What's your favourite word?

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Hmm, a Friday thread if ever there was one.

I like Juxtaposition and Haemoglobin.

What about you lads and lassies?

Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 09:08 (twenty years ago)

At the minute it's schadenfreude - although it is too long and foreign for Scrabble ... umbrella is quite appealing.

sandy mc (sandy mc), Friday, 18 June 2004 09:26 (twenty years ago)

fancy word: tmesis.

non-fancy word: lack.

cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 June 2004 09:38 (twenty years ago)

Non fancy: puddle.

aimurchie, Friday, 18 June 2004 11:01 (twenty years ago)

Fancy: apotheosis
Non-fancy (currently): plunge

Archel (Archel), Friday, 18 June 2004 11:19 (twenty years ago)

Floccinaucinihilipilification
Nunc Dimittis
Rigor mortis
Hebephilia
Misconstrue
Mind-boggling (Reminds me of Good As Gold by Joseph Heller)
Warlocks (Reminds me of the Benny Hill show)
Supraman
Paradigm
Ubiquity...

Fred (Fred), Friday, 18 June 2004 11:29 (twenty years ago)

I also like 'misled'. Mainly because it reminds me of my step-dad saying 'my-zulled' all the time :)

Archel (Archel), Friday, 18 June 2004 11:34 (twenty years ago)

manx

Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Friday, 18 June 2004 11:44 (twenty years ago)

I forgot to say, you must use these words over the weekend.

Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:06 (twenty years ago)

Right now, mine come in pairs:

unmitigated gall

utter audacity

sheer ineptitude

astoundingly moronic

exhaustive idiocy

the singular words include:
facetious
rumpled
ravishment

yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:11 (twenty years ago)

Crepuscular
Snarky
Plethora

Jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:12 (twenty years ago)

needn't
snog
library

mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:27 (twenty years ago)

Troglodyte
paleontology
antediluvian

Just a few words I like, because they sound great. I´m sorry I never get a chance to use them.

Jens Drejer (Jens Drejer), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:48 (twenty years ago)

Splurge

Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 13:01 (twenty years ago)

portly

Cathryn (Cathryn), Friday, 18 June 2004 13:59 (twenty years ago)

smore. haar.

cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:03 (twenty years ago)

never use your favourite words.

cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Moomin

Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:16 (twenty years ago)

polysynody

nacreous

gelogenic (Thx CJ)

logorrhea

saudade from the Portuguese

Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago)

love

otto, Friday, 18 June 2004 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Chutzpah

Fred (Fred), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:49 (twenty years ago)

My brother used to have a dog called Moomin. It's a great name, until you have to shout it in an annoyed tone. Its authority kind of collapses at that point.

We also used to have a dog called Hoover and one called Layla. Hoover's a great word. Dog's name, product name, verb, and it sounds like groovy. Who doesn't love it?

Also Skerries. As my bro says 'it's like "merry" and "scary" all in one!'

accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:00 (twenty years ago)

My sister had two goldfish called Himmler and Goering.

Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:04 (twenty years ago)

Sounds fishy, Mikey.

Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:18 (twenty years ago)

cockfarmer

DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:32 (twenty years ago)

peripatetic
autodidact
boob

I foolishly named my cat d'Artagnan and now its hard to sound angry when I have to yell at him.

megan (bookdwarf), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:49 (twenty years ago)

Weren't Perry Patetic and Otto Didakt in the original production of Les Trois Mousquetaires et leur chat, d'Artagnan?

Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:55 (twenty years ago)

iconoclast. hands down my favorite word. (:

Kelly Spoer (onefingertoomany), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:36 (twenty years ago)

At the moment, cantankerous.

Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 18 June 2004 17:36 (twenty years ago)

amorist
jejune
aplomb

Denise Plauché (silverdee), Friday, 18 June 2004 18:47 (twenty years ago)

bedraggled

Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Saturday, 19 June 2004 04:43 (twenty years ago)

See below.

Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 19 June 2004 06:07 (twenty years ago)

Diarreha
Dust
Matrix
Sand
Dandelion

pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Saturday, 19 June 2004 15:28 (twenty years ago)

Actually "logorrhea" is a pretty great word too.

Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:30 (twenty years ago)

how abour Gonorehea? Cinnamon? Purple? Michelin?

pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Saturday, 19 June 2004 18:37 (twenty years ago)

man, juxtaposition was the first to come to mind. let me think of some others...
transcend
dichotomy
troglodytic
antediluvian
labyrinthine
panchronic (which i originally thought i had invented but have since found used in linguistics and evolutionary science circles. shucks.)

tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Saturday, 19 June 2004 19:52 (twenty years ago)

jocund
sardonic
grandiloquent
deduce
fathead
august (the adjective)

tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Saturday, 19 June 2004 19:56 (twenty years ago)

bellicose
pedant
cromulent
gubernatorial
banana

Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Sunday, 20 June 2004 01:03 (twenty years ago)

diarrhea? (There was a terrific local band called Diarrhea Roses-- for some reason they never caught on regionally, O the injustice! -- but they claimed in their promo material that diarrhea was the most beautiful word in the language. Greek, of course, to flow through. I guess it just stuck in my mind, and I belived them. My fave.)

donald, Sunday, 20 June 2004 01:30 (twenty years ago)

Right now it's inchiostro -- the Italian word for ink. INCHIOSTRO hee.

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 20 June 2004 01:39 (twenty years ago)

Cilantro. Silver. Violin. Meridian. Hmmmm. Ugly words: Cow. Uncle. Oyster, Employ. Gas. Whimsical words usually double the consonants: Figgy, sizzle, nipple, jazzy, sassy. Pig, for instance is rather ugly, but piggy is kind of cute. This little piggy went to market.... belly is a funny word. Work is not a funny word.


pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Sunday, 20 June 2004 02:09 (twenty years ago)

ha ha I love cromulent too!

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 20 June 2004 02:17 (twenty years ago)

Oh, wait! Intaglio. Chrysalis. Cicada.

pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Sunday, 20 June 2004 02:34 (twenty years ago)

"Fuck" is underrated.

Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 20 June 2004 03:38 (twenty years ago)

Do you think so? I use it frequently, with great zeal and gusto, as does my husband. I think the merits of "fuck" are widely respected and understood.

Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Sunday, 20 June 2004 03:41 (twenty years ago)

tmesis. There's a genus of fern-like plants calle Tmesipteris.

Favorite words include glaucous and scabrid.

isadora (isadora), Sunday, 20 June 2004 07:33 (twenty years ago)

And yet you so rarely see "fuck" on a list such as this. One of our language's greatest words, and you can't even say it on tv!

Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 20 June 2004 08:28 (twenty years ago)

bellicose
effulgent
ineluctable
insouciant

i love words so much.

tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Sunday, 20 June 2004 10:28 (twenty years ago)

Schaharazade. Bread. Sleep.

pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Sunday, 20 June 2004 12:24 (twenty years ago)

chiaroscuro
cantankerous
salutation
mnemonic
petulant
sanctify
calliope
haberdashery
accordion
perfunctory
colonnade
peristyle

Joelle Burdette (sparkle j), Sunday, 20 June 2004 15:11 (twenty years ago)

I have to add:

positron
shimmer
fortuitous
etymology
onomatopoeia
spasm
diaphragm
linguistic

sparkle j (sparkle j), Sunday, 20 June 2004 15:27 (twenty years ago)

clavical
conniption
defenestration
ciabatta
impetigo

Jessa (Jessa), Sunday, 20 June 2004 20:51 (twenty years ago)

smarmy
facade
effervescence
virtuosity
oxymoron

can't think of anymore. when i stumbled upon the word 'smarmy' i like it so much that i started calling my friend smarmy even though she is neither unctuous or sycophantic. what a great word! it sounds positively oily- exactly like it's meaning.

unfazed, Monday, 21 June 2004 01:50 (twenty years ago)

defenestration!!! I forgot about that word. It used to be one of my favorites. Great thread!

sparkle j (sparkle j), Monday, 21 June 2004 02:15 (twenty years ago)

I also like "feening".

Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 21 June 2004 03:03 (twenty years ago)

Embiggens. It's a perfectly cromulent word.

I too love the word 'fuck', but it is because I love it so much that I decry its use as a placeholder word. I also like the Irish word 'feck', which can mean 'throw' or 'steal', or can be substituted for 'fuck' as a swearword, but not for 'fuck' as a description of a sex act.

It's not a real Irish word, btw. It's just a word the Irish use.


accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 21 June 2004 07:22 (twenty years ago)

More and more: 'like'.

If I am allowed to be wankerous: 'unloven', I think.

Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Monday, 21 June 2004 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Pretty much any Yiddish word. Fukaktuh, pisher, gonisht. . .

Moti Bahat, Monday, 21 June 2004 15:49 (twenty years ago)

Hullaballoo

Slump Man (Slump Man), Monday, 21 June 2004 21:45 (twenty years ago)

*giggle*

Slump Man (Slump Man), Monday, 21 June 2004 21:45 (twenty years ago)

Oubliette
Enigma

Caenis (Caenis), Monday, 21 June 2004 22:58 (twenty years ago)

oh my god! I FORGOT! JESUS!

PANTALOONS

tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Monday, 21 June 2004 23:21 (twenty years ago)

bloomers is up there too.

tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Monday, 21 June 2004 23:23 (twenty years ago)

besmirch

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 21 June 2004 23:33 (twenty years ago)

I wrote a poem about the word Oubliette and it used to be online but I guess that zine isn't around anymore. Oh well.

Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 04:26 (twenty years ago)

cornucopia - which is what I found on my first visit in 4 days

sandy mc (sandy mc), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 07:34 (twenty years ago)

avuncular
piquant
lithe
dapple
traipse
squeegee
fecund
shingle
jaunt

mck (mck), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 15:30 (twenty years ago)

Judging purely from my actions, my favourite word is: the.

Aimless (Aimless), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 18:50 (twenty years ago)

ooh ooh!
I forgot: brouhaha

Joelle Burdette (sparkle j), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 19:12 (twenty years ago)

shtupping
transcendental
dickensian
bugs

Jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 19:47 (twenty years ago)

oh god yes, shtupping. It's right up there with fuck. uck uck uck.

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 20:40 (twenty years ago)

lozenge
maladroit
free

Docpacey (docpacey), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 21:03 (twenty years ago)

Cocophany

Beth, Wednesday, 23 June 2004 13:40 (twenty years ago)

Cacophany...for those who like correct spelling :)

Beth, Wednesday, 23 June 2004 13:42 (twenty years ago)

Cocophany sounds lubricious and delectable.

Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 23 June 2004 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Perhaps cocophany is what Chanel's lovers called her pudenda.

Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 23 June 2004 17:03 (twenty years ago)

mewl

kelsey (kelstarry), Thursday, 24 June 2004 19:10 (twenty years ago)

parapluie (and its English equivalent, brolly).
pousse pousse.

and for some reason I have never been able to explain, I always wanted to get ELBOWS on my personalised license plate.

Catty (Catty), Saturday, 26 June 2004 22:28 (twenty years ago)

What about bumbershoot?

Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 27 June 2004 08:07 (twenty years ago)

'cozen'.

egozen (Cozen), Sunday, 27 June 2004 08:11 (twenty years ago)

couscous

Jessa (Jessa), Sunday, 27 June 2004 17:28 (twenty years ago)

sycamore
hoover
axonometric

jasonm, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:22 (twenty years ago)

[Found this site via Bookslut blog.]

"Multiplicative" is fun to say, as is "taradiddle".

