Sometimes situations are so unusual they call for extraordinary words – or at least different ones. As Sunday’s showdown looms, we know it’s going to invite extremes of emotion. The verdicts on the performance of England and their manager over the course of the Euros have given us proof enough of that. In that vein, here are ten words that you can either toss aside as total rubbish or embrace with fervour and adopt immediately.
1. betwittered
Most of us can at least admit to being this: betwitterment involves feeling overcome by pleasing excitement.
2. pococurante
Of course, we all know someone who doesn’t give a damn about any of it, and who equally doesn’t hesitate to tell us so. Depending on your point of view, these individuals are either grumpy ‘surly-boots’, or ‘pococurantes’: i.e they simply couldn’t care less.
3. nikehedonia
Words always sound more convincing when they’re carved from ancient languages, even if they were created just yesterday. ‘Nikehedonia’ is one of these, combining the name of the Greek goddess of victory (and trainers), and hedone, meaning ‘pleasure’. Put these together and you get ‘the pleasure of anticipated glory’. One for the diehard optimists.
4. cockalorum
Nikhedonia is one for the cockalorums: those who, rooster-like, are convinced of their own superiority. If we’re allowed to mix bird metaphors, all cockalorums ‘pavonise’: strut around like peacocks.
5. anticipointment
For those in the opposite camp, we have another recent coinage. ‘Anticipointment’ is the inevitable disappointment that comes from looking forward to something far too much.
6. arsle
A useful word from regional English for a move that may seem familiar to England fans. To ‘arsle’ is to move oneself (or a ball) in a continuously backwards direction.
7. noggle it
It would be fair to say that England have scraped through at times to arrive at the glorious place they are in now. There is no shame in that, but there is a word for it: to ‘noggle’ something is to manage to get it done, just. As in ‘No one saw it coming, but we noggled it somehow’.
8. lion drunk
As publicans cheer even more than the rest of us, they will witness many forms of total befuddlement. While very fitting for England’s Final outing, ‘lion-drunke’ is only the second of seven drunken stages of behaviour described by the satirist Thomas Nashe in 1592. The first is ‘ape-drunke’, used for the drunkard who ‘leapes, and sings…..and danceth for the heavens’. The lion-drunkard, by contrast, ‘flings the pots about the house, breaks the glass windows with his dagger, and is apt to quarrel with any man that speaks to him’. (The final stages, if you’re curious, are ‘swine-drunk’, i.e. ‘heavy, lumpish, and sleepy, ‘sheep-drunk’, totally inarticulate, ‘maudlin drunk’, can’t stop crying, ‘goat-drunk’, entirely focused on sex, and ‘fox-drunk’, which Nashe describes as ‘crafty-drunk’, whatever that means.)
Read More: Susie Dent’s Top Tens: 10 ‘Americanisms’ that aren’t actually American
9. jubbity
Throughout this tournament, England have had to fight back from a position of disadvantage. They have, in other words, overcome several ‘jubbities’. This centuries-old word from North Yorkshire means simply a difficulty or vexatious occurrence that get in the way of success.
10. cheeping-merry
This old adjective from Lancashire can mean both tipsy or joyful. Come the final whistle, some of us will hope to be cheeping to the skies. Enjoy!
