poppy Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 What are your favourite words and what is it you like about them? gossamer and thistledown are two of mine. They feel very light and insubstantial and I like the way they feel when you say them ....slightly lispy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Ooh, I love so many words but of course I can't remember most of them now. The one that instantly comes to mind is 'furphy', which means a lie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 I also love the word 'thistledown'. I know I have loads but I can't think of them now One favourite is an Irish word, 'feilestram', which is the flower wild iris. 'Rustle' - it makes me think of leaves in autumn 'Illustrate/illuminate' - just coz they sound nice 'Defenestration'- because it means 'to throw out a window', 'Inexorable' - because it reminds me of something I read somewhere, about time's inexorable march onward or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 I love captivating and melancholy. There are others but, like Noll, I just can't think of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 One of my absolute favourites is concupiscence, which is lusting desire. It's so sibilant and sensual as it rolls off the tongue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 I always find that using the moist, dank, dark crevice makes me laugh out loud, but i love it at work when people use the word linear to describe a ditch, instead of ditch, as a linear doesn't exist its a descriprion of the ditches shape.. someone once used the work 'spagettified' to describe a group of intercutting pits, not sure it exists as a word but it should Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Oooh, so many pretty words. The one that springs to mind right now this instant is: Prelapsarian: n, innocent. I found this while flipping through Foyle's Philavery in Foyle's (imagine that!) and thought it was terribly ingenious and posh, so I made sure I snuck it into my dissertation. It's the small pleasures...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrongIslander Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 (edited) Uber: It's just the sound of the word and what it denotes Function: prefix Etymology: German, from Edited February 4, 2010 by WrongIslander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ned Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Doppelganger, just sounds so fun and silly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinay87 Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Parsemonious. Especially when speaking. Fun to call someone parsemonious. Especially if they say thank you thinking it a complement and not wanting to ask what it means. Prelapsarian: n, innocent. I found this while flipping through Foyle's Philavery in Foyle's (imagine that!) and thought it was terribly ingenious and posh, so I made sure I snuck it into my dissertation. It's the small pleasures...! Likes it so much that he adds it to vocabulary for daily use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrongIslander Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Pneumoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconeosises A lung disease caused by small particles of dust and a sad word party piece of mine. Also floccinaucinihilipilification meaning an act of determining something as worthless please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Three I can think of ... myriad - it's one of my measures of an author to see if they use it correctly obsequious - loved it since I had to look it up when Jane Austen uses it to describe Mr Collins and it perfectly summed up his character in a single word mellifluous - a word which sounds so wonderful on tongue it sounds just like its meaning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexicola Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 I like myriad too and behemoth. Also taciturn, for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Melancholy is a favourite word of mine too. I also really appreciate the words doubt, auspicious and maudlin. Not for their meanings so much as their pleasing placement of letters. For it's meaning I would have to say serendipity. I will also put forward the word love. Used well it can be a powerful and empowering word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 myriad - it's one of my measures of an author to see if they use it correctly Mine too - I have been known to scream if they follow "myriad" with "of". Arrrrgghhh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlette Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 I like "egregious", because it sounds so lovely. Also, "extemporaneous" and "irrevocably". I love words that make you run to the dictionary to discover their meaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitra Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Two that pop in mind just now are "quintessential" and "embrace". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigWords Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Alaphroiskiotoi. Vorvolaka. Stoechoia. Yes, I like intellectual horror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Just to add, I love the word Poppy! It is a word that is pleasing to say, read and hear. It can be said in a comical manner, but has the additional gravity of being a word that leads onward to drug wars, ganglords and addictions, also to the deeper reference to European wars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busy91 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 mephistophelian Adjective Synonyms: devilish, diabolic, diabolical Alt spellings: mephistophelean I like it because it just sounds evil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueK Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Alaphroiskiotoi.Vorvolaka. Stoechoia. Yes, I like intellectual horror. oh, if we are going to talk horror then I love the words Strigoi and Wallachian:D and doesn't discombobulation sound wonderful:mrgreen: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawr Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 The word phalanx if used creatively is beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinay87 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 mephistophelian Adjective Synonyms: devilish, diabolic, diabolical Alt spellings: mephistophelean I like it because it just sounds evil. haha Reminds me of Mephisto from the Diablo game. Wasn't the devil in the Faust legend called Mephistopheles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I love the name Mephisto! And Memphis, actually (when I was walking in Memphis, yeah with my feet ten feet off of.... okay I'll stop). And yes Vinay, his name was Mephistopheles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawr Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Wasn't Mephistopheles in Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus' too? I love that play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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