Janet Miles, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:31 (twenty years ago)

Is 'multiplicative' a word? Cool.

Archel (Archel), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:32 (twenty years ago)

queue
creche
gyroscope
stoichiometry (we all swore our chem teacher was making this up)

And as long as "made up" words are kosher, the adjective "craptastic"

Eric, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:34 (twenty years ago)

Having just seen "dickensian" I must add this: Kafkaesque

Eric, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:35 (twenty years ago)

bathetic
and it's near cousin
maudlin

Alex Ingram, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:39 (twenty years ago)

Oh, queue. I forgot about that one. Great word.

Jessa (Jessa), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:40 (twenty years ago)

pants -- but only because I have a weird accent that only comes out when I say pants and it comes out like "pents"

romantical
irregardless

Fuzzy, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:02 (twenty years ago)

delicious
norn
touch
whisper
haze

Anne Ishii, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:27 (twenty years ago)

philomath
yield
melancholy
quixotic

Nettle, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:35 (twenty years ago)

eidolon
ossifrage

Finn (finn), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:36 (twenty years ago)

Ooooh, how fun... Here are mine:
Plasticine
Vestibule

They are both Delicious on the Palette.

Erica, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:37 (twenty years ago)


Froward.


(yes, fROward, not forward)

camel (camel), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:58 (twenty years ago)

malinger
limn

roohi, Monday, 28 June 2004 17:28 (twenty years ago)

Triceratops

Shaquana Stineberg, Monday, 28 June 2004 17:56 (twenty years ago)

Melisma. Clavicle. Overweening. Gigolo. Hooley. Sesquipedalian.
Passerine. Axolotl. Loxodromic. Bailiwick. Sump.

gjm, Monday, 28 June 2004 18:08 (twenty years ago)

partially hydrogenated

Joan Vaughan, Monday, 28 June 2004 18:23 (twenty years ago)

sawdust - pleasantly descriptive

David Elinsky (David Elinsky), Monday, 28 June 2004 18:33 (twenty years ago)

Lately: abecedarian
Previously: sprachgefuhl

Brian Sawyer, Monday, 28 June 2004 18:47 (twenty years ago)

no-one likes cozen.

cozen (Cozen), Monday, 28 June 2004 18:50 (twenty years ago)

sorry, that wasn't me. it was morozen.

cozen (Cozen), Monday, 28 June 2004 19:05 (twenty years ago)

I like cozen, but especially the etymology-from Italian "cozzone" horse trader.

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 28 June 2004 19:06 (twenty years ago)

syphilis is such a pretty word (for sound - not meaning!)

Julie VW, Monday, 28 June 2004 19:29 (twenty years ago)

when i worked at an ice cream shop in college i used to really like writing "PIST NUT" in lieu of pistachio nut.

kelsey (kelstarry), Monday, 28 June 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago)

Too many to choose from, but...

sussuration
murmur
sternutation
widdershins/deasil (archaic words for clockwise/counterclockwise)
cicisbeo (an old Italian word for sweetheart or lover, but it's in US dictionaries)

NikkiS, Monday, 28 June 2004 19:41 (twenty years ago)

Ugsome

It really is a word (though considered archaic, now).

S. Hagge, Monday, 28 June 2004 19:44 (twenty years ago)

and another one:
humidor

sparkle j (sparkle j), Monday, 28 June 2004 19:49 (twenty years ago)

I have always like the word 'lackey'. Oooh, and 'boob'. And my I think 'fuck' is a great word too. So many uses!

bookdwarf (bookdwarf), Monday, 28 June 2004 19:58 (twenty years ago)

Well, that's two for fuck.

Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:11 (twenty years ago)

I think I used the word "soupçon" twice in an hour yesterday. I have to stop that.

Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:12 (twenty years ago)

spasm. maybe not quite my favorite, but really satisfying to say.

lauren (laurenp), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:29 (twenty years ago)

UNDERPANTS!!!!

