Mass Achoo Bits

I had the opportunity to take public transpo recently and I have but one question.. Why oh why must people look into their handkerchiefs and tissues after blowing their noses? Ick!

Honest to God you can google anything; it looks like there is a word for what I described above:

MASSACHUSETTS (pl.n.) Those items and particles which people who, after blowing their noses, are searching for when they look into their hankies.

Tongue-in-cheek of course, but check out this list of "spare words" coined by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd in their treatise "The Meaning of Liff." (click on the red)

"In Life*, there are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no words exist.On the other hand, the world is littererd with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.Our job, as we see it, is to get these words now off the signposts and into the mouths of babes and sucklings and so on, where they can start earning their keep in everyday conversation and make a more positive contribution to society. "



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