Callipygian

February 23, 2004

I came across this word whilst playing Cranium with friends. My unfortunate partner and I had to correctly identify the meaning of this word from a list of four possible options. Now I'm quite proud of my knowledge of words and etymology, but neither calli nor pygian rang any bells.

So after careful and lengthy deliberations within the one minute allowed, we went for "organ-like instrument", rather than "prone to callous disregard" (red herring alert! We're not that naïve oh no), "Islamic cleric" (too Greeky for an Islamic term) or "having beautifully proportioned buttocks" (plain ridiculous).

It turns out that it comes from the Greek kalli- (beautiful) and puge (buttocks).

Of course, over an hour later, once we were defeated and the game was put away, the word calligraphy (the art of forming beautiful letters) came to my mind. Why is my brain incapable of retrieving the useful information it contains when I need it to?

So there you go: a really useful word for those who like to be original when complimenting a loved one/chatting up beautiful strangers.