marngrook means Any of a number of traditional indigenous Australian pastimes involving kicking and catching a stuffed ball, played by large numbers of players across a wide area. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
Why this word is great
MARNGROOK — [Noun] A traditional Aboriginal Australian communal pastime, involving the high kicking, catching, and aerial passing of a stuffed possum-skin ball across vast terrain. From Gunditjmara (an Aboriginal language of Victoria), meaning "game ball." Unlike the codified spectacle of "Australian rules football" (which co-opted its vertical leap) or the rigid geometry of "soccer" (which enforces low-to-ground control), marngrook is an open-ended ceremony of motion, a fluid narrative played upon the land itself. It is the thud of the stitched sphere, the arc of a kick against a blood-orange dusk, and the spectacle of a player suspended in air to pluck the ball from a rival's reach—a kinetic language older than stadiums, where the only true score was the vitality of the play.
noun
- Any of a number of traditional indigenous Australian pastimes involving kicking and catching a stuffed ball, played by large numbers of players across a wide area.