As is often the case, the research I did for last week’s column produced way more information than I could possibly shoehorn into a single piece. That being the case, I concentrated on presenting uncommon words that pertain in one way or another to the human body. This time we’ll be looking at strange words for things that don’t deal directly with our physical being.

That doesn’t mean this week’s effort is made up of leftovers. Think of it as being an entirely new entree created by combining similar ingredients. If you’re buying that, then it seems appropriate to begin with a couple pizza-related words.

First up is that small, often-three-legged little plastic “stool” in the center of some delivered pizzas that keeps the top of the pizza box from touching your steaming pizza – the box tent. And that outer crust of the pizza (the part that I refuse to eat and that I put on Mrs. Word Guy’s plate) — well, that’s called the cornicione, which is Italian for “edge” or “rim.”

Perhaps you sometimes like to enjoy a nice bottle of champagne with your pizza (hey, it could happen – and I needed a segue). Anyway, that depression in the bottom of the bottle is called the punt, but you probably already knew that. Did you know that the empty space between the top of the bottle and the liquid inside is called the ullage? Or that the wire cage that holds the cork in the bottle is called the agraffe?

How about listening to some music after dinner? Good idea, just don’t listen to the same thing too many times or you could end up suffering from semantic satiation, which happens when you hear a word so often that it loses its meaning and becomes just a sound. You know, when the lyrics become “vocables,” or words composed of various sounds or letters without regard to its meaning. “La la la” or “na na na” for example,

And finally there are a few weird words of which you should probably be careful. Remember that pizza we recently enjoyed? Well, I overdid it. I ate a slice or two too many and now I’m suffering the effects of crapulence, or that sick feeling that comes from eating or drinking too much.

Sounding for all the world like it refers to an infection in a sensitive area of the female body is “vagitus,” which, it turns out, actually is a Latin word for the crying of a newborn baby.

A more dangerous word, at least if you’re looking it up on the internet, is “peen.” A ball peen is that rounded part that you see on the backs of certain hammer heads. There are also wedge-shaped cross peens and straight peens on these tools, which are usually used for shaping metal.

Now here’s where things get tricky. According to Hammersource.com, peen is also spelled “pein,” making its plural “peins” (don’t get ahead of me), which of course is an anagram of the name of a gentleman’s body part. Given the fascinating nature of autocorrect, this brings me to a bit of friendly advice: Make sure there are no children peeking over your shoulder if you’re ever inclined to google “different types of peins.”

Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at [email protected].