A Neglected Anniversary in Science Education

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We didn’t light the autumn sky with homemade rockets or harness the wind to electrify remote villages. But in 1974 a group of juniors sitting in the back of biology hung on every word our teacher said, because we never knew when he would add a new entry to “Great Words from Mr. Blake’s Unlimited All-Star Vocabulary.”

To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of this milestone in science education, I present here the unabridged list, copied exactly from my faded, folded, and slightly torn original, that I’ve kept all these years. The words are in chronological order; the numbers indicate the times Mr. Blake repeated the word. In italics are comments I added as I assembled this post.

Some words and phrases are common, but spelled the way he said them. Others are common and he said them correctly, but they were funny just because he said them.  Still others he said just right, but we had never heard them before, and that made them funny.

The List:

1. bosh (5)
2. pshaw (15)
3. flick (4) as in movie
4. adjournal (2)  as in, “We’ll now adjournal into the lab.”   
5. chuckyplum
6. savee (8)
7. samosamo (2)
8. oomps
9. gaak (20)
10. beasty (12) he had lots of generic word for organisms – it was biology afterall
11. contangerous he liked to change just one letter or syllable 
12. pardnon he also liked to add a letter or syllable
13. bugger
14. hissy (1)
15. bogus
16. larvay
17. anuse
18. pfffft (1st 9 weeks) he considered vowels optional
19. kiddiebumps as in, “You kiddiebumps need to study more!”
20. krkhjjh
21. duh (1)
22. crimenently
23. plumchucky
24. mongamous (1) in other words humongous
    
25. comoselama (2) that l was pronounced “la” 
    
26. Holy Pete
27. boo – ooo (4)
28. croak (1)
29. trite bit of ariation as in, “What was that trite bit of ariation, Jill?”
30. guk
31. walag
32. yi-ee-aa
33. AAHHH!!
34. peachy keen
35. boob tube (4)
36. figidy
37. gook as in a sticky mess
38. tad bit (11)
39. funky dory
40. Johnny Bloenose
41. Price of Newcastle
42. bulla bulla bulla
43. befuddled
44. blubber
45. pinky sheet as in, “Do all the problems on the pinky sheet.”
46. zap (2)
47. bannanas (8) as in, “Don’t go bananas, but…” 
48. señor mouse (1)
49. tody habits
50. chicky eggs
51. bag of worms (1)
52. Sam Hill
53. Whooo (1)
54. Ya-oooo
55. Pall Mall
56. coposati
57. snicker snicker
58. kitty kat
59. bow wow
60. snot
61. mish mash
62. bling
63. ding bat (2)
64. super duper
65. bugaboo
66. chewing gum for the eyeball
67. chew on your nuts to a class full of adolescents?
68. heapies (1)
69. iota
70. joggers
71. how some ever (2)
72. critters (7)
73. hook & crook
74. conotes
75. crawlies
76. poor little hairy hide
77. cookery
78. zip zip
79. croak
80. taboo
81. cheapy
82. bunch of spaghetti
83. oodles
84. cut the mustard
85. doosch
86. haul our bods as in, “Let’s haul our bods into the lab”
87. plaza loma
88. boomp
89. 600 nitro express (1)
90. babababababoon this was sung – “Baaa ba ba ba ba boooooooon”
91. nomenclature
92. minuous
93. o-observay
94. twosies as in, “Work on this assignment in twosies.”
95. zerah
96. Ricky Baby as in, “Ricky Baby, be quiet!”
97. zamples
98. fortay
99. spewtum
100. 6 of 1 1/2 dozen of the other (2)
101. cute attacks of apoplexy as in, “David, would you explain your cute attacks of apoplexy?”
102. krambs
103. cobre
104. scrage
105. The Hanging Drop
106. the gobbling up things as in carnivors
107. tayboo
108. sitting on your buffs waiting for the goats to come home
109. hebies
110. toydie
111. Sandy Cumerzis I made the list; He liked me! He really liked me!
112. wluwluwlu
113. fruitcake
114. bludublubdadublu
115. hokeed up
116. do our thingie
117. Suzy Q
118. the big TIT I wonder why I capitalized it
119. horsies
120. moo moos
121. nerd
122. flim flam
123. cow
124. fly by night

Late in the year the list was published in the school paper. Mr. Blake thought it was funny. I think I’ll start saying these words in my teaching. After all, he got us engaged with them.

But I think I’ll avoid 67 and 118. And maybe some others.

Sandy Merz

I grew up in Silver City, New Mexico and went the University of New Mexico, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology. After working for the U.S. Geological Survey in remote regions of western New Mexico, I moved to Tucson to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona, earning a Master of Science degree in Hydrogeology. While working as an intern hydrologist for a local county agency, I started doing volunteer work that involved making presentations in schools. At that moment I knew teaching was the path to follow. It must have been a good decision because I’m still on the path after thirty-two years. My teaching certificates are in math and science and I am a National Board Certified Teacher in Career and Technical Education. After teaching engineering and math and elective classes at the same school in downtown Tucson my whole career, I've moved to a different middle school and district on the edge of town to teach math. In addition to full time teaching, I am actively involved in the teacher leadership movement by facilitating National Board candidates, blogging for Stories from School Arizona, and serving on the Arizona K12 Center’s TeacherSolutions team. In January 2017, Raytheon Missile System named me a Leader in Education and I'm a former Arizona Hope Street Fellow.