God, it's the best word. Say it... "underpants..." "underpants..."

sarahjane, Monday, 28 June 2004 22:11 (twenty years ago)

A few words only recently discovered, easily among my favorites:

Tarantism - An urge to overcome melancholy by dancing;
Exsibilation - The collective hisses of a disapproving audience;
Strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say 'to hell with it';
and, finally
Petrichor - The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

Makes me want to curl up with a good dictionary.

Jennifer Waggener, Monday, 28 June 2004 22:39 (twenty years ago)

sanguine
bucolic
laconic
maladroit
preposterous (and pretty much any other 12-letter word)

Brianne Gibson, Monday, 28 June 2004 22:47 (twenty years ago)

Shibboleth
gesticulate
elegiac
plethora

tomlang (tom), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:01 (twenty years ago)

antithesis
hyperbole
daschund
flagrant
blurt
blunt
belly
hirsute
fornication
and for the sheer magnitude of it all...

antidisestablishmentarianism

Jason Kurylo, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:05 (twenty years ago)

jocose
festoon
akimbo
moribund
deft
spork
behoove

Erica Menard, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:56 (twenty years ago)

It was agoraphobia, that is until I found out it wasn't a sweater.

Cupie (Cupie), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 01:14 (twenty years ago)

My all time favorite is word that usually describes me- sesqipedalian!

Jasmine Jay-Bonn, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 01:30 (twenty years ago)

Erumpent
Kenotic
Theosis

Kevin Jones, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 03:44 (twenty years ago)

"Irish word 'feck', which can mean 'throw' or 'steal', or can be substituted for 'fuck' as a swearword, but not for 'fuck' as a description of a sex act.

It's not a real Irish word, btw. It's just a word the Irish use."


I've always wondered about 'feck'. I know what the Ramones mean when they say feckless, but how can I be without feck if I don't know what it is?!

Some of my favorite words:

laignappe, nefarious, ennui, enchant, hope

In Spanish, ojala - means I hope, I wish, and sounds so pretty


Funky Winkerbean, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:14 (twenty years ago)

zoom!

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:26 (twenty years ago)

Heirarchy, great word, though the only reason its in my head right now is that i'm reading maslow.
and who cant love the word soliloquy (hope i spelled that corectly)

Patrick Hanners, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:36 (twenty years ago)

cleanlinesslessness
only 2 results on google. yo.

Fred (Fred), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 09:09 (twenty years ago)

Pants. Definitely pants.

Taleswapper, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:03 (twenty years ago)

shim

Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:27 (twenty years ago)

Mishegoss
philatelist
Busby

Carrie Tobey, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Cataclysm
Chiaroscuro
Chthonic
Crepuscular

Hmm, all C words. They're just fun to say.

And on a related note, I really HATE the word "panties".

Sarah Galbreath, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:02 (twenty years ago)

asthmatic
vug
sough
another vote for erumpent
another vote for pants

Matthew K (mtk), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 17:32 (twenty years ago)

Cheeseburger. And feckless. And definitely Fuck.

kin, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 18:23 (twenty years ago)

echo

clellie, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 20:44 (twenty years ago)

I very much like the word "windpipe".

Baravelli. (Jake Proudlock), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 22:39 (twenty years ago)

i learned a new one last week: pecksniffs. Definition is a person with a "holier than thou" attitude. also,

pishtosh
dentalingus (one who picks up his/her teeth after having them knocked out)
babbling
mourn
excitable
fellatio (!!!)

John Keiffer, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 00:53 (twenty years ago)

from Liverpool: a Liverpudlian
from Glasgow: a Glaswegian
...it's so boring being nothing but a New Yorker

kt, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 01:58 (twenty years ago)

bandicoot! otter!

and don't forget the common mouse.

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 02:38 (twenty years ago)

shush.

aimurchie, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 06:30 (twenty years ago)

Noumenon

Fred (Fred), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 10:39 (twenty years ago)

juxtaposition is also one of my favourites.

conviviality is my word of the day, especially the vivi-part

erik, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 12:13 (twenty years ago)

Espionage.

