Fabulous Words
The folks at Merriam-Webster Online have been asking people to mail them their favorite English words for the last several weeks, and they have finally released the ten most popular words according to dictionary fans.
I'm pleased to say that of all of them, the only one I didn't know was "callipygian," a thoroughly delightful word I will strive to make a part of my everyday vocabulary.
(Via a fellow lover of sesquipedalia.)
I'm glad to see that "defenestration" leads the list. But where are "incarnadine" and "occidental"?
If you didn't know what callipygian meant, you don't spend enough time at skillzy.com, home of the badonkadonk.
One of Paul's choices was supposed to be included, but was left off occidentally.
I must say, you are quite callipygious.
"Comprise".
As in "the zoo comprises diverse species of animal life" or "the blogsite comprises facts, opinions and the opinionated".
(A typically misused verb, according to Strunk's "Elements of Style". As in: "This menu is comprised of ......".)
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
I'm kinda disappointed foofaraw didn't make the cut, I love that word.
did they have
"Kreplach"??
I can't tell you how disappointed I am that "festoon" is not popular enough to make any of the lists. Use it whenever possible, particularly as a verb.
"Mendacious."
"Philtrum."
Jack, I've used "festoon" both as a verb and adjective. I once wrote a sarcastic letter to someone at the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) in Wisconsin, where my wife works as a substitute teacher nine months of the year, about classroom blackboards "festooned" with politically correct exhortations hung from the top frame of the blackboard, rather than being used for their traditional purpose of information pertaining to a specific class subject covered by the academic curriculum.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
I once used the word "boon," as in, I called someone "a great boon to the organization," in a business letter. Nobody in the entire office knew what it meant but they were certain I had insulted the guy.
A sad day.
There's a plethora of good words out there... plethora was my mom's favorite (or at least oft-used) when I was a kid. I like defenestration... What's incarnadine mean?
A word definition for "Callipygian"? You're no fun at all - this one cries out for a picture. Maybe several just to make sure you make the point.
"Festoon" and "mendacious" (as well as "pernicious" and "insidious") are some of my favorite words. "He asseverated contumaciously that..." I also love "excruciating" and "depucilate". "Floccipoccinihilipillification".
My favorite above all of these types of words is "pulchritude", "pulchritudinous". Up with pulchritude! And, especially, up with exquisite and superlative pulchritude!