Steganography (new to me): the art of secret writing; cryptography (comes from Greek meaning watertight, covered hidden). The OED has it down as obsolete, purely historical, with most of the illustrative quotations dating to the great Tudor & Stuart ages of spies & conspirators.
The next edition will have to be brought up to date. I went googling because I was sure there was a dinosaur called steganosaurus – not in the OED.
No dinosaur sightings (though gannets, which are almost dinosaurs, belong to the bird group steganopedes)– but steganosaurus lives today – see for example Welcome to Steganosaurus or Free Tools :: Steganosaurus :: Version 1.0 No longer an obsolete historical curiosity, but a vital tool in a new age of internet paranoia.
Steganography, (which word imports the Art of signifying ones mind to another by an occult or secret way of writing). - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 1677And speaking of covered things, the word curfew has nothing to do with teenagers or terrorists in its origins, but referred to a large metal cover which was used to couvrir le feu in a medieval household – to make sure that all could sleep safely in their beds without the place burning down around them.
Twitchfork: what twitterers use when they want to tell the world that they really, really don’t like someone or something.
Undoubtably – heard on the radio. Indubitably should be undoubtedly.
Philanthropists – anagram of NHS hospital trip; Times cryptic crossword #25,325 Nov. 20th 2012
