Sometimes you come across a word that is so obscure
that its use will result in a complete
failure to communicate.
What's even worse is when it is a word known to everyone, but
with another meaning known to nobody.
I've decided to call these fecklenyms; i.e., a word
that is useless.
Spinach is such a word, in its
adjectival form. As an adjective, spinach
means unwanted, pretentious, or spurious.
Examples:
- The presence at the meeting of the PHB would be
totally spinach.
- People who use "spinach" as an adjective are
so spinach.
Of several dictionaries I've looked in, only Merriam-Webster
mentions this meaning, which makes me wonder if perhaps a
quorum of publishers would have to include a word before
it becomes standard. But that's awholenother node.