Rejected NYT Spelling Bee words
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Rejected NYT Spelling Bee words
@rejectednytwords.bsky.social
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rejectednytwords.bsky.social
Richard "Tricky Dicky" Milhous Nixon at the podium. I dunno if this is actually the bit where he said "I'm not a crook" but that's what I'm going for.
November 19, 2025 at 8:26 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
TOUM (Not in word list)
Lebanese garlic sauce in a little stoneware bowl on a rough cheesecloth with a spoon. This stuff is good as heck. Photo credit Serious Eats/Vicky Wasik
October 13, 2025 at 11:01 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
hoopoe (upupa epops). extremely flamboyant little bird, orange with black and striped wings, fluffy head-dress, long beak, all round serving c– well, you know
September 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
TABOON (Not in word list)
stack of circular Palestinian taboon flatbreads on a wooden platter
September 13, 2025 at 1:07 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
yeah that one too
ATTICA (Not in word list)
June 24, 2025 at 8:24 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
TOUM (Not in word list)
Lebanese garlic sauce in a little stoneware bowl laid artfully on some kind of rough-woven cloth with an aesthetic vintage spoon next to it
June 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
CARACAL (Not in word list)
A caracal: a long-legged reddish-brown nocturnal cat of savannahs in Africa and parts of Asia. It has long tufted black ears and it looks like it should be on Drag Race, both in terms of sass and also because whoever did its makeup was a real pro
June 5, 2025 at 10:24 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
strongly associate this one with the Beano
This is a classic "Calamity James" comic strip by Tom Paterson, from the UK children's anthology comic magazine The Beano. I can't really convey the full thing in text but the gist is that James, an ugly, smelly and stupid child, is being wooed by a much larger, uglier and smellier woman, whose body odour is described in one panel as a "dreadful niff". There's a good bit where he's drinking from a jar labelled "CURE FOR AEROPLANE CRASHING ON HEAD".
May 18, 2025 at 11:54 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
The Simpsons, S13E16 "Weekend at Burnsie's" Homer and Otto are standing on an empty stage outside Burns's mansion late at night, staring at their hands. Otto: They call them fingers, but I never see 'em fing. Oh, there they go.
May 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
never a bad time for lianas
Lianas (woody vines) in Udawattakele Forest, Sri Lanka
April 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
Merriam-Webster has it uncapitalised! First known use 1886 - they allow that it's "probably from Lulu, nickname for Louise" but that seems uncertain
noun lu.lu Definition slang : one that is remarkable or wonderful // a lulu of a performance
April 26, 2025 at 7:41 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
you're not going to believe this
It has often been claimed in popular culture that the vulgar slang term for human bodily waste, crap, originated with Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. A common version of this story is that American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as Army slang, i.e., "I'm going to the crapper". The word crap is actually of Middle English origin and predates its application to bodily waste. Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words: the Dutch krappen (to pluck off, cut off, or separate) and the Old French crappe (siftings, waste or rejected matter, from the medieval Latin crappa). In English, it was used to refer to chaff and also to weeds or other rubbish. Its first recorded application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846, 10 years after Crapper was born, under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.
April 24, 2025 at 8:06 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
if you're suggesting that's derived from Antoni Gaudí I think that's a myth!
Merriam Webster's first known use and etymology for GAUDY - attested from 1582/1651, probably derived from Latin "gaudium" meaning "joy"
April 23, 2025 at 11:18 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
TUTE (Not in word list)
The Simpsons S06E04 "Lemon of Troy" (my all time favourite episode) Marge is standing, looking worried and wringing her hands. Homer is sitting on the couch next to her, looking away from her out the window, smiling and raising his beer can. HOMER: Yes, Bart's a tutor now. Tute on, son! Tute on!
April 23, 2025 at 8:28 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
another really good dictionary illustration
A simple illustration of a davit: a crane that projects over the side of a ship or a hatchway and is used especially for boats, anchors, cargo
April 19, 2025 at 7:07 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
Nyctibius grandis, "great potoo". Insane looking bird with huge black eyes and a wide froggy beak tapering to a sharp point
April 13, 2025 at 2:16 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
these guys. not the creepypasta
Delicious Nepalese dumplings on a plate with a little thing of tomato chutney
April 9, 2025 at 2:21 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
OILBIRD (Not in word list)
Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis). they navigate by echolocation!
March 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
the history and etymology on this one strikes me as particularly Australian
A goanna (large Australian monitor lizard). It has cool stripes and is sticking its tongue out. Definition : any of several large Australian monitor lizards (genus Varanus of the family Varanidae) First Known Use 1811, in the meaning defined above History and Etymology alteration of iguana
March 20, 2025 at 11:45 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
I always double check submissions and this had the best illustration I've ever seen in the dictionary
Charming 90s clip-art style illustration of a gaur from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. A gaur is a large wild ox (Bos gaurus) of India and southeast Asia with a broad forehead and short thick curved horns.
March 20, 2025 at 9:44 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
common degu (small Chilean rodent) held in cupped hands
March 16, 2025 at 4:40 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
me too Jean-Luc
S05E02 of Star Trek: The Next Generation "Darmok". It's the episode where Picard is stranded on a planet with an alien who only says things like "Temba, his arms wide" or "Shaka, when the walls fell"
March 12, 2025 at 9:11 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
CARACAL (Not in word list)
Caracal. Good ear tufts
February 27, 2025 at 11:10 AM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
MALK (Not in word list)
The Simpsons S6 E21 "The PTA Disbands" A carton of delicious MALK: NOW WITH Vitamin R
February 26, 2025 at 6:31 PM
rejectednytwords.bsky.social
Screenshot from The Simpsons season 7 episode 12, "Homer's Team". Mr. Burns holds up a bowling shirt with the embroidered words "Pin Pals" and a design of Moe, Homer, Burns and Apu's smiling heads on bowling pins.
February 23, 2025 at 12:59 PM