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RUMSPRINGA - period among some Amish people where a teen must choose between baptism or leaving the community [Via Pennsylvanian German, where "rumspringe" means to leap about.] For most Amish teens, the rumspringa dilemma equates to veneration versus wild oats propagation.
JENTACULAR - relating to breakfast, especially one taken early [From Latin ientaculim: “breakfast (particularly taken right after getting up)”] Prandial is the dinner equivalent to breakfast's jentacular.
PLOT ARMOUR - the figurative protection a key story character enjoys owing their importance to the narrative [Fanfic slang] Batman as much as The Joker wield the benefit of plot armour.
SKABENGA - hooligan; gangster; thug [From Zulu isigebengu: bandit, criminal] Cape Town residents are wary of any skabenga approaching their car at traffic lights.
VANTAGE LOAF - the 13th item in a baker's dozen - or any bonus addition [Shortening of ad/vantage + loaf] An extra roti added to a large takeaway order is a vantage loaf.
TURVEYDROP - a person obsessed with deportment, often at the expense of anything else [From Prince Turveydrop, the dancing tutor in Dickens' Bleak House] The art of making an entrance is a Turveydrop's principal focus.
VIDEOKE - karaoke/video fusion popular in the Philippines, where the singer sings a line to the accompaniment of a pre-recorded backing tape [Video/karaoke - 'empty orchestra'] The secret of videoke is choosing a song where the crowd can join you - plus three drinks...
GHRELIN – known as the 'hunger hormone', ghrelin increases appetite when released from the pituitary gland into the stomach [Partial acronym, combining g(rowth) h(ormone) rel(easing) + in] Open the kibble bag and watch your dog's ghrelin soar.
MORTO - extremely embarrassed. [Irish slang, abbreviating mortified] When Guinness released a shandy variety, Dubliners were morto.
COJINILLO (COCK-ah-nill-yo) - sheepskin blanket placed under a horse's saddle [From Spanish for cushion, or saddlebag] Vaqueros use the cojinillo to minimise lesions and abrasions on their 'caballos'.
FRANKENSHOE - hybrid footwear, typically combining casual sportswear and formal wear [Compound drawn from Frankenstein - or his monster.] The frankenshoe may come with rubber sole and webbed vamp, backed by a leather heel-strap.
SARDANAPALIAN - decadently luxurious [After the extravagant lifestyle of Assyrian king Sardanapalus, who rules 612-605BC] Contrary evidence suggests a Saradanapalian mindset was either aesthetic/strategic, or hedonistic/excessive.
DYSANIA - A state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning. [Via Greek, where "dys-" denotes "bad" or "difficult", plus "-ania", linked to "action"] Clinomania - or bed-rot, fostered by one's own cost 'internest' - also connote dysania.
THREENAGER - wilful, tempestuous toddler [Whimsical portmanteau of three-teenager] Successor of the terrible twos is the tyrannical rule of the threenager.
KABLOONA - non-Inuit person; foreigner in the Arctic Circle [West Greenland's Inuplaq language, where kablunaet is the brow of a hill, or human] Kabloona is the local label for any outsider, owing to non-Inuit face have more pronounced eyebrows.
DEGOMBLE - to disencumber (oneself) of snow [Origin uncertain. Slang popular among British Antarctic surveyors and scientists] Step One after stepping off a dog-sled is to degomble your anorak.
GRIMGRIBBER - trade jargon, espcially opaque legalese [From Richard Steele's 1772 play The Conscious Lovers, where lawyers spout "learned rubbish" over the status of Grimgribber Estate.] Hereunto, appellant and 'nunc pro tunc' are prima facie examples of grimgribber.
CHUBASCO - violent electrical squall, typically striking the Pacific coast of Central and South America during rainy season [From Spanish ('downpour') via Portuguese chuve ('rain'), linking back to pluvia, or rain in Latin] Peruvian trawlers ensure to be safe in harbour before the chubaso arrives.
FENT - a leftover scrap of cloth; off-cut; a slit or crack [Via Old French fente, from Latin findere - to cleave, or cut] Adroit tailors can craft a suit with barely a fent remaining.
PSITHURISM [SITH-uh-rizz-em] - the murmur of rustling leaves as wind passes through trees. [From Greek - psithúrisma, via psithurízō, “I whisper”, where psíthuros means whispering, or slanderous] Winter woodlands are alive with psithurism.
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