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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Favorite word of the day
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
Sometimes I hear a word and am much struck by it. It's often a word I know but have not used or thought about it much in the past. It stays with me all day and I roll it around in my head and heart.
On Friday it was Repose.
I like that one because I yearn for it these days - far too busy.
Yesterday it was Blindsided as I was frustrated at not being allowed to do something I wanted to do.
Have you got a favorite old/new word today? Why has it struck you?
[ 21. October 2013, 13:17: Message edited by: Evensong ]
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a theological scrapbook
Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
The death last month of the wonderful Prof. Charles McKean prompted me to read his beautifully illustrated book "The Scottish Chateau; The Country House of Renaissance Scotland".
Today's word is a newly learnt one from there - "squinch" which is, according to the glossary "an arched support across a re-entrant carrying a structure above, such as a turnpike staircase."
Squinch .
It makes me happy just to say it.
SQUINCH.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Quaich
A two-handled, shallow, drinking cup - often silver or horn and silver - from Scotland.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
I have a favorite word that I like not because of what it means or how it sounds, but I have liked it since a small child by how it appear when written.
balloon
Something about the double l's and the following o's I find interesting to look at. Of course sometimes I play at putting the o's on top and adding some color so they indeed look like balloons on a string. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Quoditch, it's a place name in Creamtealand. I love it because it makes me think of some sort of magical HarryPotteresque land, where I think I might rather like to live.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Today, palanquin...because I needed it to finish a crossword puzzle. An Asian covered litter designed to be carried by two or four men (depending, I assume, on how many slaves you happen to have).
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Niminypiminy
Shipmate
# 15489
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Posted
A word without a q in it:
eirenic -- aiming or aimed at peace.
I like the look of it with its repeated dipthongs (and there's another good word), and I like its meaning, which I have just today discovered.
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Lives of the Saints: songs by The Unequal Struggle
http://www.theunequalstruggle.com/
Posts: 776 | From: Edge of the Fens | Registered: Feb 2010
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Pulsator Organorum Ineptus, why do you like the word "crepuscular"?
I can tell you why I like it, but it's your word right now. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
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Posted
Wainscoting. Just sounds cool. And, as a Monty Python sketch said, it sounds like an idyllic English village.
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I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
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Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
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Posted
A bit of a tangent, but there is a company name
I love, Eli Lily. Try it... Eli Lily...Eli Lily...Eli Lily.
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I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
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Hebdom
Shipmate
# 14685
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Posted
Antigone.
I love the sound of the word and all the stories associated with the name.I love the history it conjures up; all those Greek tragedies and life and death dramas.
I am about to see a new health professional called Antigone [X]. It will be all I can do to call her Dr [X] rather than Antigone.
I still shudder at the memory of the assistant who gave me the contact details referring to her as Anti-gone. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Posts: 163 | From: Terra australis | Registered: Mar 2009
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
A phrase rather than a single word, glacial moraine. I don't know why, I just love the sound of it. That and (this is really strange), Tierra del Fuego.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
My personal Word-of-the-Year is Callipygous which, when I used it in another place, was correctly translated by another Shipmate as Having a hot [or cute] butt.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Galilit
Shipmate
# 16470
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Posted
Since childhood I have loved the word
"economics"
Just the way it looks - all its letters are rounded, well apart from the "i". Shame about the practices of course!
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She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.
Posts: 624 | From: a Galilee far, far away | Registered: Jun 2011
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Meretricious - means a believable argument or point and seems to have some credibility but really full of it. It sounds both learned and that the person saying the meretricious thing a creep.
I also like gieffel which it the bump in your jacket or shirt after it has hung on a hook. I fear this may be an invented word.
[edited to fix code]
[ 22. October 2013, 07:16: Message edited by: Firenze ]
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Galilit
Shipmate
# 16470
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Posted
Sounds like Yiddish to me
"keffel" is crease
(among other things so don't jump on me)
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She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.
Posts: 624 | From: a Galilee far, far away | Registered: Jun 2011
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
I'm going to be greedy and have three goes.
For the way it looks: minimum. If you have somewhat spiky handwriting all you need is a horizontal zigzag line and a couple of dots above where you imagine the "i"s should be.
For its sound: bleb. Something about it reminds me of the way Rowan Atkinson can make a monosyllabic word - Bob - sound utterly preposterous.