David Bannister, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 16:43 (twenty years ago)

Hemoglobin

Jessa (Jessa), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 16:56 (twenty years ago)

Explosive.

Magnificent.

Larry Hartzell

Larry Hartzell, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:47 (twenty years ago)

Once upon a time I was a classics major, so:

Draconian
Socratic
Sophistry

Eric, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:52 (twenty years ago)

I don't like words out of context.

St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:38 (twenty years ago)

bayou, noise (because for some reason I always think it's spelled incorrectly), fumblerooski

DN, Thursday, 1 July 2004 00:23 (twenty years ago)

No doubt about it. Ubiquitous

Peter Milliron, Thursday, 1 July 2004 02:49 (twenty years ago)

Eunoia. Because it sounds and is pretty. And it has all of the vowels in it.

Liz Kidd, Thursday, 1 July 2004 03:33 (twenty years ago)

Ubiquity is better than ubiquitous.

Fred (Fred), Thursday, 1 July 2004 10:07 (twenty years ago)

Prosthesis
Discombobulated
Groovy
Schlep

And I will 4th or 5th Fuck. Just too perfect a word not to love.

I always liked the word panties...

Cara, Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:32 (twenty years ago)

Alright, I like fuck too.

Fred (Fred), Thursday, 1 July 2004 18:41 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...
yay, we're back up again :)

Favorite word for this week: buffoonery

yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Friday, 16 July 2004 17:25 (twenty years ago)

somnambulism

Fred (Fred), Saturday, 17 July 2004 12:26 (twenty years ago)

Bollocks! That's my favourite word: the most concise. Answer. Ever.

SRH (Skrik), Saturday, 17 July 2004 22:21 (twenty years ago)

Alligator. (Say it while you look in a mirror)

pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Sunday, 18 July 2004 03:52 (twenty years ago)

So it comes out all "rotagilla"?

Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 18 July 2004 06:27 (twenty years ago)

Zugzwang, which, what with giant-brained mentalist Bobby Fischer emerging from the safety of his secret moonbase, I have just seen in print for the first time outside of a dictionary.

D, Sunday, 18 July 2004 13:16 (twenty years ago)

Purgatory

Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Sunday, 18 July 2004 13:18 (twenty years ago)

Drogba. More of an expensive footballer than a word, but perhaps it can be appropriated:

"Did you see Helen yesterday in that hideous dress? She was drunk too. What a drogba."

Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 19 July 2004 07:40 (twenty years ago)

frisson

Franz Kafka (Franz), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 22:17 (twenty years ago)

against
greatest

Alina (Alinette), Sunday, 25 July 2004 21:43 (twenty years ago)

This week's favorite word: boondoggle.

yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Monday, 26 July 2004 15:59 (twenty years ago)

BDSM

Fred (Fred), Monday, 26 July 2004 17:32 (twenty years ago)

DMSR

Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Monday, 26 July 2004 19:28 (twenty years ago)

my favourite word is "ayuntamiento", which i think is spanish for town hall.

what what what (what?), Monday, 26 July 2004 19:33 (twenty years ago)

DMSR
You mean Prince or Denatured Molten Salt Reactor?

Fred (Fred), Monday, 26 July 2004 19:42 (twenty years ago)

boondoggle - how lovely, brings to mind that great Aussie (?) word boondocks - as in out in the ....

sandy mc (sandy mc), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 08:27 (twenty years ago)

Second thoughts on "fuck": it probably is the greatest obscenity ever -- which has made English speakers a bit lazy when it comes to inventing ways to be instantly nasty. Italian seems to have six zillion naughty expressions based on "porco" alone! (The glossary in the British university edition of the Fo play I'm reading translates them all as "bloody hell!" -- it gets really funny about the fourth time you look one up.)

