Two Reminders and a Question
Hi everyone! I'm sneaking in a Wednesday post just to remind y'all about my live chat at readergirlz this evening at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific. The chat will take place here and last an hour; feel free to stop by!Also, the blog tour has begun; the schedule is here if you're interested in following along.
And now, the question. First, some context: I'm preparing for the Sirens conference in Vail in October, and am thinking a lot about language and identity. Do you have a favorite word or words? If so, will you share it/them with me in the comments, and explain why you love that word or words? And if it's appropriate, may I incorporate your comment into the speech I'm writing? I will, of course, cite you. ^_^
ETA: What about least favorite words? Please feel free to share/explain them, too!
Please remember that I only see comments posted at my Blog Actual. (Although I'm not sure this even matters at the moment, because livejournal feed syndication seems to be broken, so no one on lj is getting my posts this week anyway! AAARGH!)
*ahem*
Thanks! Tomorrow I'll return to my normal M/Th blogging schedule.
Comments
But on to favorite words! Right off one of my very favs is INDOMITABLE. I love this word because you don't have to 'succeed' or be 'victorious' in the stereotypical fashion to be indomitable. But indomitableness itself tells the truth of a creature's soul. The very fact that they resist, that they will not be put down in their ventures, their beliefs or striving is far more impacting that the relatively minor end result.
If you like indomitable as much as I do you're more than welcome to use it at Sirens. I'd be flattered to death! Well, perhaps just to the brink of death... :)
I'll probably post another word later, but for now, I've got to go unload a couple hundreds bales of hay...
I can't wait for the live chat tonight! See you there, even if I'm a bit late! ;o)
I think it's a great word and can be applied to many situations, such as life! So many things are unavoidable and when people talk about stressful situations or having to make difficult choices, there is a sense of comfort that certain things are inevitable for everyone.
Speaking of using words, I also love halcyon. It just flows out of you mouth, sounding like what it means. And I love Pippalotta.
I've always vowed that should I have a daughter I will call her Pippalotta depsite whatever name I give her. I hope to imbue her with the indomitable spirit of the halcyon days of my own childhood simply by calling her Pippalotta after Pippy herself.
Ha! That was kind of like playing Balderdash with a sentence! Does anyone know that game? It is SO fun!
Samurai!!!
I think one of the funniest words is SESQUIPEDALIAN, which is a really long word that means "a really long word."
And once I wrote a really long explanation about why I loved the word BOSTON, but I can't seem to find it. It had to do with almost-symmetry and the two long o's and the st in the middle which was kind of like Beacon Hill and how the n on the end meant you could make it last forever if you wanted.
Okay, to help other people get the joke about palimpsest, Dac is my sister, secret codename: Apocalyptica the Flimflammer. But I truly cannot remember the word ever coming up in conversation in our family.
I am LOVING everyone's words and explanations, and am going to have to stop myself from using up too much of my speech talking about it.
And I've just edited my post to ask: what about least favorite words? Got any of those?
(I hate the word panties.)
:o)
Least favorite: expensive
I love the word 'lascivious'. It rolls off your tongue with a seductive sound. It draws you in even as its definition repulses you.
And Underdrawers, which I use instead of panties (I don't like that word either) almost all the time.
And for another word I love: Greevy
It's not a 'real' word but my best friend in high school grew up calling the tv remote the 'greevy'. She was in her teens before one of her mother's friends told her there was no such thing. To this day I still think of the remote as the greevy. I think of it as an example of the things 'adults' say aren't real. I mean, who's to say that the remote CAN'T be a greevy? Either way you're indicating the object that changing channels. Is there a 'wrong' title for something just because it isn't the 'normal' title?
My least favorite word is probably allodoxiphobia, though I'm not sure if it counts because it's not in my dictionary.
-L
As for least favorites, how about MOIST? I'm not really a fan of BULGE either. Or PROTRUDE. Ugh.
Fancy words for colors bug me too, but mostly because they get so over-used in bad writing, like "azure skies/water," "emerald leaves/eyes/grass," "scarlet cheeks/hair." Like, come on, what did blue ever do to you?
Oh, I really like BLUEBERRY. It seems like such a happy word. It's like the friend you have who always seems like she's in a good mood, and if you call her when you're feeling down, she'll come over and bring cookies she made that day and maybe take you for a walk and you'll end up at a park where little kids are playing on swings and slides and squirrels are chasing each other, and you'll forget why you were sad, because little kids and squirrels are hilarious. BLACKBERRY's pretty good too, as are RASPBERRY and HUCKLEBERRY, but I'm not so into STRAWBERRY (even though they're my favorite berry!).
--Candelion (love this one too)
PS : My word verification (captcha) to post my comment is PITATHYP, now that's funny !).
