DeScribe

I wandered into my girlfriend's room yesterday and found her looking at a site full of weird, obscure, out-of-popular-use words. Some of the ones she found were:

Callipygian - Having beautiful or well-shaped buttocks
Nubbin - Something small and stunted in growth
Defenestrate - To throw [something/someone] out of a window

The list also included my screen name - Tatterdemalion - which means a person dressed in rags or tatters. I'd originally found the word in (can you believe it) a Queen song, and fallen in love with it. It kinda works for me, too, being the kind of person who buys new clothes about once every two years.

So what words do you love? They don't have to be obscure. Bubble, for instance. AWESOME word. Dint. Wimple. Or, Libberwort...

I know it's uberwritergeeky to have a favourite word, but it's:

susurrus (or sussurrus).

It means a "a whispering or rustling sound; a murmur", and it's one of those wonderful words that sounds like its definition.

I try to write down words I'm reading if I don't understand them (hello Cormac McCarthy) and look them up later, because I think a carefully placed word like this (warning: if you do it wrong you'll look like a twat) can really lift a piece of writing.

edit: Queen w00t!

editedit: 'fenetre' is French for 'window'. I love how English has bubbled up through Europe from Arabia and then stolen words from just about every major language going around.

It's not terribly obscure or anything, but I love the word synthesis. It just sounds so articial and yet with the rolling of the 's' combo makes it a bit organic. I just love it.

Random.

I love words with strong 'u' sounds like 'illusion' and 'delusion'. Richard Dawkins pronounces the latter word particularly well.

One of my favourite words is tintinnabulation, which is the sound of a bell ringing.

It just looks cool.

I always liked the word Hypocrisy. I'm also partial to Uber but I don't think I'd ever use it in a piece of literature.


Quintrino

Courtesy Bill Bailey:
"scrumping - the stealing of apples"
Such a wonderful word; such limited usage.
Shame.

i know its not original. but fuck. just brilliant.

It's powerful when you can employ it with cunning, but the effects are sadly diluted from overuse.

Although I love the versatility of 'fuck', I go out of my way to avoid writing it.

I just wish I could stop fucking saying it.

Some of my other brilliant finds:

Hoity-Toity - Given to frivolity or silliness.

Kerfuffle - A disorderly outburst or tumult.

Masticate - To chew or to grind to a pulp. But you know what it sounds like...

Spelunking - The recreational sport of exploring caves.

Monkeyshines - A frivolous or mischievous prank.


Oh, and the word wimple just made my day. And words with strong 'u' sounds. I'm now wandering about the house muttering 'wimple' and 'delusion' repeatedly. Thanks for the joy.

Oh, and malarkey, which is "exaggerated or foolish talk, usually intended to deceive" according to an online dictionary.

I prefer to think of it as boisterous hijinks i.e. 'I'm going to drink six pints and perform some malarkey on that roof over there.'

Thump. Crash. Ouch.

One day, I'll own a small and excitable dog (a Foxy?) and call him that.

I've decided I really like the word Thump.

After much pondering, the only word (that I truly, truly, like) I can come up with is:

Douchebag.

Kinda like how it sounds, and I use it whenever possible. Kerfuffle sounds really cute, though. I think I heard it on Little Britain once.

Hmmm.

Marmalade is a...douchebag. I like it!

There was a time back in the high school days where my group of friends would discuss funny-sounding words for hours on end. What we came with is:

Funniest names: Norman, Shane, Greg
Funniest fruit: Plum
Funniest animal: Wombat
Funniest nonsense word: Durg
Funniest saying: "Get stuck into it"
Funniest insult: Fag
Funniest motivational slogan: "Eyes on the prize"
Funniest band name: Wham!
Funniest body part: Foot
Can't think of a category for it but: Zombie...especially when pronounced "Zommm-beh"

Funniest name: I once worked with a girl called Rhoda Koch. For real. Her parents must have been sadists.

Funniest fruit: Tomatoes, because no-one thinks they're a fruit.

Funniest animal: Monkeys. Because they can throw poo, which is the very height of animal related comedy.

Funniest nonsense word: Chumbawumba

Funniest saying: I wrote in an email yesterday, to explain to my friend how busy I was, "that'll keep my dick out of the cat for a while". Don't know where that came from, but I'm claiming it.

Funniest insult: He wrote back, "that doesn't help the dog much".

Funniest motivational saying: Anything featuring the word, 'proactive'.

Funniest band name: Chumbawumba

Funniest body part: the elbow. Because it's humer- oh, forget it.

I'd probably have to say that I rather enjoy the word hyperbole. It just has a nice subtle ring and sums up my language so neatly.

"Get ready for pure Awesomeness!" Kung Fu Panda

Awesomeness is officially my new fave word