Discombobulate

Discombobulate (pronounced dis-kuhm-bob-yuh-leyt)

To confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate.

The most frequently used derived forms appear to be the verbs (used with object), discombobulated & discombobulating.  Discombobulation is the noun and discombobulated the adjective.

1834: An Americanism, one of a number of fanciful creations which were coined during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mostly mock-Latin, discombobulate presumably a whimsical alteration of a blend of discompose or discomfit, the implied meaning “to confuse; to frustrate”.  It was an alteration of the equally fake discombobricate & discombobracated, first attested in the early 1800s and driven extinct by its usurper; the other spellings from the era (discombulate & discomboberate) never gained traction and etymologists assume discombobulate prevailed because it offered the easier pronunciation.  The US school of mock-Latin and other creations, believed associated with students at the better universities of the era, included confusticate (confound & confuse), absquatulate (run away; make off), spifflicate (confound; beat), scrumplicate (eat), bloviate (to speak or discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner) & blustrification (the act of celebrating boisterously).

Lindsay Lohan looking discombobulated, New York City, 2014.  The bag is Givenchy’s Disney-inspired Antigona Bambi tote bag from Riccardo Tisci’s Autumn-Winter 2013 collection.

Because the English vocabulary offers so many easy ways to say much the same thing as the five-syllable discombobulate (befuddle, bewilder, confound, disconcert, fluster, addle, baffle, disturb, frustrate, fuddle, muddle, perplex, puzzle, ruffle, throw, upset, mix up et al), all became more popular.  Discombobulate was rare and indeed sometimes listed as extinct until revived in the early twenty-first century when it became a frequent addition to the lists of interesting, neglected or bizarre words which flourished as the world wide web gained the internet a critical mass, the American Dialect Society in 2009 naming it the most creative word of the year which might not have been the most appropriate category given the creation dated from 1834 but one could see what they meant.  Since, it’s found a niche, perhaps helped by the age of pandemic to which it seems well-suited.

Recombobulation Area, Mitchell Airport terminal, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It hasn’t (yet) spawned derivatives; there’s no indication the happily contented are describing themselves as “combobulated” any more than they self-label as "gruntled" but for some years Mitchell airport in Milwaukee has provided in the terminal, a “Recombobulation Area” where passengers can gather their thoughts and recover from whatever ghastly experience they’ve just suffered.  Given the nature of modern air travel, it seems a good idea.

Perpendicular

Perpendicular (pronounced pur-puhn-dik-yuh-ler)

(1) Vertical; straight up and down; upright; normal at right angles to a horizontal plane.

(2) In geometry, meeting a given line or surface at right angles.

(3) Maintaining a standing or upright position; standing up; exactly upright; extending in a straight line toward the centre of the earth, etc.

(4) In architecture, noting or pertaining to the last style of English Gothic, prevailing from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth centuries and characterized by by stiff, rectilinear lines and the use of predominantly vertical tracery, an overall linear, shallow effect, depressed or four-centre arch, fan-tracery vaulting, panelled walls and fine intricate stonework (should be used with an initial capital letter so it’s not confused with being a purely geometric reference).

(5) In rock-climbing, a sharply pitched or precipitously steep mountain face.

(6) Moral virtue or uprightness; rectitude (largely obsolete).

(7) In Admiralty jargon, either of two lines perpendicular to the keel line, base line, or designed water line of a vessel.

(8) In surveying, a device such as a plumb line that is used in making or marking a perpendicular line.

(9) In historic slang, a meal taken while standing at the bar of a tavern (obsolete).

1350–1400: From the Middle French perpendiculaire, from the Old French perpendiculer, from the Latin perpendiculāris (vertical, as a plumb line), the construct being perpendicul(um) (plumb line), from pendēre (to weigh hang) and perpendere (carefully to balance (the construct of which was per- (thoroughly) + pendēre (to hang, cause to hang; to weigh)) from the primitive Indo-European root spen & pen (to draw, stretch, spin) + āris.  The suffix -aris was a form of -ālis with dissimilation of -l- to -r- after roots containing an l (the alternative forms were -ālis, -ēlis, -īlis & -ūlis); it was used to form adjectives, usually from noun, indicating a relationship or a "pertaining to”.  The French borrowing replaced the Middle English perpendiculer(e) and is the source of the modern pendant.  The noun from existed from the 1570s (the earlier noun was the circa 1400 perpendicle) and in astronomy, navigation and related matters, it was in the late fifteenth century the sense of a line "lying at right angles to the horizon" developed from an earlier adverb referring to "at right angles to the horizon.

