noun. Air travel by hot-air-balloon.

A sort of meditation on future airgonation, supposing that it will not only be perfected, but will depose navigation.
Letters, Horace Walpole (1784)

One who travels by hot-air-balloon is (also used by to Walpole) an airgonaut. Airgonauts airgonate just as astronauts astronate. Have you been astronating lately?

There’s probably not a whole lot of use for this word (airgonauts, please prove me wrong!) but it’ll be a fun one to pull out of your wordsack when next you go ballooning. What do people call themselves when they go in balloons as a hobby or for work? Ballooner, Balloonist, Balloonie, Bologna?

Don’t confuse hot air balloons with cold air balloons. One of those won’t get you very far. Horace Walpole says above that he thinks air travel will eventually replace sea travel. O, his prophetic soul! Do you think he could have predicted the internet’s vast supply of adult content? I think not.

noun. Body.

He had an handsome man-case, and better it had been empty with weakness, than (as it was) ill-fitted with viciousness.
The church-history of Britain, Thomas Fuller (1655)

Hey there Thomas Fuller, are you eying someone’s man-case? You sly devil, you.

No, it’s not a suitcase that’s just for men (following the man-bag pattern). But man-case means body? For seriouslyness? That sounds all kinds of ostrobogulatory. No matter how you parse it, it’s an odd term. The man is the body so the body is the man-case? Is the body the man or is the man IN the body?

I love man-words but this one is too mangled for my taste. Maybe we should find a new meaning for man-case. Any suggestions? I’m sure you can manage to think of one.

adj. Blameless

[the Church] shold be holi and without blemish, or rather Amomous..that is irreprehensible, safeguarded from the bitings of Momus, one of the feined Gods among the Gentils.
Theologica Mystica, John Pordage (1683)

What do you mean, Mr. Pordage, when you say the church should be amomous? Are you saying it isnt!?

Apparently this word is borrowed from Greek word for blameless, amomos; how convenient! It’s a shame it hasn’t been used in so long. So many unamomous people claim to be amomous, you’d expect someone to say amomous. And why not? It’s fun to say!

My parents always thought I stole the cookies from the cookie jar, but I was entirely amomous. It was my imaginary enemy. Damn you, Roderick.

After some thinking, tinkering, and thinkering, I’ve added a blog feature to the site. I’ll still be posting words as often as I can (sorry about the lack up updates lately), but I’ll be posting other things here. I’ll use this space to post news about the site; links, books, and things that you should check out; but mostly my thoughts on words and language that don’t fit into a weird-word-post that you find on the main page.

I named the site On Words and Upwards and not A Nonce-Word A Day Keeps the Doctor Away or something similar to allow for the site to cover multiple topics if I felt like it. On Words just means I need to talk about language! Look how clever I am. The main purpose of the site (wait, I have a purpose in life?) is still to share nonce and obsolete weird words with you; that won’t be changing anytime soon.

And just so there’s something language related in here, I advise you to beware the fysigunkus.

Ostrobogulously,
Gedaly

noun. An egotist.

His Works hereafter will be more favourably receiv’d..by the Meists and Selfists.
Common Sense (1737)

A meist (or me-ist) is someone who subscribes to some form of me-ism. You know the type. Maybe you are the type. I don’t know, you tell me: are you a youist?

Hey, it’s another perfect name-calling word. Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Now you can call all the big-headed people you know meists. You can nickname the most meistiest one the meist-meister!

The confusing thing is who you’re referring to when you say it. If I say, “I’m a meist!” that of course means that I’m full of myself. But if I ask, “Are you a meist?” couldn’t I be asking you if you’re full of me? I could say youist, but then it’s unclear if the person I’m referring to is full if him/herself or others.

adv. By the way; in passing.

That such a Doctrine..should be left thus faintly, thus obscurely, and, if I may so say, obitaneously, declared.
Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit, Samuel T. Coleridge (1834)

Last time I obitaneously suggested that infidelity can be humorous. I apologize, it should have been less obitaneous.

Here’s another one of those words that you can season your conversation with quite easily to sounder more smarter. Instead of saying “by the way,” or “B. T. Dubs,” you can say “Obitaneously, you still suck.”

Even if you don’t want to sound smarterer, it’s still a fun word to use. I recommend using it thrice a day after meals for 30 days or until you have received several obitaneous looks of disgust from your friends and family.

noun. ‘Light-heeled’ pranks.

If your wiues play legerdeheele, though you bee a hundred miles off, yet you shall be sure instantly to find it in your forheads.
All Fools, George Chapman (1605)

A play on the word legerdemain, which literally means “light of hand,” used to refer to sleight of hand or trickery and deception. In the citation above, legerdeheel refers specifically to infidelity, not a laughing matter. Except for the times that it is.

If being light of hands is prestidigitation, then being light of heel must be prestipeditation. Perhaps meaning that you can sneak off somewhere else without being noticed, as if by magic. Or maybe it means you can do card tricks with your feet.

noun. An adherent of the ‘kirk’ or Scottish church.

What hath been done by kirkists these last dozen of yeers.
The discovery of a most exquisite jewel, Thomas Urquhart (1652)

Scottish church? BORING! Here at On Words and Upwards! I strive to boldy go where no nonce-word has gone before… but not to Scotland. I chose this word for how it looked, not the definition. Nothing wrong with the Scottish Church, of course. But it just doesn’t seem entertaining. Someone please feel free to enlighten me — I’ve never been to church in Scotland.

I propose that the name Kirkists be applied to all those who feel that Captain Kirk is superior to Picard. That’s right Trekkies, Trekkers and Trekkists, it’s an epic battle for votes and only one Star Trek captain can be the victor. Are you a Kirkist or a Picardist?

Cast your votes in the comments!