Describe exactly how you are feeling with the extraordinary emotional dictionary from Countdown’s Susie Dent.
Susie Dent, lexicographer and etymologist is most famously known for being the Queen of the ‘Dictionary Corner’ on Countdown, having also appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. The word mastermind has now curated an eye-opening collection of definitions in her book An Emotional Dictionary – Real Words for How you Feel from Angst to Zwodder.
Dent has made answering the commonly asked and sometimes complex question ‘How are you?’ easy and accurate by providing us with 1001 definitions of feelings we may not have known existed.
Whether it’s the severe desire for someone else’s food (groaking), the shock of catching a glimpse of oneself in the mirror (idiorepulsive) or feeling cosy inside on these autumnal afternoons (hygge) Dent’s dictionary will help you explain exactly how you are feeling.
Here are 10 new words The Gloss have selected which could be some you never knew you needed…
1. Abbioco The drowsiness you feel after a large meal
The Italian word for what can best be described as a ‘food coma,’ to be used when sleep beckons after an indulgent lunch.
2. Boffola A hearty, unrestrained laugh
A feeling we all enjoy after a hilarious joke is told and an action which often leads to more teary laughter.
3. Cherumibical Happy drunk
An expression describing the joyous drinker who showers their companions in affection.
4. Coddiwomple To travel purposefully without a clear destination.
Replace the regularly used ‘potter’ with coddiwomple and no one can say you don’t know what you’re doing.
5. Curglaff The shock of cold water
A feeling one can certainly understand when simply thinking about submerging into the Irish sea.
6. Dumfungled Utterly exhausted
A helpful description for that Monday evening feeling.
7. Hamsterkauf The urge to panic buy
An emotion experienced by many of us when pasta became a rarity pre-lockdown. It is also applicable to the rush felt when browsing fluffy socks this winter.
8. Helipohile A lover of sunshine
An astute term for those of us who make the most of the Irish rays when the clouds disperse.
9. Lalochezia The relief of stress and pain through swearing
Explain this feeling to your audience and you may just be excused.
10. Tartle Hesitation in recognizing or introducing someone
A pang of awkwardness in a social situation which undeniably gets the best of all of us.
These are but a taster of the eclectic mix of words which Dent has compiled. This dictionary allows us to express our idiosyncratic selves in a way we’ve never had before, there is truly a feeling for every scenario. Dent explains that our precise expression can aid our own interhuman communication and it can also increase our happiness levels.
We are actively open about how we are feeling as children, now we can be as adults… that puts us on Cloud Nine!
Instagram @susiedent