For its meaning: steatopygia. The condition of having bountifully fat buttocks. And I thought of this before reading WW's entry above. There must be something in the ether.
[ 22. October 2013, 08:25: Message edited by: Jonah the Whale ]
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Kaplan Corday
Shipmate
# 16119
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
Meretricious - means a believable argument or point and seems to have some credibility but really full of it. It sounds both learned and that the person saying the meretricious thing a creep.
Someone once used the word meretricious in an argument with the late Gore Vidal, who replied, "Meretricious to you, too, and a Happy New Year".
Posts: 3355 | Registered: Jan 2011
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
A word I learnt in my young adulthood, and which has come in handy in many word games is usufructuary. It means a person or corporate entity having the use and enjoyment of something.
Another word I learnt in my younger days is crappie. A crappie is a fish. This also gets plates of sandwiches thrown at me in word games and screams of disbelief.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
One of my favourites is infundibular, meaning funnel-shaped.
As an A-level student, my friends & I challenged each other to get random words into our exams. I was challenged with this one on my physics papers. Thankfully, one of the the questions related to the circuitry of a loudspeaker, which provided ample opportunity to meet the challenge. Another of my favourites there.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Sighthound
Shipmate
# 15185
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Posted
Eirenic.
Until a couple of months ago I had never come across this word, and if asked would have said it meant something to do with Ireland.
Now the word seems to be popping up almost as much as 'and'. How eirenic.
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Supporter of Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue.http://tiagreyhounds.org/
Posts: 168 | From: England | Registered: Sep 2009
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
Cascade. A life-long favourite.
Love the way the word sounds, and looks, and the mental images it conjures up - a series of little waterfalls, or flowers in a hanging garden. I also love the way it's rare enough not to hear every day so there's a frisson of excitement when it occurs. I always have a bit of a moment when the manager at work cascades something to the team. ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
Nen - loves words. ![[Axe murder]](graemlins/lovedrops.gif)
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They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
Some of us live in the shadow of the Cascades.
I rather enjoy "cascode", which is a form of two electronic circuits cascaded.
But my word for this week is "conspicuity", after the instructions(!) for a safety vest described it as a "conspicuity aid".
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Bene Gesserit
Shipmate
# 14718
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Posted
"Jump" or most other words ending in "ump." There's just something about the sound.
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Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Posts: 405 | From: Flatlands of the East | Registered: Apr 2009
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anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nenya:
Cascade. A life-long favourite.
Love the way the word sounds, and looks, and the mental images it conjures up - a series of little waterfalls, or flowers in a hanging garden. I also love the way it's rare enough not to hear every day so there's a frisson of excitement when it occurs. I always have a bit of a moment when the manager at work cascades something to the team.
Nen - loves words.
I would have a moment in the corner with a bucket if a manager tried to cascade something to me. What the hell is wrong with 'delegate' (or even 'shrug off' or 'disclaim responsbility'? Cascading things to your employees has corporate bulls**t written all over it to me...
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The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
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anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
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Posted
...aaand on a more heavenly note, there have been a couple already mentioned which I really love, crepuscular in particular.
It may also come as no surprise that anoesis is a favoured word.
I remember when I was doing my first degree (in psychology) being absolutely charmed by the dorso-lateral reticular geniculate nucleus. It's a structure within the brain, and I can't remember a thing about it except its marvellous name, which is like a tongue-twister all in itself.
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The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Oh, looky! It is a new day so I can post a new word!
On behalf of all of us who adored the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, I humbly submit smock.
(Actually, we just like to say "smock." Smock, smock, smock, smock...)
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Zacchaeus
Shipmate
# 14454
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Posted
Indefatigable
Since a child I've just loved the way it fills the mouth.
Posts: 1905 | From: the back of beyond | Registered: Jan 2009
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I get that effect with pericombobulation, especially if you imagine it being said by Rowan Atkinson.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Igneous has a nice sound to it.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I was recently reminded of the Yiddish term, "Ishkabibble!" I have tossed it out, now and then, thinking it meant something like "poppycock!" but it turns out it means "Take it easy!" or "No worries!"
