I dislike the word glossophobia as being a pseudo-technical
word for fear of public speaking meant to amaze rather than inform. The venerable,
plain English phrase “speech fright” does a better job. Way back on July 8,
2009 I blogged about how Glossophobia might as well mean the fear of waxing
your car to a high gloss.
But glossophobia can be the starting point for another brand new fear word. When we back the g up one letter to f, we get flossophobia – the fear of flossing your teeth.
My father sometimes used the German compound word sitzfleisch.
It literally means sitting flesh, but describes the ability to sit down and
finish a task. At BBC Worklife on September 3, 2018 there was an article by Emily
Schultheis titled Sitzfleisch: the German concept to get more work done.
If we swap the initial s in sitzfleisch with the z, we get zitsfleisch – a new word which describes the heartbreak of having acne.
At her Maniactive blog on December 2, 2019 Laura Bergells
posted about Zhooshing up your business language with made-up or unusual words.
She mentioned plussing. Jimmy Larche wrote an article about Walt Disney’s
obsession with excellence: plussing.
The cartoon of a flossing reptile was recolored from one at
Wikimedia Commons by Torill Kove for a book by Henrik Hovland. A 1905 photo of
acne also came from Wikimedia Commons.
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