devi: (bookish)
devi ([personal profile] devi) wrote2006-02-14 03:30 pm

(no subject)

ARGH AM INCAPABLE OF DOING ANY WORK WHATSOEVER.

I need help to get enthused about words. What's your current favourite word and why do you like it?

[identity profile] iresprite.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:28 pm (UTC)(link)
sesquipedalian.
n.
A long word.

adj.
1. Given to the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; polysyllabic.

Why do I like it? Come on, it's totally self-referential humor built in to the very language!

[identity profile] eleanorb.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Ubiquitous.

Adj. Being present everywhere at once.

Why do I like it? All those vowels.

[identity profile] bluedevi.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, that's a favourite of mine too.

[identity profile] arachne.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
one of two. Either encomium - like flattery, but truthful, so when you say something nice about someone and they accuse you of flattery, you can say "no, encomium!" and they generally can't argue with that and just accept the damn compliment. Also, it rolls off the tongue and just *sounds* good.

Also : aibohphobia - fear of palindromes. Self-explanatory.
triskellian: (reading)

[personal profile] triskellian 2006-02-14 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
My favourite word is autodefenestrate, just because OMG, there's a word for that?! And because it reminds me of an amusing childhood incident when my brother spent quite some time hurling himself out of my groud-floor bedroom window and then coming straight back in through the front door to do it all over again :-)

I'm rather fond of sesquipedalian, too. (Not of [livejournal.com profile] sesquipedality, of course, cos she's evil ;-) And I like paradoxical words, although my brain's currently refusing to provide a handy example.

[identity profile] twistedlilkitty.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Spurtle.
Its a stick used for stirring porridge.

I also like spatula, marmalade, flange, hydroxyl.

[identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I nominate "kumquat" as my word of the day. Long, pretentious words are overrated anyway. Silly-sounding fruit is a much better bet.

[identity profile] huskyteer.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
'Toggle'

[identity profile] khalinche.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm fangirling a bit on Quechua at the minute. I've liked 'urpi' ever since I heard it in 2001, which means 'dove' and is used as an endearment, 'urpillay' = 'my little dove'. Also there are sundry words for 'to frolic like a baby animal or a little child', 'to satisfy your senses with music, art, food or anything pleasurable' (sajyay), to grumble and to enter into a small hole like a mole or a miner. I've been intending to post about these for a while. Maybe I'll get round to it today.

[identity profile] iresprite.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Really?

So much love.

Be my logoleptic valentine. :)

[identity profile] gnimmel.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Today I am rather fond of a word I learned yesterday: pernoctation, the act of staying up all night.

[identity profile] bluedevi.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Those are all... hmmm... pleasingly cornery, but rounded corners...

[identity profile] kensson.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Monosyllabic.

[identity profile] miramanga.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
INCENDIARY!

I looooooove it! I use it ALL the time cos it's how I feel when I get excited. I also use it in chat up lines ;)

[identity profile] bluedevi.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, please do! Those are all great!

[identity profile] dyddgu.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Cushion. It has nice vowels, and a "sh" sound.

Sorry to be so ordinary, like.
ext_3375: Banded Tussock (Default)

[identity profile] hairyears.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)


Leguminocomptiferous - Of, or appertaining to, the bean-counters.

I like accountants. Oh yes. Really, I do.

Counterintuitive - it just is.

Often used as a pejorative term, as in bad user interfaces on software; but the term encapsulates the delight in discovering that things really don't work the way that you thought they 'ought' to.

Spiral - partly because it's so foreign.

Do you get phases where a particular word in common usage sounds alien and unfamiliar? Maybe 'spiral' is having that kind of day. Or maybe it really is a strange and alien interloper from the world of mathematics. I like it for the associations, too: descent spiral (yay! astrogation!); cubic spiral (railway curves and road layouts); spiralling out of control; spider webs, fractals, the three-dimensional fibonacci series on Romanesca cauliflowers.

I am an geek. But I love words.

[identity profile] bluedevi.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
That's one, yeah!

But I was trying to think of paradoxical words, too, and failing. I have a feeling there's another one that means 'brief' or 'concise' which is actually very long, but I can't put my finger on it.

[identity profile] anam-uk.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
callipygian:- I like big butts & I cannot lie(*)

deracinate:- about all my garden is good for ATM

palimpset:- I'm incapable of retaining the meaning of this word in my mind, I'm aware right now what it means (I'm not telling you thats what the dictionary is for) I won't be tomorrow or may be the day after

* Yes yes I KNOW

[identity profile] lanfykins.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
My word of the moment is 'skulduggery'. Though I can't remember whether it needs an extra 'l'. It's kind of swashbuckly :)

I'm also fairly fond of 'mendacity', just because it's kind of a bit self-referential in its meaning - trying to be all sneaky and evasive around the word 'lie' :)

[identity profile] huskyteer.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
My favourite Furrin Word is phluareo, Greek for 'I talk nonsense'.

[identity profile] mooism.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I saw “aibohphobia” the other day. I think it’s a wonderful word.

[identity profile] skorpionuk.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Guilt.

No reason.

[identity profile] bluedevi.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I have a love of spirals too, for many of the same reasons.

But yes, definitely, sometimes a common word gets disconnected from its meaning in my head and spends several days sounding like a silly, meaningless series of sounds. Especially when I've been using it a lot.

[identity profile] ratmmjess.livejournal.com 2006-02-14 03:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Schadenfreude, because it's a sadly large part of my personality, and because I'm tickled that someone took the time to boil down such a complex emotional reaction into a single word.

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