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
fructify
...as used to appear in verse 4 of Come, thou holy Paraclete: the whole verse sounded like a concentrated lesson in double-entendres: quote:
What is soiled, make thou pure,
What is wounded, work its cure,
What is parched fructify;
What is rigid, gently bend,
What is frozen, warmly tend,
Straighten what goes erringly.
Generations of trebles were unable to sing it without corpsing, often made worse by ignorant/genteel adults singing the word "frooctify", alarmed at the possible rhyme with f**k.
And of course, from fructify you get fructification!
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I have always liked away . It's one of the first words I remember printing.
I remember clutching a Black Beauty pencil in my hand and marvelling at the w between the two a s. Spelling it was like a poem.
Yes, I am weird, and simple
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
Another fan of crepuscular. I came across it first when we had a (semi)tame ferret.
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Crepuscular makes me think of crapulous which is an entirely different word. And that one makes me think of glairigenous due the association of what glairigenous means and the false friend word that is engendered by the first syllable "crap-"
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Rev per Minute
Shipmate
# 69
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Niminypiminy:
A word without a q in it:
eirenic -- aiming or aimed at peace.
I like the look of it with its repeated dipthongs (and there's another good word), and I like its meaning, which I have just today discovered.
My late grandmother was Irene, and she was not particularly eirenic...
One of my favourites is serendipity , which leads to the equally lovely serendipitous : it (roughly) means the action of finding something by chance. As if that wasn't enough, it was also once the name for Sri Lanka. I think it's the almost 'opposing' consonants (d/p/t) and the five syllables in 11 letters that attract me, as well as the felicitous meaning.
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"Allons-y!" "Geronimo!" "Oh, for God's sake!" The Day of the Doctor
At the end of the day, we face our Maker alongside Jesus. RIP ken
Posts: 2696 | From: my desk (if I can find the keyboard under this mess) | Registered: May 2001
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I like 'pusillanimity', which means cowardice. Somehow the sound suggests the meaning.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Outwith - a word I came across for the first time when my son went to St. Andrew's University (ditto Huzzah). And, several years later, I still roll the word around on my tongue with great pleasure. And squeal with delight whenever I come across it, sad person that I am. We live a sheltered life down in Creamtealand.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
It's another new day! For today, I submit defenestrate. Made memorable to me from its use in one of Walt Kelly's Pogo comics, to wit:
"Defenestrate him!"
"Defenestration is too good for him! Throw him out the window!"
(from The Jack Acid Society Black Book if memory serves)
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Rev per Minute:
One of my favourites is serendipity , which leads to the equally lovely serendipitous : it (roughly) means the action of finding something by chance.
Oooh, that was my very favorite word for years.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Flange
Rolls off the tongue.
Sounds edible - which is weird bearing in mind what one is.
And there are different types - there's even a Puddle Flange!
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Zacchaeus
Shipmate
# 14454
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
It's another new day! For today, I submit defenestrate. Made memorable to me from its use in one of Walt Kelly's Pogo comics, to wit:
"Defenestrate him!"
"Defenestration is too good for him! Throw him out the window!"
(from The Jack Acid Society Black Book if memory serves)
For some reason that word has exactly the opposite effect on me. It feels bad and makes me shudder..
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
Posts: 1905 | From: the back of beyond | Registered: Jan 2009
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
It's another new day! For today, I submit defenestrate.
Where's Eutychus and his avatar when you need them? avatar
[ 24. October 2013, 07:47: Message edited by: Jonah the Whale ]
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Judicious
from the old Fairy Liquid™ adverts:
#Hands that judicious...#
Sorry about that should I leave now?
It's still a nice word.
--------------------
I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
If I had to pick one it would probably be "evanescent".
Interesting that most of us are picking euphonious words not in common use -"endangered" words that deserve another airing.
Which reminds me, I do like "dirigible", although it's a while since I've seen one.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Meerkat
Suricata suricatta
# 16117
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Posted
One of my favourites is 'flippercanorious'. What does it mean? Google it
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Simples!
Posts: 160 | From: Herts, UK | Registered: Jan 2011
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Meerkat:
One of my favourites is 'flippercanorious'. What does it mean? Google it
Misread that as 'flippercarnivorous' - thought it might have meant a vicious dolphin.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
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Posted
Concatenation - to link together in a series or chain. Has nothing to do with prison cat societies.
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I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
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