We don't want to be known as a forespeaker, but we bet we're not the only one who thinks our modern lexicon would be enriched by the reintroduction of such now-archaic terms as bullyhuff, naughty pack, fizgig, fricatrice, limberham and fustilugs.

Only a bullyhuff (a bragging bully, that is) would try to make you feel bad for not knowing that forespeaker once referred to one who speaks for another, or that now-archaic terms appear only infrequently in present-day English.

At one time, the terms fricatrice and fizgig were both female specific. Fricatrice named a lewd woman or a harlot, while fizgig was used for a gadding, flirting girl or woman. Although fricatrice is no longer in common currency, fizgig survives with three other senses: a firework of damp powder that fizzes or hisses when it explodes; the child's toy also called a whirligig; and a fish spear with two or more barbed prongs.

Fustilugs and limberham were both used when a person's pliancy came into play. Fustilugs referred to a ponderous, clumsy person, while limberham was the word for a supple-jointed, obsequious person.

O.K....You just made my head explode.

"hoist by your own petard"????
I heard it mis-said yesterday on CNN!

"Hoist by one's own petard" comes from Shakespere's Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4, where the Prince has discovered letters by Rosencranz and Guildenstern framing him for treason, but he'll use their own letters to frame them ..."For 'tis sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard..." Petard was a mine or bomb used to open heavy doors, and it has the same root as partridge...to break wind! tjoeb};> WHAT'S THAT SMELL?