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The good word is...

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19:45 / 30.09.04

To counter the other thread Words that set your teeth on edge, I thought it would be interesting to see what people's favourite words are.

Sometimes, (and I know this is a bit strange), I will hear a word, be it a new word or one I am hearing in a new way and I will repeat it, over and over. I do this with certain words just to listen to the cadency of the language, the melodic quality each letter has as if they were on arranged on a musical staff.

One word I like that does this is: eloquence, which I also like for the look, (love q's) and for the near onomatopoeia of the word. "Eloquent" sounds eloquent.

Another word that is just fun to say is: conniption

Go ahead, try it...conniption, conniption, conniption...

Other words I really like are:

cacophony - it just sounds funny
fiduciary - because it sounds like it should be a curse word
innocuous - sounds quite the opposite of what it means, to me anyway.
mea culpa - because it gives me the imagery of a "cup of guilt", which I rather think I should paint, come to think of it.

I am sure I will remember some more.

Which words tickle your brain?

unheimlich manoeuvre

22:44 / 30.09.04

serendipity is apparently the UK's favourite word. i'm very fond of it as well.

the etymology of assassin, if correct, from the Arabic for Hashish-users, is fascinating too.

22:55 / 30.09.04

plover. It's just a wonderful word to say, and a damn cute little bird to boot.

23:01 / 30.09.04

Volley. Pronounced like jolly, but secretly makes me think of ballet, pointy-toes and all. Not that I’d ever admit that out loud, of course. Pretty thought, though.

23:05 / 30.09.04

Great article, Inchaote. But really, Quidditch in second place?

Oh, England...how could you?

Lilly Nowhere Late

04:52 / 01.10.04

Barbelilith, this is a good thread.

It's too early for me to think of words right now but did anyone catch the programme on telly(in UK) about senisthysia(god's knows I can't spell in the morning)? This sparked conversations in my house last evening about the way words feel and taste when you say them. Apparently I like crunchy words.

Later I'll think of words I like, and I bet I'll feel so positive all day!

Cheers for that!

08:05 / 01.10.04

I read somewhere (Bill Bryson?) that a Spaniard's favourite English word was 'cellar-door' - it is rather satisfying...

I like 'obloquy' at the moment; it sounds as though it should mean something like a colloquium for oblongs - of course it doesn't at all, but never mind...

08:45 / 01.10.04

I like the sadly defunct 'boffin', mainly for the way it sounds, but also for the way it sums up a whole breed of engineers, scientists and mechanics (well, it does for me...don't know about you).

And, like plovers, boffins can be cute too.

09:44 / 01.10.04

My favourite phrase of the moment, if not my favourite phrase ever, has got to be "strange bedfellows". I don't think it really needs an explanation.

10:30 / 01.10.04

Currently enjoying "jim-jams" for pyjamas. Actually "pyjamas" is rather nice, but I don't like "PJs". Is it hindi like bungalow and verandah? Actually, I just went and answered my own question - it is hindi.

Haus of Mystery

10:50 / 01.10.04

'pavement'. It just comes out of one's mouth so nicely.
'pavemant'. Now you try.

Haus of Mystery

10:52 / 01.10.04

Please ignore the incorrect spelling the second time.

11:43 / 01.10.04

Petrichor. The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell. I'm just so amazed that there is a word for it. But there doesn't seem to be an adjective...

11:59 / 01.10.04

Spelunking.

Haus of Mystery

12:12 / 01.10.04

Is that pronounced 'petricor'? I'm going to crow-bar that into as many conversations as I can...

12:30 / 01.10.04

Mice, I am so utterly thrilled there is a word for that smell. It's my favorite smell in the world, and now I know what it's called! Happiness!

One of my fave words, and I know this is odd, is "stick". As a noun, that is. It's just... so appropriate. The word "stick" sounds like a stick. It sounds like the shape of a stick, and also like a stick breaking, or a stick being whacked up against something hard. "STICK!"

Stick stick stick.

Isn't it funny how the letters start looking all wrong after you write the same word a few times over? It starts looking misspelled, and the meaning sort of falls apart in your mind...

12:44 / 01.10.04

I like this thread, too - I often come across words that I like to say, hear, read. of course I'm having difficulty coming up with them, but I know cacophony is definitely one of them. so lovely.

I also tend to grab onto short lines from poems because of the way they bounce in my head, and spellings (for example, grey over gray). I can't even begin to explain why!

18:26 / 01.10.04

Oh I love that, Lilly, crunchy words. I also like trying to associate taste and smell to twords, I hadn't even thought of that.

Now, Lord Morque, you said "spelunking"? Now, that is a good word. That is, hmm...a spicy word.

Mice, another thank you from me. "Petrichor" is a priceless word. Macgyver, pass the crow-bar when you are done.

discombobulate - Tastes like cotton candy or candy apples...or some kind of circus food. It feels like I am blowing bubbles (no monkey jokes please) when I say it, much like another fave word, baubles

A word find fun to say is preposterous. I think it tastes a bit sour and has the texture of elephant skin. Texture is definately important too.

01:09 / 03.10.04

I like the word "furl". It's short, to the point and seems to roll from the tounge nicely.