The noun perpensity (consideration, a pondering, careful attention) appears first to have been used in the early eighteenth century, the construct being the Latin perpens- (past-participle stem of perpendere (carefully to balance) and has since the late nineteenth century been listed either as archaic or obsolete.  Perpendicular is a noun and adjective, perpendicularness & perpendicularity are nouns and perpendicularly is an adverb; the noun plural is perpendiculars.  Although perpendicular describes what nominally is an absolute value, most dictionaries acknowledge the comparative more as perpendicular & the superlative as most perpendicular, reflecting the use of the word to describe also the “quality of that which tends towards”, hence the existence in geometry, mathematics, architecture & engineering of the presumably helpful adjective quasiperpendicular to refer to the mysterious “partially perpendicular”.

In audio engineering, a perpendicular recording is the technique of creating magnetic data storage using vertical as opposed to longitudinal magnetization.  The synonym used in a technical context is orthogonal (independent of or irrelevant to each other).  To most, the idea of the perpendicular is simple but it’s been borrowed to describe some complex concepts such as the perpendicular universe (though these perhaps by definition seem usually to be referred to in the plural as perpendicular universes) which exists to distinguish it from a parallel universe (which must in some way be different).  The perpendicular universe is thus one of the competing notions (some insist these are legitimate theories) of multiple universes which are in some way parallel (as opposed to sequential or circular) though not of necessity perpendicular.  Seems clear enough.

The Perpendicular Pronoun:  The first-person singular pronoun "I"

There is a general rule defining when to use “I” or “me” in a sentence and that is the first person singular pronoun is “I” when it’s a subject and “me” when it’s an object (the subject is the person or thing doing something, and the object is having something done to it and the often quoted example to illustrate the difference is the sentence “I love you”.  “I” is the subject of the sentence. “You” is the object of the sentence (also the object of one's affection).

Lindsay Lohan and her sister Aliana at the Melbourne Cup, 2019.

In most cases it’s easier to deconstruct the sentence than think about the rule.  To work if one should say (1) “Lindsay and I are going to the Melbourne Cup” or (2) “Lindsay and me are going to the Melbourne Cup”, deconstruction confirms (1) is correct because “I am going to the Melbourne Cup” works and “Me is going to The Melbourne Cup” does not.  That’s fine but because “me” is often wrongly used, something of a perception has evolved to suggest it must always be wrong and “I” must always be correct. However, everything depends on the sentence.  It’s correct to say “Lindsay and I both picked the winning horse” but it’s also right to say “A selfie of the winning horse with Lindsay and me”, something which can be checked by redacting either “Lindsay and” or “and me”.

Lindsay Lohan in Falling for Christmas (Netflix, 2022)

Modern English use has anyway actually banished the perpendicular pronoun from places where once it was a marker of the educated.  To say “It is I” remains supported by historic grammatical correctness but sounds now so strange (because the common form is “It’s me”) that many would it’s wrong.  Pedants fret over things like this but the world has moved on and if in answer to the question “Is that you Ali” the response came “This is she”, the antiquated correctness might discombobulate one while “It’s me” would not.

Gruntle

Gruntle (pronounced gruhn-tl)

Happy or contented; satisfied (informal; non-standard).

1500s: A frequentative of grunt.  Grunt was from the Middle English grunten, from the Old English grunnettan (to grunt (and a probably imitative frequentative of grunian (to grunt)), from the Proto-West Germanic grunnattjan, from the Proto-Germanic grunnatjaną (to grunt), frequentative of the Proto-Germanic grunnōną (to grunt), from the primitive Indo-European ghrun- (to shout).  It was cognate with the Old High German grunnizon, the German grunzen (to grunt), the Old French grogner & the Latin grunnire (to grunt) and the Danish grynte (to grunt) and the noun senses are all instances of zero derivation from the verb.

