The Practical Guide: Random Rare Word (Lulu)

There are some truly wondrous words in the dictionary, some which are barely pronounceable and others that are foreign to the average person’s vocabulary. But I like that slang words are included in the dictionary, too: they are just as important to our daily life as the more complex words are.

Lulu (noun): slang

A remarkable, incredible, or memorable person or thing, esp. for its unpleasantness (a lulu of a nightmare).

19th c., perhaps from Lulu, pet form of Louise.

This word adequately describes the recent film Splice. Fantastic movie- and highly disturbing.

I feel sorry for anyone named Louise, though; why does the Canadian Oxford English Dictionary assume that the word is associated with the name of a person? I’m guessing that whoever wrote the entry for Lulu has an ex-wife named Louise. Just sayin’.