Unbe-bloody-lievable! Tmesis (plural: tmeses) is the splitting of a word at a syllable boundary and the insertion of another word – usually as a form of exclamation or to stress contempt or distaste for someone or something. The word itself is Greek in origin. Tmesis is also known as Tumbarumba (named after a town in Australia) and is popular in Australian English. One of the most famous examples from where I grew up is “abso-fu**ing-lutely – used as a superlative in either a positive ore negative sense. I should add that it’s possible to use tmesis on the word itself – t-bloody-mesis – but then that would be meta-tmesis and would begin to make my head hurt. Have fun inventing your own and dropping them into conversation when Father O’Flanagan drops by for tea and biscuits – or just post them here for a bit of fun.
