Smellfungus?

Let me preface this by saying that after a couple of long weeks, with TONS of NASA Social posts and pictures, a family crisis, and being at the thirty-six-hours-after-the-first-good-exercise-in-a-long-time-and-my-legs-are-killing-me point, I had nothing for tonight. But, there are tricks to get around that! Which all bombed and produced nothing for tonight. Until I remembered that The Long-Suffering Wife had gotten me a Christmas gift of a box of “Silly Word Flashcards” to be used in just such a situation. How much less effective could it be?

The card I drew was for “smellfungus,” a noun meaning “a person who always seems to find something wrong and likes to complain.”

C’mon, they made that one up! Right?

Nope, Mirriam-Webster online has it, describing it as “a captious critic; faultfinder.” It also goes on to say the term originates from a 1768 satire called A Sentimental Journey Through France And Italy.

But of course! Why didn’t I know that? Well, at least now when it comes up on Final Jeopardy I’ll be ready to mop up and win!

Which makes me wonder about my readers – do we have any smellfungus among us?

(P.S. – as I’m proofreading and getting ready to hit the “Publish” button, something lands on the roof and starts stomping around, scaring the crap out of me. Either it’s a bear or the biggest freakin’ raccoon in Los Angeles County. What I need now is a blunderbuss, which is probably another silly word in that deck of cards.)