10 Words for Bodily Functions and Actions

10 Words for Bodily Functions and Actions 10 Words for Bodily Functions and Actions 10 Words for Bodily Functions and Actions By Mark Nichol No, this list isn’t just for those in the medical profession. Many readers find sesquipedalianism use of overly complicated words when a simpler synonym is available irritating, but ostentatious vocabulary has its place in invective, satire, and standard-issue humor, and can enhance general prose, whether through figurative or literal use. 1. Borborygmus: rumbling (â€Å"What I thought was the rumbling of a truck was only a bout of borborygmus in my stomach†) 2. Emesis: vomiting (â€Å"I turned away in disgust from the vile rhetorical emesis of the racist orator†) 3. Eructation: belching (â€Å"The smokestacks engaged in endless eructation†) 4. Ingurgitation: guzzling (â€Å"We gazed in disbelief at the rampant ingurgitation occurring among the frat boys arrayed around the keg†) 5. Mastication: chewing (â€Å"The students, engrossed in the mental mastication required of the assignment, failed to notice my entrance†) 6. Micturation: urinating (â€Å"They’re micturating over all that we honor and respect†) 7. Osculation: kissing (â€Å"The odious osculation that takes place between politics and big business will never cease†) 8. Peristalsis: swallowing (â€Å"They accepted the lies with peristaltic enthusiasm hook, line, and sinker†) 9. Sternutation: sneezing (â€Å"His incessant explosions of sternutation were unsettling†) 10. Tussis: coughing (â€Å"John produced gratuitous tussis to signal his extreme skepticism†) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Coordinating vs. Subordinating ConjunctionsPeace of Mind and A Piece of One's MindWriting a Thank You Note

Propliopithecus (Aegyptopithecus) Profile

Propliopithecus (Aegyptopithecus) Profile Name: Propliopithecus (Greek for before Pliopithecus); pronounced PRO-ply-oh-pith-ECK-us; also known as Aegyptopithecus Habitat: Woodlands of northern Africa Historical Epoch: Middle Oligocene (30-25 million years ago) Size and Weight: About two feet long and 10 pounds Diet: Probably omnivorous Distinguishing Characteristics: Small size; sexual dimorphism; flat face with forward-facing eyes About Propliopithecus (Aegyptopithecus) As you can tell from its nearly unpronounceable  name, Propliopithecus was named in reference to the much later Pliopithecus; this middle Oligocene primate may also have been the same animal as Aegyptopithecus, which provisionally continues to occupy its own genus. The importance of Propliopithecus is that it occupied a place on the primate evolutionary tree very near to the ancient split between old world (i.e., African and Eurasian) apes and monkeys, and may well have been the earliest true ape. Still, Propliopithecus was no chest-pounding behemoth; this ten-pound primate looked like a small gibbon, ran on all fours like a macaque, and possessed a relatively flat face with forward-facing eyes, an adumbration of its human-like hominid descendants that evolved millions of years later. How smart was Propliopithecus? One shouldnt have too ambitious hopes for a primate that lived 25 million years ago, and in fact, an initial brain-size estimate of 30 square centimeters has since been reduced to 22 square centimeters, on the basis of more complete fossil evidence. In the course of analyzing skull samples, the same research team that produced the latter estimate also concluded that Propliopithecus was sexually dimorphic (males were about one and one-half times as big as females), and we can infer that this primate scrambled between the branches of trees- that is, it had not yet learned to walk on solid ground.