Although not strictly the right context, it makes me think of the way incense smoke lazily twists across a room. Or, on the other side of the energetic spectrum, shiny, springy revlon-enhanced ladyhair.

(I also like Barbefavourite "Huggle". It hits a warm primate happybutton)

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:46 / 03.10.04

My current favourite word is "gamp", which I learned while doing the Guardian crosswrord a few weeks back. I sounds like it should be some unpleasant condition, but it actually means umbrella.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

09:12 / 03.10.04

Scintilla is an all-time favourite of mine, as is haberdashery; two very different words, but both an absolute joy to enunciate.

Now I'm going to grab my gamp and go outside to enjoy the wonderful petrichor.

22:28 / 14.10.04

Cultroon: An obviously false pretender to higher learning in the areas of literature and art.

22:37 / 14.10.04

I like the word crepuscular (having to do with twilight, or twilit). The word and the meaning, even though they're sort of an odd match.

Petrichor is a nice word that I didn't know before, although funny enough I hate that smell. It makes me think of dusty windowsills. I think it triggers some childhood memory of looking out the window at the rain and not being able to go outside.

unheimlich manoeuvre

23:21 / 14.10.04

as in a salivandrous faffluent cultroon? wow, and i mean wow.

...

i'd also like to give an honourable mention to burlesque as i failed to see some cabaret at the weekend and it would've been.

08:55 / 15.10.04

Boondoggle - A lovely word for a folly. I quite like the idea of extravagant and impractical undertakings (I love that Richard Branson wants to build space ships), and 'folly' sounds too sneering, and doesn't have the same suggestion of boonishness as 'boondoggle'.

Brouhaha - If I ever get a chance to use it, I can't help but savour the sound of it coming out of my mouth. Brouhaha.

Plosive - Sally's Plover made me think of it. It's just so perfectly self-describing.

Midwifery - I like it best when pronounced as if there were an invisible 'h' after the 'w'. Midwhifery.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:10 / 15.10.04

Cunctation

First, because it sounds like it ought to be an obscene neologism but isn't. Second, because it has such a satisfying, gear-changing thunk in the middle of it, which expresses perfectly the image I have of it stopping short and peering around cautiously - CUNC-tation. Mmmm.

09:49 / 15.10.04

I'm aware that I jump at the chance to crowbar certain medical/psychiatric terms into my dictation, largely for the pleasure of speaking the words or seeing them in print.

borborygmi - tummy-rumbling, basically

hypnopompic - the transition state between sleeping and waking

sequelae - a sort of medicalised term for 'consequences'

festination - a particular type of hurrying/shuffling (Parkinsonian) gait

satyriasis - the male equivalent of nymphomania.

I could go on...

09:51 / 15.10.04

Oh, do.

10:19 / 15.10.04

Oh, alright.

intussusception - because it sounds like an Ibiza nightclub, but is actually a gastrointestinal condition in which a section of gut telescopes into itself

faecalith - a hardened mass of faeces (but also a possible descriptor for Barbelith at its shittiest)

malingerer - an actual psychiatric diagnosis as well as a pleasingly swingy term of abuse

trichotillomania - because it sounds like what it is: the repeated (staccato) plucking of hairs

Trichotillomania can lead to trichophagia, and one of my favourite psychiatric symptom-clusters, Rapunzel Syndrome - which Sandman fans may recognise as causing a particular type of

bezoar - a lovely romantic name for what is, essentially, a giant hairball.

Surgeons have all the best words...

10:23 / 15.10.04

Well, as I come from a medical family I can add Dysdiadokokinesia meaning difficulty in performing rapid alternating movements.

I guess it's stretching the purpose of this thread a little, but one name I like at the moment is Rocco Buttiglione. He believes that homosexuality is a sin, but sounds like a gay pornstar.

10:42 / 15.10.04

Y'mean dysdiadochokinesia?

10:45 / 15.10.04

Er, yes. And it looks as though the edit request I put through a few minutes ago spells it wrongly as well.

12:10 / 15.10.04

[slightly off topic]

Cash Jaskson, since "Rocco Buttiglione" is a fab name for a gay porn star, and it is so incredibly ironic given Rocco's political views, (I think he was just teased as a child because of his surname and denied it's relevancy to his sexuality so many times, it became a habit...I think he just forgot he isn't on the playground anymore), you Cash, are completely forgiven for going outside the bounds of the abstract. *wink*

I always had a similar feeling about Joey Buttafucco....but I digress.

I think there is a possibility of starting another thread with interesting and ironic names in it. Does anyone know if there is one already?

[/sot]

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

12:27 / 15.10.04

Twat! Twat is the best word.

13:33 / 16.10.04

Yay for this thread. It's got heaps of tongue tinglingly, lip smackingly lovely words in it.

For me, favourite words are all in the saying. It's how they feel in my mouth that is the thing that pleases me about them. I'm particularly fond of rambunctious, unctious and gumption for reasons along the same lines as Haus posited and I also like iteration and reiterate. It's the 'terate' bit that I like there.

But my all time favourite word of all time is indicative because I just love the 'dic-a-ti' sound in the middle.

Oh dear. Sometimes I think I sound worryingly weird.

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