English is a beautiful language – the language of William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens. There are many reasons to learn to speak English and communicate with over 400 million people! However, English also has some very funny, silly words. We have collected the BSC Team’s 9 favourite and funniest English words, how to pronounce them, and their amusing meanings.
Bamboozle
pronounced – bam-boo-zle
Bamboozle means to trick or fool someone, often by trying to confuse them.
Example: The teacher told the class that she was going to bamboozle them with a surprise test.
Discombobulate
pronounced – dis-com-bob-u-late
Like Bamboozle, Discombobulate means to confuse someone, or to make them feel uncomfortable.
Example: The new school layout didn’t aim to discombobulate the students, but it did nevertheless.
Flabbergasted
pronounced – flab-a-ga-sted
Flabbergasted means to be shocked because of something unexpected.
Example: When he saw Edinburgh Castle, he was flabbergasted.
Gibberish
pronounced – gib-er-ish
Gibberish is spoken or written words that have no meaning.
Example: She thought the book was complete gibberish.
Gobbledegook
pronounced – gob-el-de-gook
Gobbledegook is language that seems difficult to understand or seems to mean nothing because you don’t understand it.
Example: To someone who wasn’t a plumber, the manual looked like it was written in gobbledegook.
Kerfuffle
pronounced – kur-fuf-el
Kerfuffle is a commotion, or noise, often caused by an argument or conflicting views.
Example: There was a bit of a kerfuffle because he couldn’t find his ticket before he got on the plane.
Malarkey
pronounced – Mal-ar-key
Malarkey is silly behaviour or nonsense talk.
Example: I couldn’t finish the book because decided it was a bunch of malarkey and stopped reading about halfway through.
Nincompoop
pronounced – ninc-om-poop
Nincompoop is a silly or foolish person.
Example: They were not friends anymore because she thought he was a nincompoop.
Shenanigans
pronounced – Shen-an-ee-gans
Shenanigans are secret, devious or dishonest activities.
Example: If we go out this weekend, it is likely we will get up to some fun shenanigans.
Learn more funny English words
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