The noun emerged in the 1550s, from the verb.  The name for the fish (now used for any fish of the perciform family Haemulidae dates from 1713 and was so-called because of the noise they made when taken from the water while “grunter” (a pig) was first noted in the 1640s).  The meaning "infantry soldier or enlisted Marine" became US military slang during Vietnam War in the 1960s (and was first noted in print in 1969) although it had been applied to various low-level (and not necessarily manual) workers since early in the twentieth century, the phrase “grunt work” dating from 1977.  Grunt in the sense of horsepower dates from the early 1960s, the first use in print of “grunt machine” noted in 1973.  The dessert of steamed berries and dough (usually blueberries) described as grunt is from North America and exists usually as “blueberry grunt”; “raspberry grunt etc” (although the use takes no account of blackberries, mulberries, and raspberries not actually being berries whereas bananas, pumpkins, avocados & cucumbers are).

Lindsay Lohan looking gruntled.

The more familiar forms are disgruntle (verb), disgruntled (verb & adjective), disgruntling (verb & (occasional) adjective) and disgruntlement (noun) and all reference the sense of “to put into a state of sulky dissatisfaction; make discontented”.  Disgruntle dates from circa 1682, the construct being dis- + gruntle.  The dis prefix was from the Middle English dis-, from the Old French des from the Latin dis, from the proto-Italic dwis, from the primitive Indo-European dwís and cognate with the Ancient Greek δίς (dís) and the Sanskrit द्विस् (dvis).  It was applied variously as an intensifier of words with negative valence and to render the senses “incorrect”, “to fail (to)”, “not” & “against”.  In Modern English, the rules applying to the dis prefix vary and when attached to a verbal root, prefixes often change the first vowel (whether initial or preceded by a consonant/consonant cluster) of that verb. These phonological changes took place in Latin and usually do not apply to words created (as in Modern Latin) from Latin components since the language was classified as “dead”.  The combination of prefix and following vowel did not always yield the same change and these changes in vowels are not necessarily particular to being prefixed with dis (ie other prefixes sometimes cause the same vowel change (con; ex)).

Lindsay Lohan looking disgruntled.

The verb disgruntle, dating from circa 1682, means "to put into a state of sulky dissatisfaction".  Because the prefix dis- usually means "to do the opposite of", it’s not unreasonable to assume there must first have been the word “gruntle” meaning “happy or contented; satisfied” but there are cases where the prefix operates as an intensifier (in this case in the sense of “utterly” or “completely”) and this was the path of disgruntle, an extension of gruntle which in English use meant "to grumble" and, grumbling being a noted characteristic of the English, it had some history of use, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) listing a 1589 sermon by Robert Bruce of Kinnaird (1554–1631) in which he uttered ''It becomes us not to have our hearts here gruntling upon this earth”.  Use however faded while disgruntled flourished and although the original OED (1884) noting it was “now chiefly US), a view unaltered by 1933 when the Shorter OED (SOED) was published.  Since then however it’s been revived elsewhere and is now a common form throughout the English-speaking world; given the nature of the human condition, most expect it to endure.

The unexpected re-appearance of gruntle in the twentieth century in the sense of “happy or contented; satisfied” (ie an antonym both of the original meaning and of disgruntle) was thus not a revival of something obsolete but a jocular back-formation from disgruntle, most sources indicating the first known instance in print being from 1926 but the most celebrated example comes from PG Wodehouse (1881–1975) who in The Code of the Woosters (1938) penned: “He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”  Long a linguistic joke, some now take gruntled seriously but for the OED to acknowledge that, we may have to wait decades although the editors were quick to verify couth as a late nineteenth century back-formation from uncouth.

The precedent of back-formation has inspired many and other suggestions have included whelmed (from overwhelmed (underwhelmed another more recent coining)), fused (from confused), plexed (from perplexed), fuddling (from befuddling), settling (from unsettling), molish (from demolish), concerting (from disconcerting), wildered (from bewildered), stitious (from superstitious), shevled (from dishevled), gusting (from disgusting), tracted (from distracted) & juvenate (from rejuvenate).  Combobulate (from discombobulate) seems often also longed for but progress there has begun for in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one can recombobulate.

