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 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

fancy word: tmesis.

non-fancy word: lack.

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 June 2004 09:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Non fancy: puddle.

― aimurchie, Friday, 18 June 2004 11:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Fancy: apotheosis
Non-fancy (currently): plunge

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 18 June 2004 11:19 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

manx

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Friday, 18 June 2004 11:44 (nineteen years ago) link

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

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:06 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

Crepuscular
Snarky
Plethora

― Jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:12 (nineteen years ago) link

needn't
snog
library

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 18 June 2004 12:27 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

Splurge

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 13:01 (nineteen years ago) link

portly

― Cathryn (Cathryn), Friday, 18 June 2004 13:59 (nineteen years ago) link

smore. haar.

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:03 (nineteen years ago) link

never use your favourite words.

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Moomin

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:16 (nineteen years ago) link

polysynody

nacreous

gelogenic (Thx CJ)

logorrhea

saudade from the Portuguese

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:19 (nineteen years ago) link

love

― otto, Friday, 18 June 2004 14:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Chutzpah

― Fred (Fred), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:49 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

My sister had two goldfish called Himmler and Goering.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Sounds fishy, Mikey.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link

cockfarmer

― DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:32 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

iconoclast. hands down my favorite word. (:

― Kelly Spoer (onefingertoomany), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:36 (nineteen years ago) link

At the moment, cantankerous.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 18 June 2004 17:36 (nineteen years ago) link

amorist
jejune
aplomb

― Denise Plauché (silverdee), Friday, 18 June 2004 18:47 (nineteen years ago) link

bedraggled

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Saturday, 19 June 2004 04:43 (nineteen years ago) link

See below.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 19 June 2004 06:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Diarreha
Dust
Matrix
Sand
Dandelion

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Saturday, 19 June 2004 15:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Actually "logorrhea" is a pretty great word too.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:30 (nineteen years ago) link

how abour Gonorehea? Cinnamon? Purple? Michelin?

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Saturday, 19 June 2004 18:37 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

jocund
sardonic
grandiloquent
deduce
fathead
august (the adjective)

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Saturday, 19 June 2004 19:56 (nineteen years ago) link

bellicose
pedant
cromulent
gubernatorial
banana

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Sunday, 20 June 2004 01:03 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

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

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 20 June 2004 01:39 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

ha ha I love cromulent too!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 20 June 2004 02:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, wait! Intaglio. Chrysalis. Cicada.

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Sunday, 20 June 2004 02:34 (nineteen years ago) link

"Fuck" is underrated.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 20 June 2004 03:38 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

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 (nineteen years ago) link

bellicose
effulgent
ineluctable
insouciant

i love words so much.

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Sunday, 20 June 2004 10:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Schaharazade. Bread. Sleep.

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Sunday, 20 June 2004 12:24 (nineteen years ago) link

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

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

Skipping 128 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I am actually somewhat serious: "poop."

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 29 October 2004 20:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Rakish

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 31 October 2004 23:06 (nineteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

vulcanize
pristine
rubicon

― Linda Wisner (heru000), Thursday, 9 June 2005 23:43 (eighteen years ago) link

Hubbub

― Mr. Jaggers, Friday, 10 June 2005 20:27 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

hoi polloi

― Remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 05:16 (eighteen years ago) link

soft

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

apple

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

callipygian

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

Clearly.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 11 August 2005 19:05 (eighteen years ago) link

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

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

bBay.

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

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

There might have been some intentional ambiguity.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 12 August 2005 02:32 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Autopsy is such a beautiful word.

― ak, Friday, 30 September 2005 21:18 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

two years pass...

dobber

― czn, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 16:46 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

callipygian

― carne asada, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:01 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

callipygian shows up an awful lot in conan books iirc

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:46 (thirteen years ago) link

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

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:46 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

literally

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:58 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 00:59 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

out the window?

i'm completely lost here

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:02 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:03 (thirteen years ago) link

jeez ok no more typin for me tonight i think

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:03 (thirteen years ago) link

lachrymology - the study of tears

― ... (James Morrison), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:54 (thirteen years ago) link

i know lachrymose from a heaney poem

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 01:58 (thirteen years ago) link

lambent is a pretty good word.

― estela, Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:01 (thirteen years ago) link

"undulate." it's descriptive and efficient.

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

also: "mellifluous."

have a mellifluous day!

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:04 (thirteen years ago) link

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

― k¸ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 02:06 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (thirteen years ago) link

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

― j., Tuesday, 7 September 2010 07:23 (thirteen years ago) link

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 (two years ago) link

rebozo

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

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 (two years ago) link

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 (two years ago) link

Moist

― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 11 October 2021 06:25 (two years ago) link

"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 (two years ago) link

Spoodge

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

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