Today's Word: Ostrobogulous

Many of you wrote to say how much you enjoyed this week's show about weird words. One of my favorites: ostrobogulous. The OED says it desribes "something that is slightly risqué or indecent." It adds that ostrobogulous can be "applied arbitrarily to things which are bizarre, interesting, or unusual in some other way."

I learned this term from Erin McKean's ostrobogulous--and I mean that in the best possible way--book, Weird and Wonderful Words. You can also learn an ostrobogulous new word every day from her free e-newsletter, "Erin's Weird and Wonderful Word of the Day." I mean, doesn't it do your heart good to know that oggannition is a synonym for "snarling, growling, grumbling"?