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 00:44 (twenty years ago)

Banana?

the bellefox, Sunday, 1 August 2004 10:51 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...
lollygaging

chillyfish, Tuesday, 26 October 2004 07:42 (twenty years ago)

In English: Strumpet, splendid, obtuse and hollyhock
In Spanish: jacinta, amanacer, rocio, torreador

Gina Ruiz (Gina Ruiz), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 21:01 (twenty years ago)

balalaika.

Hazel A, Wednesday, 27 October 2004 00:34 (twenty years ago)

umbrella
said
deem
eiderdown
frisson

GailS, Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:37 (twenty years ago)

Right now: "guts."

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 28 October 2004 18:56 (twenty years ago)

I like lollygagging also!

But always have I had a penchant for banana.

the bellefox, Thursday, 28 October 2004 19:22 (twenty years ago)

quite
precarious
brinjal

cheeesoo (cheeesoo), Friday, 29 October 2004 01:00 (twenty years ago)

schmutz

the apex of nadirs (Rock Hardy), Friday, 29 October 2004 12:43 (twenty years ago)

Just in time for Halloween: wraith.

yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Friday, 29 October 2004 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Banshee.

MikeyG (MikeyG), Friday, 29 October 2004 15:03 (twenty years ago)

I am actually somewhat serious: "poop."

nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 29 October 2004 20:32 (twenty years ago)

Rakish

Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 31 October 2004 23:06 (twenty years ago)

seven months pass...
vulcanize
pristine
rubicon

Linda Wisner (heru000), Thursday, 9 June 2005 23:43 (nineteen years ago)

Hubbub

Mr. Jaggers, Friday, 10 June 2005 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...
Some words that need to be mentioned:

Vermillion
Picayune
Mellifluous
Melancholy
Codswallop

And how about an all-time great one syllable word: Moot

Orca, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 04:28 (nineteen years ago)

hoi polloi

Remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 05:16 (nineteen years ago)

soft

Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 11 August 2005 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

apple

as it clung to her thigh I started to cry (pr00de), Thursday, 11 August 2005 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

callipygian

k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 11 August 2005 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

Clearly.

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 11 August 2005 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

On a clear day, you can see the San Francisco bay.

k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 11 August 2005 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

bBay.

k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 11 August 2005 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

Chris, maybe you can be so kind as to uppercase the "b" in "bay" in my next-to-last post?

On second thought, I should save up my requests for really important stuff.

k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 11 August 2005 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

I am not going to drag down the server with such fluffery!

I am in fact overfond of "clearly" and use it much too often in my songs.

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 11 August 2005 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

Really? I thought it was a comment on my post and then I tried to tie it all together in my next post.

k/l (Ken L), Friday, 12 August 2005 02:29 (nineteen years ago)

There might have been some intentional ambiguity.

Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 12 August 2005 02:32 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...
Autopsy is such a beautiful word.

ak, Friday, 30 September 2005 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

Anything with a sibilant sound like "silhouette" or "narcolepsy".
Ubiquitous.
Bulbous.
Simulacrum.
Currently: belligerent, translucent, lakadaisical, linger and lacklustre.
In "Donnie Darko" they say the most beautiful word combination in the English language is "cellar door". Hmmm.

salexander (salexander), Friday, 30 September 2005 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

dobber

czn, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 16:46 (seventeen years ago)

Fuselage is my current favourite. I also like opaque.

Also, the 'cellar door' thing was a Tolkein observation. In 'Donnie Darko' she says it was 'a famous linguist'.

franny glass, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:00 (seventeen years ago)

callipygian

carne asada, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:01 (seventeen years ago)

callipygian
-- k/l (Ken L), Thursday, August 11, 2005 2:35 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

OH i didn't even see that.

carne asada, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:04 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

ha I looked this up to thank whoever it was on the Baby Got Back topic for introducing me to callipygian. Although I think I prefer the variant callipygous. It's instantly up there with that trusty old favourite, defenestrate.

Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:43 (fourteen years ago)

callipygian shows up an awful lot in conan books iirc

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:46 (fourteen years ago)

i mean "she was a callipygian delight" and i was all "from what country now?"

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:46 (fourteen years ago)

Not yr favourite word if you had a kinda cool but scarily intense latin teacher doing the etymology and then going on a disquisition about all things callipygian. Defenestration was also learnt in his class but that's a fine word. I think he may have thrown a textbook out the window by way of example actually.

no time for the prussian death cult (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:53 (fourteen years ago)

literally

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:58 (fourteen years ago)

I remember my joy in learning the meaning of defenestrate, looking it up after reading it in Pnin, with crystal clarity. Which is kinda hella sad.

Nabokov and the Baby Got Back analysis thread, nothing but the cream of the literary crop for me.

Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:59 (fourteen years ago)

fucken keyboard. i typed 'litterally?', which was p good imo.

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:59 (fourteen years ago)

xpost to literally

ha, thought about posting that like a smartass as I was clicking on the thread! someone I work with is the ultimate stereotype of the person who misuses "literally". she throws it out there at least twice a day

Z S, Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:00 (fourteen years ago)

out the window?

i'm completely lost here

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:02 (fourteen years ago)

Someone told me recently that I had "neotenic" eyes.

optimizing the emotional effects of Redneck Hoe by Insane Clown Posse (corey), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:02 (fourteen years ago)

anyone i like, right now, exsanguination. a word you can really relish.

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:03 (fourteen years ago)

jeez ok no more typin for me tonight i think

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:03 (fourteen years ago)

lachrymology - the study of tears

... (James Morrison), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:54 (fourteen years ago)

i know lachrymose from a heaney poem

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:58 (fourteen years ago)

lambent is a pretty good word.

estela, Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:01 (fourteen years ago)

"undulate." it's descriptive and efficient.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:03 (fourteen years ago)

also: "mellifluous."

have a mellifluous day!

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:04 (fourteen years ago)

in my head that always translates to 'lke a mandolin' for some reason

k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:06 (fourteen years ago)

i love the word treasure. i don't know why i love it so much. i also love most words that start with the letter f or the letters ph. flimflam. philanderer. phrenology. philoprogenitiveness. fuzzy.

scott seward, Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:32 (fourteen years ago)

a professor friend of mine had a student named treasure! sounds like a made-up name, but it was apparently real.

the name sort of fit, tbh.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 7 September 2010 03:02 (fourteen years ago)

'treasure' = name of a stripper on 'how i met your mother'

j., Tuesday, 7 September 2010 07:23 (fourteen years ago)

eleven years pass...

verb: scarper; 3rd person present: scarpers; past tense: scarpered; past participle: scarpered; gerund or present participle: scarpering
run away.
"they left the stuff where it was and scarpered"

Origin
mid 19th century: probably from Italian scappare ‘to escape’, influenced by rhyming slang Scapa Flow ‘go’.

Are You Still in Love With Me, Klas-Göran? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 September 2021 11:25 (three years ago)

rebozo

adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 23 September 2021 08:30 (three years ago)

two weeks pass...

Bumptious. Very useful word, not used often enough,

Starmer: "Let the children boogie, let all the children boogie." (Tom D.), Sunday, 10 October 2021 17:33 (three years ago)

Just the fact that words exist in such fantastic multitudes is one of the profound miracles of the universe. It's even more so when you realize so many of them have subtle and unique personalities!

I just dropped in to say that 'payday' is an excellent word, even apart from what it connotes. Humble, playful, endearing.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 10 October 2021 19:15 (three years ago)

Moist

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 11 October 2021 06:25 (three years ago)

"undulate." it's descriptive and efficient.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:03 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

damn, came here to say this one

imago, Monday, 11 October 2021 08:40 (three years ago)

Spoodge

look on my guacs, ye mighty, and dis pear (Noodle Vague), Monday, 11 October 2021 10:04 (three years ago)


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