I have a thing for words. I collect words like some people collect stamps. I love words. I love everything about them. Their power to hurt or soothe, the ways they can be combined, the emotions they can evoke...
There are some words in particular though... sometimes its how they look written down, sometimes it's how they sound, the way they roll off your tongue - or not.
There are the downright funny looking words and those that just sound strange, there are those totally ordinary words that for some reason strike me as funny, words that make me happy just looking at them.
And there are the downright bizarre.
Here are a few of mine, in alphabetical order no less, which for a Friday is a major accomplishment.
Abominable
Bamboozle
Borborygmus (I find it seriously difficult to say this with a straight face)
Curmudgeon
Curtain (seriously, say it several times, it's a weird word)
Dastardly
Dicker
Didgeridoo
Discombobulate
Douppioni (sounds like some sort of italian clown, but it's a type of silk thread - go figure)
Flabbergasted
Flaccid (that just so sounds like what it is)
Flummoxed
Gerbil
Haberdasher
Haggle
Hirsute
Kerfuffle
Onomatopoeia
Rambuctious
Sashay
Serendipity
Shuttlecock
Spaniel
Spoonerism
Turtle
And there's the ever popular: Floccinaucinihipilification - which means (oh the irony): an act or instance of judging something to be worthless or trivial (sorta like that word, eh? Seriously, who would ever say that? Who can even pronounce it?)
Be nice to me, tell me some of yours, 'cause I'm always eager to add to my list...
Edited to add:
From Jocelyn – Boondoggle / Zwieback
From Tai – Repudiate / Reticent
From Algelic – rêve (it's french for "dream") / unmei (japanese for "destiny") / sarange (korean for "love") / alegria (portuguese for "joy") / corazon (spanish for "heart")
From Gnightgirl – Adidas / Rural
From Hagletoast – Masticate, Plangent
From Big Brother – Masticate
From Dan – Onomotapeia
From Ian – Masticate (Mastication) / tintinnabulation
From Spider Girl – Miscellany
From Choo Choo – Being Choochoo she makes up her own…
So it would seem Masticate is a clear winner with Onomatopoeia as our runner up...
18 comments:
I always like "boondoggle," but that may be too close in spirit and spelling to "bamboozle."
How about "Zwieback"?
Great post!
I love words too, for all the reasons you laid out.
And I think you listed most of the words I would have suggested.
I'm fond of 'reticient', and I think 'repudiate' odd.
Hmmm...so MANY!
I get on a word kick sometimes and use one word over and over for a while (must drive my friends CRAZY!)
I don't know any bizarre words in English (I'm still learning the normal ones!). But I do have some favourite words. Funny... I've been thinking about making a post like yours.
Some words I like are:
- rêve (it's french for "dream")
- unmei (japanese for "destiny")
- sarange (korean for "love")
- alegria (portuguese for "joy")
- corazon (spanish for "heart")
And a few others... but these are the only examples I can remember at the moment.
I always loved "Adidas" and stumbled over "rural". Rrrr-lllllll. I'm sure there are more, but after looking at your list, my mind is bamboozled.
I like masticate, it's a wonderful word to get your mouth around (pardon the pun) and Plangent, makes me shiver with pleasure to say it.
Always did love word play, puns and stuff, must run in the family. People like the late clown Sol could use words like a virtuoso uses a violin.
Did you know that the word spoonerism comes from the name of the Reverend William Archibald Spooner, who was forever mixing up vowels and consonants in words during his sermons? For a brief history of this remarkable man see the following site:
http://www.fun-with-words.com/spoon_history.html
Oh yeah I forgot my word. The word is "masticate" meaning to chew, just the image of masticating your meal is somewhat gross. "I sat there and masticated my meal with my wife on Valentine's day." euhh!
I love words too. And they're FREE!
One of my favorite words is onomotapeia. It's not only fun to say, but fun to define for people.
CRASH!!!!!
Loved this post. How about masticate, or mastication? A favorite of mine is tintinnabulation -- which sounds like a movie dog running quickly.
A linguistics prof of mine years ago told how a former student of his had chosen to write an essay on the European languages 'vowel shift' of the early middle ages, and deemed the terminology to be 'bowel shift' throughout her paper.
Good stuff, Jazz
I've just recently found out that I've been mispronouncing the word "miscellany" all these years....imagine my horror! :)
I make my own words
lol, I love that 3 of us chose Masticate. See, it's a fantastic word!!
Big Brother - Of course you would know who spooner was... *shakes head*
one of my favourite words is SQUIRREL...
one of the very few things I have lost in life and really regretted it was my dictionary which was stolen from me. it was an exhaustive Chambers dictionary and the new edition totally loses the unique way entries used to be clumped together so all related words came under one heading .. it meant you could read down and learn 10 new words instead of one... anyway... yes I love words very much also...
here's a good one, "quodlibet." It defines two songs that sound good together and seperatly. :)
I rather like 'ullulation', you already have my favourite 'discombobulate' and others I use (serendipity, rambunctious), but I would add 'poodle', 'egregious', 'anthropomorphic' ... nah, forget it, there are just too many good words to list - you might as well go through a big dictionary with a highlighter.
my favorite words are
defenestrate - to throw something out of the window
floccinaucinihipilification - i know its already there but its just funny
zyzzyva - tha last word?
lactomangulation - basically just failing to open a milk carton
hippopotomontrosesquipedaliophobia - fear of long words lol, did i spell it right?
pumcodoxpursaxomlopar - longest acronym in the world, no i will not type what it stands for its wat ot long.
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