Delope – to fire in the air in a duel

“There was a flash of fire, but Alexander realised the moment he shot that his opponent had deloped.”

This word came up on ‘Call My Bluff’ once, much to my amazement. I knew exactly what it meant, thanks to years of reading Georgette Heyer novels and the like. Again, beautifully specific in meaning – if you were obliged to duel with someone but you had no wish to hurt them, you could delope. I’ve never had the chance to delope, strangely enough – and I imagine you haven’t, either. But it is a splendid word (and I’m particularly fond of it because it has the same last five letters as my name: I also like antelope and elope for similar reasons!). It also sounds like something you might do if you had intended to elope with someone but then changed your mind at the last moment.

Flammable/inflammable

Meaning- Easily ignited and capable of burning rapidly. Inflammable means “combustible,” and has the same meaning as the word flammable

“Caution: this material is flammable.”

Flammable and inflammable make my list because they make no sense. What is the point of having two words which sound like they should be the opposite of each other but in fact mean precisely the same thing? It’s bizarre. And is there a word meaning not flammable? No! You have to say “not flammable”. I am considerably unimpressed.

Chaos – complete disorder and confusion.

“The dance floor descended into chaos.”

I’ve got a confession: I thought ‘chaos’ was pronounced ‘cha-OOZE’ for the longest time. This is what comes of being a bookworm as a child: there were many words I mispronounced (and occasional words I misunderstood the meaning of – I thought ‘embrace’ meant ‘kiss’ for ages). I knew also that there was the word kayoss, which coincidentally meant pretty much the same thing as cha-ooze, but in my head they were totally separate. (I was not helped, incidentally, by my mother’s insistence on pronouncing the word ‘CHOSS’ – however, my mother’s interesting grasp of language [she did know that one wasn’t correct] would make a whole post of its own…)

Placket – an opening or slit in a garment, covering fastenings or for access to a pocket, or the flap of fabric under such an opening.

“I rubbed my hand against the placket of my trousers.”

It’s such a specific thing to have a word for – an opening which covers fastenings. I can’t help wondering who thought it was a good plan to create such a word. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining. I think it’s rather splendid. But I also think it’s odd.