"GARDYLOO!"
Do you know what to do if someone shouts that?
You do if you follow @OED, the official Twitter account of the Oxford English Dictionary. According to a tweet from last week, when you hear "Gardyloo," it's time to take cover.
Gardyloo: a warning cried before throwing dirty water into the street, from the pseudo-French phrase 'gare de l'eau' (beware of the water).
— The OED (@OED) August 12, 2014
@OED is a veritable goldmine of this kind of wordporn. Accismus, cacoëpy, nihilarian, percontation — what other Twitter account is this magical?
Weird words aren't all you'll learn from the Twitter handle. If you want to solve obscure etymological riddles, then you've come to the right place! For example:
#DidYouKnow that 'nacho' is said to derive from Ignacio, the name of the supposed inventor of the popular Mexican dish?
— The OED (@OED) August 14, 2014
Or did you know that the word bidet has nothing to do with … that.
It may come as a surprise that in French 'bidet' originally meant 'a small horse'... http://t.co/4vNXGdW1yU via @BBCNewsMagazine
— The OED (@OED) July 8, 2014
OED's Twitter account will also teach you fascinating, little-known facts about language history. Like this.
The earliest evidence in the OED for the word 'photo' comes from an 1860 letter by Queen Victoria.
— The OED (@OED) August 7, 2014
And this.
#OnThisDay in 1809 Alfred Tennyson was born. He is the 27th most quoted source in the OED, for words including chirrup, javelin, & dabble.
— The OED (@OED) August 6, 2014
And, importantly, this.
Do 'cow' and 'coward' share the same etymological origin? Find out in today's @OxfordWords blog post http://t.co/Z2lclR8QNC
— The OED (@OED) July 23, 2014
Granted, if you go around dropping all of this knowledge, some moon-blind quiddle might accuse you of being toploftical or hincty. But no matter. You can just say you're studying to be a cruciverbalist.
Cruciverbalist, n.: a person who compiles or solves crossword puzzles; a crossword enthusiast.
— The OED (@OED) July 10, 2014
Or, you can own your nerdy obsession with language and simply proclaim yourself a wordmonger.
Wordmonger, n.: Originally: a person who deals in strange, pedantic, or empty words. Now also: a person skilled in the use of words.
— The OED (@OED) May 28, 2014
