75-cent words for hoi polloi

We all have our writer-personalities that come out on the page when we don't know what we're really trying to say. One of those personalities is a moody 15-year-old who calls herself Jude, and she slouches to the rescue with too many syllables and too much vocabulary and gets way too serious and abstract.

If you find yourself needing to prune syllables, but also love your OED, here are some fun, clipped, 75-cent words that may satisfy both urges.

• Fizgig:A flirty, frivolous girl.
• Os:A mouth or an orifice.
• Jimjams:Extreme nervousness; jitters
• Pencel: A small flag at the end of a lance.
• Swot:One who studies hard, especially to the exclusion of other interests.
• Skosh:A small amount; a little bit.
• Quaggy:Marshy; flabby; spongy.
• Guttle:To eat voraciously; to devour greedily.
• Ret:To soak or expose to moisture (flax, hemp, etc.) to remove fiber from softened wood.
• Looby:An awkward, clumsy, lazy fellow.
• Palmy:Flourishing; prosperous.
• Bevy:A group or collection.
• Cark:To worry.