Spiced Blueberry Grunt by Carolyn Beth Weil

Seemingly an unpromising name for a pudding, Grunts get their quirky name from the fruit which is topped with dumplings and cooked on the stove in a covered skillet, a method which can produce a grunting sound as things steam.  The molasses adds sweetness and depth of flavor.

Ingredients (filling)

4 cups fresh blueberries (from four ½-pint containers)
½ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
¼ cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
¼ cup water
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Ingredients (Dumplings)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
¾ cup whole milk
Whipped cream and/or vanilla ice cream for topping

Step 1 (prepare filling)

Mix all ingredients in 12-inch-diameter skillet. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until berries soften and mixture thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

Step 2 (prepare dumplings)

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine meal. Add milk; stir just until blended and sticky dough forms.

Step 3 (cooking & serving)

Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto simmering berry mixture, placing close together. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover skillet and simmer until dumplings are firm and tester inserted into dumplings comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Scoop warm dessert into bowls and top with whipped cream and/or ice cream.

Dubiety

Dubiety (pronounced doo-bahy-i-tee or dyoo-bahy-i-tee)

(1) Doubtfulness; doubt; the state of being doubtful.

(2) A matter of doubt; a doubtful matter; a particular instance of doubt or uncertainty.

1740s: From the Late Latin dubietās (doubt; uncertainty), a dissimilation of dubiitās, the construct being dubi(us)  (vacillating, fluctuating (and figuratively “wavering in opinion, doubting”) + -etās  (the noun suffix, a variant of -itās (after vocalic stems)).  The earlier form dubiosity was in use by the 1640s and dubiousness had emerged within a decade; for whatever reason, “dubiety” declined while “dubious” flourished and endures to this day.  Dubiety, dubitation, dubiosity & dubitability are nouns, dubitable is an adjective and dubitably is an adverb; the noun plural is dubieties.

Dubiety is one of those words which has become vanishingly rare while its antonym forms (indubitably, indubitable, indubitability, indubitableness, indubitability, indubitation, indubiosity) meaning “clearly true; providing no possibility of doubt; In a manner that leaves no possibility of doubt; undoubtedly) has survived in a niche, that being a deliberately humorous interjection (although used unwisely, it tends to be thought pretentious).  The most common form is the adverb “indubitably” a word in use since the early seventeenth century.  It differs from other jocular coinings in that it was wholly organic, unlike “combobulate” and “gruntle” which were respectively nineteenth & twentieth century back-formations from discombobulate (itself fanciful) & disgruntled (although “gruntle” had a long history in another context). 

Henry Fowler’s list of working & stylish words.

The synonyms of dubiety include “scepticism, mistrust, distrust & suspicion”, all in common use and all vested with the helpful virtue of being understood buy most, a quality not enjoyed by dubiety.  Still, the word in there to be used and it adds variety so all who put themselves through reading literary novels might meet it.  So those after a certain style might find it handy but not all are amused by such stylishness.  The stern Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) included an entry which listed examples of “working & stylish words” which opened with the passage: “No one, unless he has happened upon this article at a very early stage of his acquaintance with this book, will suppose that the word “stylish” is meant to be laudatory.”  He went on to say there was a place for such forms “…when they are used in certain senses…” but made it clear that for most purposes the plain, simple “working word” is the better choice.  He offered the example of “deem” which in law has a precise and well understood meaning so is there essential but it’s just an attempt at stylishness if used as a substitute for “think”.  Other victims of his disapproving eye included “viable” which he judged quite proper in the papers of biologists describing newly formed organisms but otherwise a clumsy way of trying to assert something was “practicable” and “dwell” & “perchance” which appeared usually as “…conspicuous, like and escaped canary among the sparrows.”  Henry Fowler liked stylish phrases but preferred plain words.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011.

Fowler completed his text by 1925 and things have since changed, some of the “stylish” cohort seemingly having become “working” words, possibly under the influence of the use in computing and other technologies, their once specialized sense migrating into general use because the language of those industries became so common.  Although he did twenty years before the first appeared, one suspects he’d not have found Ferraris “stylish” and would probably have called them “flashy” (in the sense of “vulgar ostentation” rather than “sparkling or brilliant”); dating from the mid sixteenth century, “flashy” would seem to have a suitably venerable lineage.