I have spatial synesthesia, which basically means my mind associates words and concepts with three-dimmensional spaces. The word beyond is one of the few words which my synesthesia perceives very 'literal'. (Unlike most others; for example, the word serene brings me to a meadow on a chilly morning, which isn't neccesarily 'serene' to me.) While I'm saying beyond, I can 'see' everything start moving below, a huge expanse of soft colors, almost as if I were flying... beyond. It's beautiful, and I love it.
There are too many good words to pick a fave. But 'panties' wins in the bad word category fo sho.
One of my favorite words is 'earth' because of the spelling of 'ea' at the beginning and how you have to strain a bit to pronounce it because of the r in the middle and then it turns into this breath sound with the 'th.' 'Earth' is a word you can savor.
A word I don't dislike, I just dislike the usage of, is 'epic.' I hate how it has become a slang word meaning something is interesting or funny.
If you like, you can incorporate this. I'm so excited about the conference!
BTW, Artemis, your discussion will be great, I'm sure of it.
It's a subject that I myself find very important, particularly the way young girls are being stereo-typed in todays society as the sexy arm-piece...
That said, please pardon the 12-year-old boy in me, but my favorite words are really stupid and inappropriate ones that make me giggle despite how insipid they are.
In the nature category: "Shrub" and "Bush"
In the biology category: "Poopie" and "Douche"
I wish I were an actress so I could go on Inside the Actor's Studio and share my favorite swear word. The PG-version of it, which is just as effective, is "Crap." Which also goes along with "Poopie."
See, it's all cyclical. Don't judge me for being the 33-year-old embodiment of Beavis & Butthead.
Syllepsis is a good word, but not as much fun as zeugma. But examples of syllepsis are more fun than examples of zeugma, so it's a tradeoff.
Another word I like with a related meaning is "antanaclasis", which is like syllepsis except that the word is repeated each time, but with a different meaning, like "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately", by Benjamin Franklin or "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana," by Groucho Marx.
Another unrelated word that I like and just have to mention is "acciaccatura". It's a music term. The idea is when playing a chord, quickly playing a note not in the chord at the same time but immediately releasing it, sort of like a grace note. It makes the chord sound crunchier. Acciaccatura is a crunchy word for a crunchy sound.
Also, I share your annoyance about LJ syndication being down. It was actually kind of disorienting to not see your post on LJ this morning. It made me wonder if I was confused about what day it is.
And, scrod? Ew! I dont eat seafood either and this word is truly icky!
This is fun! I feel like we are on an episode of Peewee's Playhouse and making up "words of the day". Ahhh! :)
Ok, moving on...one of my new favorite words is amalgamate. Not only is it fun too say, but it means to unite or come together to form one. I like that.
I don't like the way "impact" has been changed into a verb as in: "The man in the crosswalk was impacted by the truck." what? Don't we mean he was hit by a truck?
I agree with you on "panties". How come men get to wear "shorts" but women have to wear "panties"?
PS big ups for your NYT bestseller! :)
Least favorite: UTILIZE. Sheesh, just say 'use,' switching to 'utilize' just makes you sound like a jerkface.
And RobinPS, you remind me of my favorite moment on The Actor's Studio, which was when the moderator dude (I forget his name) asked Mark Wahlberg his least favorite word and Mark Wahlberg said, "Is Marky-Mark a word?"
I also am fond of color words that stretch beyond the standard spectrum--PERIWINKLE,CRIMSON and CERULEAN--as a few examples.
I am put off by any word that has been hobbled by the noxious suffix -AGE (SIGNAGE, VERBIAGE, PERSONAGE).
And I LOOOOOVE the word "scram."
KristinCashore: I love that Inside the Actor's Studio, too! And there is one with Daniel Radcliffe where he asks if he's allowed to say "bollocks" on television. Love it!
Love words that are obnoxious to use when you're talking to equally obnoxious people who annoy you: Defenestrate - to throw something or someone out the window.
Love words that make you smile because they remind you of a funny incident: Yoga.
Mom had a friend come over to have weekly sessions to practice her coversational English, it went something like this:
Friend: How was your week, Lisa?
Mom: Ok, my doctor tell me I have to eat better because of my blood pressure.
Friend: Have you tried Yoga? It helps me a lot!
Mom: REALLY??! YOGA?? (Yogurt) WHAT FLAVOR?! Strawberry?? Blueberry??
(I love my mom.)
One of my favorite words is profuse/profusely. I use it almost daily in my high school English classes when students ask to go to the nurse for a bandage. I always ask, "Are you bleeding profusely?" My 7-year-old daughter recently surprised my in-laws when she told them that her tummy was full and that it was profuse. :)
Another favorite word of mine is chaotic, and it's wonderful when your child uses it correctly in first grade to describe her classroom to her teacher.
A few other favorites: diligent, mollycoddle, brouhaha, ingress, insouciance, furtive, and malfeasance.
I'll have to think about words I like the least.