In reading about the Russian mobster who said that the olympic pairs and ice dance results were fixed, I found that the French called him a mythomaniac--meaning one who has a compulsion to exaggerate or to invent things. I love that word! I have known a few mythomaniacs!

Any other fun "maniac" words?

>> mythomaniac ... other fun "maniac" words?

Must restrain myself ... in deference to the thought that museamuse may wish to post one whose prefix refers to certain figurettes from greek myth.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of such words. Many of them are used only by doctors and psychologists to describe clinical conditions.

Possibly two of the best known examples are: pyromaniac, describing someone with the irresistible urge to start fires; and nymphomaniac, describing a woman who, if she were a man, would be looked upon as completely normal.

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...nymphomaniac, describing a woman who, if she were a man, would be looked upon as completely normal.

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Love it arnie! But is there a word for a man that has a similar meaning?

Oops...there are many, but I wasn't referring to THOSE. You know what I mean!

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is there a word for a man that has a similar meaning?

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Yep; from greek myth, and thus suitable for our muse: satyriasis.
Seems to have some linguistic connection with satire.

Here's a lovely word with a rather repugnant meaning. It means "habitual or obsessive nose-picking".

This word had its fifteen minutes of fame at the Ig Nobel awards at Harvard University in October 2001. The award in the Public Health category went to two Indian researchers for "their probing medical discovery that nose picking is a common activity among adolescents" as published in a paper called A Preliminary Survey of Rhinotillexomania in an Adolescent Sample.

Rhinotillexomania looks like an example of word invention for its own sake, but it has appeared a few times in scientific publications. The word seems to have been coined in imitation of trichotillomania, an medical term for a compulsive desire to pull out one's hair.

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Seems to have some linguistic connection with satire.

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Dictionary.com seems rather vague on this. Both The American Heritage Dictionary and Webster's say that it comes from the Latin satira, satire. That word in turn came from satura, a plate full of fruit. satur means full, from which we get our word "sated". The American Heritage Dictionary says "influenced by Greek satur, satyr, and saturos, burlesque of a mythical episode"

In trying to find some more fun mania words, I realized that someone should also start a phobia thread because there are also some great phobia words--like fear of Friday the 13th, or my favorite, fear of virgins! I'll let someone else start that thread because I have become somewhat of a thread hog; is there a word for that? (perhaps philodox--one who loves his/her own opinions!)

Getting off the track here! I found a good mania word: parateresiomania obsession with being a voyeur.

How about these manias:

Bibliomania--Obsession with the collecting of books.

Scribomania--Obsessive zeal for writing.

Does this relate to Callipygous? Callomania--Belief in one's own beauty; a delusion of the insane.

I found this one to answer my own question above: Gynecomania--Abnormal sex desire in the male.

i want to know how they found out about that one. where's waldo. er, i mean woody.

Oniomania - compulsive shopping. It's not really an addiction, neither is it agreed that it's an obsessive disorder or an impulse-control problem.... The Dictionary for Difficult Words defines it as "a mania for making purchases".

Ahhh---Now that wouldn't be such a bad mania to have!

I doubt it will replace shopoholic, though.

And this brings us to my favorite two phrases: "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping." and... "Charge it!"

[this post was put in the wrong place; deleted and moved]

I saw a good one today:

dromomania: An exaggerated longing for travel

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Seems to have some linguistic connection with satire.
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Dictionary.com seems rather vague on this. Both The American Heritage Dictionary and Webster's say that it comes from the Latin satira, satire. That word in turn came from satura, a plate full of fruit. satur means full, from which we get our word "sated". The American Heritage Dictionary says "influenced by Greek satur, satyr, and saturos, burlesque of a mythical episode"

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My Greek etymological Dictionary says that satire and satyr do not share the same root. 'Satire', as Arnie mentioned, comes from the Latin 'satur' (full), while 'satyr' is a reference to the Greek mythological hooved, horned and horny creature, which was a follower of Dionysus.

Thank you, muse. Over the weekend I'll go to the library and take a look at OED. If it doesn't match you, my money is on you, and you can have the credit for our first "correction to OED".

wooohooooo shufitz!