My brother posted about a word I’d never heard of last week: Grawlix. A grawlix is “a sequence of typographical symbols used to represent a non-specific, profane word or phrase”–i.e.,  this string of characters: #@$%*! (He was talking about grawlixes in conjunction with breaking two toes, so it made lots of sense.)

The information I found that defined grawlix also gave me these words, which are perhaps even better:

  • Agitrons: wiggly lines indicating that something is shaking
  • Waftaroms: wavy lines rising from something indicating a strong smell or heat.
  • Briffits: clouds of dust indicating that a character left in a rush
  • Emanata: straight lines rising from around a character’s head indicating surprise
  • Plewds: drops of sweat indicating that a character is hot or stressed
  • Squeans: asterisks with an empty center indicating drunkenness or dizziness

Now I’m just trying to figure out how to work them into everyday conversation.