ABANDONED. names of things you didn't know had names

[Allen]

This book gives the name for things like the little piece of plastic at the end of a shoelace (an aglet), or the two fleshy lines from your nose to your lip (the philtrum) and a bit of origins of this word. It's not an idiom dictionary, nor really a book about word origins, but more about the names of obscure things. I last saw the book in the mid 90s, and can't buy a new copy without the name.

I'm sure aglet is in there. I'm not sure philtrum is, but it's the kind of thing that the book would collect.

I've tried title searches with variations of "What's that called" and "what's the name of that", but no dice. Thanks for your help!

allenc

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

I think I remember seeing that in stores, because I remember the word aglet. I don't know if it's any of these, these might all be published later:

The Whatchamacallit: Those Everyday Objects You Just Can't Name
The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten
The Thingummy
Thingamajigs and Whatchamacallits: Unfamiliar Terms for Familiar Things

[Allen]

Yes, these were all published later. However, I may be able to give one of these as a gift, so I really appreciate your reply! Thank you very much!

[Andria]

I am SO SURE I read this book, because I have known both of those words (aglet, philtrum) since the late 80s!

[Andria]

Here's an older title: Words or
Dickson's Word Treasury: A Connoisseur's Collection of Old and New, Weird and Wonderful, Useful and Outlandish Words (which appears to be a later edition of the first)

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Allen, are you still looking for this?

[Kirstin]

Could it be The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams? It has more info than just the names of things though.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No response. Moving to Abandoned.