25 whimsical words

I shared my five favourite whimsical words with my Facebook and Twitter networks last week. They’re words that you can’t use without smiling. You responded with generosity offering suggestions of your own.

Here’s a list.

Who knew there were so many different ways to describe a discussion, silliness or plain old nonsense?

I dare you to use one in your copy today because we could all use more fun in our writing.

To misquote Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat, "from there to here, from here to there, funny things [should be] everywhere."

1. Argy-bargy – vigorous discussion 2. Brouhaha – excited discussion 3. Caper – playful leap or skip 4. Codswallop – nonsense, rubbish 5. Doofus – foolish person 6. Fiddle-faddle – nonsense, trivia 7. Fisticuffs – blow with a fist 8. Flapdoodle – nonsense 9. Flibbertigibbet – a chattering or flighty person 10. Fubar – not working, confused 11. Garrulous - wordy or diffuse 12. Gubbins – odds and ends, of little value 13. Gobbledygook – nonsense writing 14. Higgledy-piggledy – confused or jumbled 15. Hullabaloo – a loud noise or disturbance 16. Kerfuffle – fuss or commotion 17. Malarkey – speech or writing designed to obscure 18. Palaver – idle discussion or chatter 19. Poppycock – nonsense 20. Shemozzle – noisy confusion or dispute 21. Shenanigans – deceit or trickery 22. Shilly-shallying – indecision or hesitation 23. Thingamabob – an object whose name you’ve forgotten 24. Thingamajig – see thingamabob 25. Willy-nilly – disorganised or unplanned