Back in the 1970s I found a little jewel of a book, Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words by Josefa Heifetz Byrne. I really enjoyed this book and still do when I need a unique and quirky word. I searched and the book is still available. What amazed me is that you can get used copies for as low as $1.50. BUT, if you want a new copy, you will pay around $140 for it. Wow!
I found it very interesting that Mrs. Byrne is the daughter of Jascha Heifetz who was widely considered to be one of the greatest violinists of all times. From her book jacket: Mrs. Byrne "allowed the seemingly harmless hobby of collecting odd words to sidetrack her career as a concert pianist and composer.". . . "She studied for 2 years at the Paris Conservatory of Music later winning composition prizes offered by the Rumanian Youth Festival and California's Mills College. She made her debut as a pianist in San Francisco in 1957 and has performed in scores of American cities."
A woman after my own heart! I, too, really enjoy words so I found this dictionary a great one to browse through.
I do have to say my favorite word has continued to be the same for many years: kakistocracy. Mrs. Byrne's definition says "government by the worst citizens." I poked around online and found what I think is a slightly better definition: Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.
Believe it or not, I also found the word kakistocrat which means: An unprincipled person in power. An incompetent leader, or puppet of a corrupt system.
That led me to search for the word kakistocratic and found Kakistocratic Leadership Exemplified In The Obama Administration which is very short and to the point.
So, these words are actually being used today. When I first came across and fell in love with this word, we didn't have the internet and over the years I never thought of searching on it. I'm glad I thought of it today. What fun words are!
Blessings,
Mary
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