Beautiful Words?
My friend Kate just bought her sister a book of rare words, which got us to talking about the langauge in our happy, geeky way. She sent the above link, which we concluded is pretty bogus. I mean, isn't "mother" one of the most beautiful words in ANY language? And if the beauty of the word isn't based on the definition, what's so beautiful about "mother"?
Kate says she likes "flabbergasted", because it's fun to say. One of my favorites is "fisticuffs". Again, just something fun to say. I also wish more people said "spectacles".
I've always been fond of the sound of "longevity", especially because of the way the "long" part of it is broken up into the word's syllables; add to that the excitement of turning "long's" hard G into "longevity's" soft G, and the word is a big ball of excitement for a geek like me.
Words I can't abide: Moist. Falafel (not English, I realize, but it's a delicious food with the sound of the word "awful" in it--come on!). Panties.
Let's hear which words you guys love and hate . . .
posted by Gina @ 11:25 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Wow. I didn't realize until I read your post that I hate the words moist and panties too. Also pantywaist, which you almost never see anymore unless you're reading Trollope or something. I also hate reticule, which sounds obscene but pretty much just means purse (another word I hate). Also mauve. A nondescript, mushy word for a nondescript mushy color.
Now I LIKE serendipity, as much for the meaning as its sound. Also eloquent; it's the "qu" combo, loquacious is another winner. Pretty much any word ending with icious - delicious, scrumptious, luscious....they sound just like what they are.
And for some bizarre reason, I have always liked hearing and saying the word rutabaga, not that there's much call for it.
To wrap up, my top three choices for my children's names, everything else not being considered, were Tetris, Sleek, and Splenda. I LOVE the word sleek - it sounds like just what it is.
Splenda Sweeney? Why does that sound Jewish to me?
Isn't "invoice" the only one there that can be a verb?
ah but isn't everything replaced with a fuck?
I also like squiffy, and various other english-y words like bloody and scone. Lorry instead of truck sounds so much nicer. I never thought of going thru the alphabet so here we go now that the boys are engrossed in playing with my old Matchbox cars and before one of them chokes on a wheel:
anemone, abalone, audacity/ious
bris, benediction
catapult, camellia, cantankerous, crotchety (does anyone see a pattern here?)
demilune
eel
faraway, farrier
joyous
I have a K word - knob.
lemon, linoleum (thank you, Bert)
matriculate, mnemonic, mercurochrome, moss
narcissism
oleo (hate the stuff, like the word, it smacks of fifties' cheerfulness and efficiency) - it's even better if you say oleo margarine like my aunts do.
polysyllabic, pappadum
quiescent, esp if referring to popsicles which have been quiescently frozen, whatever the hell that means.
risible
synonymous, syllabic, shark (love the word, love the fishies), sybaritic
twit
uvula
voluptuous
wallaby
extraordinary, exsanguinate (oops, I guess those are E words...although exsanguinate is one of my absolute favorites and I am so sad that in my line of work it is very likely I will never be able to use it in context.)
yaller instead of yellow (and holler instead of hollow)
might i mention here how freaking geeky we are? and i love that there are other people who love words. who else would understand my odd adoration for the word rutabaga???
So, in the spirit of the season, I love you guys : )
I want to go through the alphabet now, too:
avenue
boys
duodenum
duenna
ectopic
fisticuffs
gina
hacienda
heliotrope
hooray
hoary
ignious
joist
longevity
mammalian
nosferatu
pointy
pedantic
piquant
pithy
presbyterian
robust
rubicon
spectacles
sassafrass
soupy
slim
sliver
sycophant
teddy
tumult
tidy
uvula
undulate
vapid
wee
I feel like I'm playing some sort of weird drinking game.
Can anyone else say nosferatu WITHOUT that funny accent? I find it physically impossible.
and i LOVE duodenum. what a terrific word. Lots of medical words are terrific though:
laparoscopy
colonoscopy - pretty much anything ending in -scopy, actually.
carcinoma would be a beautiful word if it weren't so scary; so would melanoma
fundus
endometriosis
vas deferens
acetaminophen, cephalosporin, fexofenadine, phenobarbital, Dilantin
epinephrine
chorionic
erythrocyte
hemoglobin
bronchodilator
bilirubin
ok, I'm stopping now. I KNOW I'm weird.
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