Words I Like
I was shocked to see a character in the movie "The Translator" who kept a list of interesting words. I thought I was the only one. It is a weird thing to do, but maybe it's not so weird.
Paradigmatic The "g" is silent in paradigm, but it comes out in the adverbial form.
Prurient It means unhealthy or morbid interest. About as easy to say as February.
Syllabification
It's a deictic word,
one that demonstrates its meaning by its presence.
Infantilize It is the same rhythm as syllabification.
Panicked How does that "k" get in there when Panic goes past tense?
Eschatology This is a jargon word, from theology, the study of life after death (as if we could!).
Idiosyncratic I don't know why I like this word. It's idiosyncratic.
Apoptosis Apoptosis is fun to say. It is cell suicide.
Deign, feign, but not reign Deign and feign seem weird to me, but not reign.
Queued Two consonants separated by "ueue"? What are the chances of that?
Microscopy It's not that hard to say, but the syllabification makes it sound exotic.
Disintermediation It looks like it's going to be disinterested but then it turns on you.
Nock As in, to nock an arrow. No relation to knock. Don't knock nocks.
Crepuscule The transitional periods between day and night. Monk has a tune called 'Crepuscule with Nellie'.
Hinterlands What are hinterlands, anyway? Have I ever been to a hinterland?
Redacted Lots of things are redacted (edited) but none, it seems, are ever "dacted" in the first place!
Botox Okay, it's a clever trade name, but isn't it great?
Endemic It just sounds like something internal.
Fathom I also like "unfathomable." A cubit is another charming measure. But you don't say "uncubitable."
Enmity This word always looks likes it is misspelled.
O’clock A contraction for "Of the clock." Well what else would it be? The time is five "o'sundial"?
Juxtaposition The "x" says it all. Why aren't there more "juxta-" words?
Silhouette The word is actually a person's name, Mr. Silhouette. I just like the way it is spelled.
Hegemony I like the way it is pronounced, with heavy emphasis on the "gem".
Notwithstanding How did this get to be a word? And with such a complex meaning!
Revenant You hardly ever have an opportunity to use this word. It means arisen from the dead.
Hypocrisy A strange pronunciation that makes it a hard word to spell.
Epitome, hyperbole, catastrophe, synecdoche These all have unexpected pronunciations.
Ombudsman This word cannot be made to roll off the tongue.
Solely The rules of orthography run amok.
Maieutic It's actually Greek for "midwife" but it describes the Socratic form of inquiry.
Entelechy The vital force that moves the spirit to seek the telos.
Asthma That’s an unlikely sequence of four consonants surrounded by a couple of a's.
Plait Rhymes with treat.
Ineffable That which cannot be “effed.”
Atlatl An Aztec spear thrower. Does not come up in casual conversation. You have to work it in.
Diaphragm Where does the 'g' go?
Itself As in, the thing itself. Not it's self, but itself. Maybe because "its" don't really have selves?
Humpty Dumpty There's dead silence between the p and the t . Children love saying it.
Quincunx A vertical board covered in pegs, down through which balls randomly bounce to rest in a normal curve.
Phalanx I guess I like words that end in x, although "ox" doesn't do anything for me.
Wasps Do wasps have hasps or lisps? No, nor tusks, thank goodness.
Pulchritudinous I always thought it meant fleshy until I looked it up. It means beautiful.
Disparage People are always disparaging things, but nobody ever parages them. It's like disgruntled in that way.
Lapsarian An adjective pertaining to the Fall of Man. These days, of course, we are all postlapsarian.
Coruscate I confused it with excoriate, but coruscation is flash and glitter.
Ludic Spontaneous, purposeless, and playful. The root of ludicrous, but would you ever call something ludic?
Anodyne It means painless, but sounds like an aerospace firm.
Rebarbative Repellent or objectionable. Derived from the French word for beard. What's the implicit message there?
Subtlety Orthography gone mad. If you lop off the "sub," how do you pronounce the remainder?
Theodicy The explanation of why God, who is good, allows evil in the world. Of course there is no explanation.
Squeegee Is it supposed to be onomatopoetic? That could be the only justification for this silly word.
Chthonic Pertaining to the underworld. The Ch is silent, as well it ought be!
Syzygy Opposition of heavenly objects in space, such as the sun and moon at full moon. Astronomical scrabble points!
Isthmus A word that cannot be pronounced. You just have to let the "th" go.
Slither Slither feels slithery when you say it. Silver doesn't, nor does Zither. Only slither.
Escutcheon A shield or protective plate, as around a keyhole. The word sounds and looks reassuringly protective.
Chop Each time I prepare an onion, the cutting board pronounces this word perfectly.
Concubinage The collective domain of concubines. Pronounced with an emphasis on the "cube" in the middle.
Updated 8/12/08