain falls after a spell of hot, dry weather.

 PUNT

You can show off to any wine-snob friends with this one.

A punt is the name for the indentation at the base of a wine bottle.

PARAESTHESIA

OK, so there is another name for this one. But paraesthesia

is the official scientific name for pins and needles.

AESTIVAL

You can say it feels autumnal when the leaves are starting

to drop, but what about when the weather is heating up

at the end of spring? Here’s when you can use aestival,

it means to do with summer.