Mallemaroking. Not only is this a great word to read and to say, it also has the most specific meaning of any word I've ever known. So what does it mean then?It actually means 'The carousing (drunken merry-making) of seamen on board Greenland whaling ships'. Now how specific is that? Not just merry-making on any ships, but whaling ships and not just any whaling ships but ones only from Greenland! So you can't go mallemaroking on a Portsmouth to Le Harve ferry with a load of Danish social workers. Oh no. Only hammered sailors from Greenland hunting arctic whales just off the Faroe Islands will qualify.
Perhaps there's a word for deluded old men, wearing pyjamas, shouting at traffic in Kidderminster on Friday afternoons.
God, I hope so.
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