Douglas Adams - The Meaning of Liff

WORMELOW TUMP (n.)

Any seventeen-year-old who doesn't know about anything at all in the world other than bicycle gears.

WRABNESS (n.)

The feeling after having tried to dry oneself with a damp towel.

WRITTLE (vb.)

Of a steel ball, to settle into a hole.

WROOT (n.)

A short little berk who thinks that by pulling on his pipe and gazing shrewdly at you he will give the impression that he is infinitely wise and 5 ft 11 in.

WYOMING (participial vb.)

Moving in hurried desperation from one cubicle to another in a public lavatory trying to find one which has a lock on the door, a seat on the bowl and no brown steaks on the seat.

YADDLETHORPE (vb.)

(Of offended pooves.) To exit huffily from a boutique.

YARMOUTH (vb.)

To shout at foreigners in the belief that the louder you speak, the better they'll understand you.

YATE (n.)

Dishearteningly white piece of bread which sits limply in a pop-up toaster during a protracted throcking (q.v.) session.

YEPPOON (n.)

One of the hat-hanging corks which Australians wear for making Qantas commercials.

YESNABY (n.)

A 'yes, maybe' which means 'no'.

YONDER BOGINE (n.)

The kind of restaurant advertised as 'just three minutes from this cinema' which clearly nobody ever goes to and, even if they had ever contemplated it, have certainly changed their mind since seeing the advert.

YONKERS (n.)

(Rare.) The combined thrill of pain and shame when being caught in public plucking your nostril-hairs and stuffing them into your side-pocket.

YORK (vb.)

To shift the position of the shoulder straps on a heavy bag or rucksack in a vain attempt to make it seem lighter. Hence : to laugh falsely and heartily at an unfunny remark. 'Jasmine yorked politely, loathing him to the depths of her being' - Virginia Woolf.

ZEAL MONACHORUM (n.)

(Skiing term.) To ski with 'zeal monachorum' is to descend the top three quarters of the mountain in a quivering blue funk, but on arriving at the gentle bit just in front of the restaurant to whizz to a stop like a victorious slalom-champion.