11 Things You Didn't Know There Were Words For

#1 Zarf

The cardboard sleeve around a hot cup of coffee. Or, the name of a 1950's sci-fi character from a planet hell bent of blowing up the earth.

#2 Vagitus

The crying of a newborn baby.

We don't recommend using this word at a family dinner or party. It sounds gross.

#3 Mondegreen

The mishearing of a song lyric, resulting in you at a karaoke bar belting out "The girl with colitis goes by" to a drunken crowd. We have all done this, most as we sing along to a song in the car.

#4 Minimus

The pinky toe or pinky finger. I thought they were called "little piggies" but no, they are minimus.

#5 Punt

The dent at the bottom of a bottle of wine. Use that word often to impress wine snobs. Then when you drink the wine say, "This tastes punty." Then wonder why you're not invited back to formal parties.

#6 Philtrum

The groove between your nose and the middle of your upper lip. Some scientists believe this was created as a space for your tongue to slip up and lick your nose.

#7 Bruxism

The involuntary grinding of your teeth while you sleep, sometimes as a result of dreaming about eating delicious rocks or munching of cubes of frozen water, also known as ice.

#8 Aglet

The clear plastic tube at the end of a shoelace. The holes you string the shoelace through are called "eyelets." The part where you place your toes is called the "toe box." Now you know everything you need to know to become a cobbler.

#9 Lunule

The white crescent moon part of your fingernail. The black gunk that gets caught under the lunule is called "proof you need to wash your hands more or at least stop clawing at chocolate cake."

#10 Ferrule

The metal ring that connects the eraser to the rest of the pencil. Without it the eraser would fall off and the only way to correct your mistakes would be to scratch them out or eat the entire math test before the teacher sees it.

#11 Phosphenes

The spots of light you see when you squeeze your eyes shut and apply direct pressure on them with your hands. You're doing that right now, aren't you? You don't know that we just asked if you're doing that right now because you're doing that right now, aren't you? Well, so are we.

#12 Words Mean A Lot

Without words what do we have? Grunts and tongue clicks. Language is what separates us from the animals. Still, some of us don's know an aglet from a minimus. But you, know YOU know! Congratulations!