Wordie [wûrd • ē]
Like Flickr, but without the photos.
rictal has been listed 3 times with 1 comment
rictus has been listed 43 times with 3 comments
autolyze has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
strettoing has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
afflated has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
bathetic has been listed 35 times with 3 comments
phalloneurotic has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
wopsed-up has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
suprasubliminal has been listed 3 times with 1 comment
afflatus has been listed 46 times with 9 comments
scopophiliac has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
retroironic has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
anticraze has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
scopophobic has been listed 3 times with 1 comment
imprecated has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
delimit has been listed 3 times with 3 comments
selvage has been listed 18 times with 4 comments
map has been listed 20 times with 5 comments
perfunctoriness has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
halation has been listed 14 times with 5 comments
arachnodactylic has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
accrete has been listed 9 times with 1 comment
noninsecure has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
entrepôt has been listed 6 times with 3 comments
otiose has been listed 73 times with 2 comments
frustum has been listed 6 times with 0 comments
decoct has been listed 8 times with 1 comment
crocodilic has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
mucronate has been listed 7 times with 0 comments
gonfalonish has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
hyperemic has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
magiscule has been listed 3 times with 1 comment
scrofulous has been listed 29 times with 4 comments
aminating has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
balletic has been listed 12 times with 0 comments
invaginate has been listed 12 times with 0 comments
varicelliformally has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
ergotic has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
oubliettes has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
lazarettes has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
granulomatous has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
diaphoretic has been listed 9 times with 2 comments
acervulus has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
suppuratively has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
phrenologically has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
teratoidal has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
peronic has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
pyorrheic has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
fantods has been listed 12 times with 5 comments
intension has been listed 3 times with 1 comment
triviumoid has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
apochromatic has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
aphotic has been listed 13 times with 0 comments
quadrivium has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
trivium has been listed 6 times with 0 comments
subhadronic has been listed 3 times with 1 comment
steatopygiac has been listed 3 times with 1 comment
steatocryptotic has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
carbuncular has been listed 7 times with 0 comments
chachetic has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
tabescent has been listed 8 times with 1 comment
numinous has been listed 70 times with 7 comments
vitreally has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
anticonfluential has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
goremeister has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
interneural has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
treillage has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
antennation has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
gasper has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
limned has been listed 6 times with 0 comments
sephenoid has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
apotheosizing has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
intensile has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
contemptuous has been listed 12 times with 0 comments
trochaically has been listed 3 times with 0 comments
fricative has been listed 41 times with 0 comments
formant has been listed 3 times with 0 comments
bafflegab has been listed 20 times with 2 comments
superjacent has been listed 6 times with 1 comment
fitviavi has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
miscegenation has been listed 23 times with 2 comments
datura has been listed 6 times with 0 comments
rakish has been listed 28 times with 0 comments
scabrous has been listed 31 times with 1 comment
rutilant has been listed 19 times with 3 comments
parping has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
swinishest has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
éclat has been listed 9 times with 0 comments
erumpent has been listed 18 times with 1 comment
praxis has been listed 54 times with 6 comments
dilettantish has been listed 4 times with 0 comments
agnate has been listed 16 times with 0 comments
aperçu has been listed 8 times with 1 comment
econometrist has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
corticatization has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
panagoraphobia has been listed 2 times with 1 comment
sumptuous has been listed 50 times with 0 comments
habituated has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
unsubtlizing has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
mimetic has been listed 21 times with 0 comments
David Foster Wallace found dead last night.
I feel as though I've found a kindred spirit here. Thanks for posting the words you found whilst digging the strata that is the IJ. I did a similar exercise when I first encountered IJ five or six years ago. And I am redoing it currently. Am a little over half way through the book but am taking a much more leisurely approach this time. Trying to piece the book together in my head as I go instead of the perpetual deer in the headlights look I had during my first pass.
Anyway, thanks for the list. I plan to flip open my list tonight when I get home and see if I encounter any that you did not list. You already are doing well in my book as you have listed the best word in the entire book. Suprasubliminal. Which is also encased in my absolute favorite sentence in the book - "Suprsubliminal and that." (If I remember correctly it was embedded in a rather surreal para. that discussed the actual content of the Infinite Jest movie. Which would make it my favorite paragraph of the book as well. Which is saying something.)
Anyway, I digress. Thanks a bunch for the list. I have enjoyed it immensely.
Taylor
This list, and the comments that I make on the words listed here, are licensed under a Creative Commons license. Feel free to reuse this list however you see fit within the scope of the license! Other users’ comments may not be licensed as such.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
All the words gathered in this list are words that I have encountered, or in some cases, reencountered, while reading David Foster Wallace's magnum opus Infinite Jest.
Unfortunately, I didn't think to start this list until I was more than a few dozen pages in, so many words, good ones, have not been captured in this list.
Many of these words, of course, are the author's own neologisms, and you will find them nowhere except in Infinite Jest or in essays, reviews, or surveys of the work. DFW's literary prowess is unmistakable upon reading this or any of his other works. As a writer myself, I aspire to the heights (or depths?) of genius that is DFW.
Others, naturally, are to be found in common dictionaries, or in exceptional cases, only in unabridged ones. Many, such as noninsecure, are merely compounded or strange twists of preexisting words: forms that, in many cases, make plenty sense to have around, but simply aren't part of the language proper.
I've found it difficult at times to know when to draw the line with respect to more common words, viz. not Wallace's neologisms, such as contemptuous. Many readers who find this list — and hopefully find it a useful reference while reading Infinite Jest — may not know that word, especially those who are non-native speakers of English. Many other people (especially the type to read Infinite Jest) will consider such inclusions germane. In any case, I've tried to set a tolerance for established words that everyone can be happy with.
If you have any comments regarding this list, please feel free to leave me a comment on my profile, or on my blog.