Tatterdemalion

Call me a word geek, but I read this word on a friend's blog (Driving to Oahu: Get out your dictionary), and it now qualifies as a favorite.

Tatterdamalion: n. A person wearing ragged or tattered clothing; a ragamuffin. adj. Ragged; tattered.

Tatterdemalion: A ragged fellow, whose clothes hang all in tatters. (Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.)

Also a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe.

It'll go right up there with tintinnabulation, which has been a favorite word since college.

tintinnabulation: n. The ringing or sounding of bells.

Two words that I'll probably never use in conversation, but when they come up in the game Balderdash, I'll be ready with the correct definition.