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Mine change all the time. Right now they are:
This is totally off-topic, but I know that other people here have favorite words, just because the words sound neat or they have special meaning. So...what are your favorite words?
Oh, LT. You are the queen of new threads.
My favorite word-of-the-day: discombobulated.
Thanks, whatevs ;-). I only thought of it when I realized that my wild speculation on the speculation thread was running amuck, so I put a stop to it. And then I thought about how much I love that word. And then I thought that there are a lot of intelligent, articulate people here, and we've already had some discussion about words and pet peeves and such. And then I thought that special words deserve their own thread.
There was obviously a lot of thought put into this. Even though that whole thought process only took several seconds.
Seriously, I bet this thread will be seriously funny. Seriously. I like that you can seriously say seriously without opening your teeth. Cuz' I'm linguistically lazy.
And I forgot one:
"contiguous"
Is there any use for this word except "the contiguous United States". Like if we got rid of Alaska and Hawaii, would this word ever be used?
Well apart from my aforementioned (<---- good one) love (read: obsession) of the word Chillicothe, I also very much like the words apothecary (for similar reasons), copesthetic (for sound and meaning), and wicket (because for some unknown reason, this word is funny to me). That is just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more. I love words. I'm a nerd. Great off the wall thread topic LT!
"antidisestablishmentarianism"
Although I can't think of a time that I could work it into a conversation...
Chillicothe, I also very much like the words apothecary (for similar reasons), copesthetic (for sound and meaning), and wicket (because for some unknown reason, this word is funny to me).
OMG, I love all those words! :)
"antidisestablishmentarianism" Although I can't think of a time that I could work it into a conversation...
And, wow, are you really my husband, Urkel...grue? He loves that word and says it all the time to our two-year-old.
I like the word ethereal.
I had this friend in college who hated the word moist.
Okay, Urkel...grue, so your listing of antidisestablishmentarianism led me to look it up and find a wikipedia article on it. Interesting. However, more interesting than the actual meaning of the word, was the discussion of its status as "longest English word" which has technically been trumped by none other than: "floccinaucinihilipilification." Wow. Here is a link to a definition and discussion of said word with audio of pronunciation: floccinaucinihilipilification
CE that is very weird, b/c I also had a roommate in college who hated the word moist! Is it just me or do you hear the Twilight Zone theme playing too? Her name wasn't Meg was it?
I've always like "epideictic." And "defenestration," though that one doesn't come up too much. Whenever I'm writing papers or anything, I tend to use "however" and "although" a lot. Big fan of dependent clauses.
Pate, yeah, I hear the music, but thankfully that was not her name. ;-)
I'm a big fan of "ennui". I've always gotten this sense of sexy boredom from it. Plus, it's fun to say.
Unitard
Say it and try not to smile. I dare you.
Unctuous
A fun word. Just hope never to be described as such.
sternocleidomastoid
My favorite muscle.
wax
The biblical one. Awesome.
I suck at markdown!
I learned defenestration from Calvin & Hobbes.
Unitard is the funniest word I've heard since celebutard (i.e. Paris Hilton).
And my contributions are flabbergasted, from a 6th grade vocabulary quiz, and plethora, from the SAT.
I go back and forth. At the moment, I'm in love with the word ampersand (&). It's just so cool and intelligent-sounding. I want to start a book company called Ampersand Publishing. There might already be one, but I doubt it.
'Ampersand'- I always thought this word should be "stands for and"
Maybe its my dyslexia acting up
I've always been a big fan of onomatopoeia, which is a word that is a description of the sound it makes, like buzz, crack, or cuckoo.
Snarky. I've liked that word for a while, too, and all its derivations. Snarky snarky snarky snark. You can't even really say it right unless you kind of say it through your nose a little, with your nose crinkled up a little, which is how it should be.
Dang it! There's already an Ampersand Publishing and they "Specialize in publications for the modeller and military enthusiast." ?!
Other words I like include gossamer and chiasm. LT, I love the word snarky also!
My favorite word of all time is "Clipping," because of its sound. For some reason, I also like the word Tepid far too much.
Other good words....
monad - a single unit; the number one.
deflagrate - burn away or cause (a substance) to burn away with a sudden flame and rapid, sharp combustion : [ trans. ] the current will deflagrate some of the particles
frizzante - semisparkling
A word that I used the other day that I've never actually used in a sentence until this point, but knew.....(don't be scared): Pederasty. Of course, philanderer is also a good one to throw into coversation.
I have two favorite words. They, however, are not English. Umgebung (environment) in German, because I love the way it sounds and Vluchtplan (escape/flight plan) in Dutch for no particular reason.
I have barely working knowledge of German and only a passing interest in Dutch ('Learn Dutch' book checked out from University Library still untouched...), but I digress.
I like digress.
Jurisprudence reminded me of another of my favs-juxtapose or juxtaposition.
Wonky. Not that I use this word, but I have noticed a rise in media usage lately. EW used it to describe Little Miss Sunshine as in "This wonky tale is the only Best Picture nominee available on DVD". I guess its fun to say...wonky,wonky,wonky.
Nice one, PG.
A few of mine: incalcacable, dealio, epiphery, spinstahs. Not good.