Words you learned through D&D

[Presto2112]

lucubration
astral
ethereal
augury
glyph
prestidigitator
acolyte
and the term "q.v." shows up several times in the 1e core books. I STILL don't know what that means!

 

[Oryan77]

hygiene
odor
geek
barfight
brawl
wench
hooker
ale
loot
rogue
rouge
pickpocket
assassinate
forgery
monologue
paraphernalia
occult
repent
Black Leaf

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

and the term "q.v." shows up several times in the 1e core books. I STILL don't know what that means!

It's one of the Latin abbreviations you sometimes see in written english (like i.e. or e.g.). It stands for quod vide (i.e. "which see" -- or "refer to/look up").

I learned quite a few obscure and not-so-obscure words from D&D, especially when I was a kid. For example, "verisimilitude" and "perspicacious." I also remember asking my mother what it meant to be in an "alluring pose." She asked why I was asking, and I told her that I was reading a module, and a statue was described as being a nude woman in an alluring pose. She found that amusing, and told me it meant welcoming, as if with arms outstretched. I found out later that this was not *exactly* what was implied.

Phylactery was another one. Melee. Prestidigitation. Abjuration. Lots of others.

 

[Imp]

periapt
talisman
haversack
cacodemon
falchion
fauchard
fauchard-fork
Lochaber axe
Lucerne hammer
awl pike
morningstar
quarrel
brigandine
greaves

and heck,
dexterity
constitution
charisma
and (wait for it)
comeliness

 

[demiurge1138]

Ephemeral
mattock
ethereal
astral
charisma
constitution (in the sense of health, not founding document)
expeditious
enervate

Demiurge out.

 

[el-remmen]

A couple of weeks ago in the NY Times magazine "On Words" weekly column, there was a mention of "ziggurat" as a rare or odd word for someone to use in writing something or other and then went on to define it because it is so "rare", and I thought, "Why is zuggurat arare word?" And then I remembered, I only knew it because of D&D, which is not something most poeple do (or study Mayan architecture either )

Two more words:

oubliette and melee

 

[Greylock]

thaco
hit points
theurge
bahamut
tarresque

My, my. This list could go on forever.

 

[The Grackle]

xebec
cobochon
and perhaps chthonic...

 

[Nine Hands]

Defenestration....that was a threat from my GM...does that count?

 

[Hairfoot]

Just last week I was biting my tongue because my cousin kept talking about a televangelist's "sharisma". Must be polite to family, you know.