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Topic: What words do you like and use more than others do
| Author | Message |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/23/2007 12:37:58 AM | show profile Do you find yourself resorting to using a word more often than its place in the hierarchy that is English would call for? Maybe you slip it into conversations? Or use it deliberately in articles wherever possible? I recently discovered I liked the word 'convoluted.' I like how it rolls off my tongue. I savor its politeness -- it works nicely when I could have, in fact, legitimately said "screwed up." What word do you like? |
| GrOoVaL!c!OuS | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:37:08 AM | show profile I certainly use the word "certainly" a lot. I also like "ominous" and "groovy" (hence the username here). |
| Janetblueyes | Posted – 7/23/2007 9:55:27 AM | show profile I use the words "penchant" "viable" "ominous" frequently. When I'm angry, "fucktard" is my curse word of choice. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/23/2007 12:14:42 PM | show profile Hornswoggled. I went to sign a lease for an apartment the first time I heard it. The landlord started talking about some deadbeat tenants, took a cigar out of his mouth and said, "I get madder n' hell when someone tries to hornswoggle me!" |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 7/23/2007 12:50:19 PM | show profile I like a good sanctimonious every now and then. I also like pithily. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/23/2007 2:25:44 PM | show profile Ooh, these are GOOD words. I may use 'vibrant' too often. I also like luminous and vital. I use impressed a lot. |
| sue ellen mischke | Posted – 7/23/2007 5:51:13 PM | show profile $5 Words This doesn't answer your q, but I started a new job and am trying to get the tone down, so I went through all its publications and kept a file of words used more than the average English-speaking writer would normally type. Ready? Here it goes: *Sybiotic *Corporate antibodies *Convergence *Entrenched *Cacophony *Pariah *Torpor *Monastic *Serial entrepreneur *Injurious *Tome *Foray *Matriculating *Conflagration No doubt...these are $5 words when I'm used to typing $.5 words. |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 7/24/2007 2:17:00 PM | show profile I've always liked the word "snack", yet always hated the word "treat". Don't know why. I also was into retro words such as cool, nifty, even peachy and keen, long before it was, well, cool. |
| SpinDr810 | Posted – 7/24/2007 7:09:30 PM | show profile Clearly I use the word "clearly" a ton. "Clearly he doesn't understand what he's doing." You have to drag out the Cllleeeaarrr part to get a little sarcasm. :) |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/24/2007 8:22:14 PM | show profile I inteviewed someone recently who used the phrase Without a doubt constantly. Kind of odd. |
| keltoi | Posted – 7/24/2007 10:24:58 PM | show profile Without a doubt. I find I use "really" a lot, usually in response to someone. Had a college roommate who used "Em" instead of "Um" constantly to the point where it became maddening. |
| nellie bly | Posted – 7/26/2007 10:15:26 AM | show profile I'm sooo diplomatic. I use "dysfunctional" a lot when I have to go to the PO. One neighborhood PO usually has a long line and more than its fair share of "dysfunctional" customers with complex transactions: ditzes who make the line creep forward because they don't know what they're doing, ie. how to to fill out/attach the customs forms, waybills, etc. The funny thing is the clerks at that particular PO used to be "dysfunctional" too, but they were replaced. I often use "self absorbed" instead of rude, selfish, array self-centered, oblivious, etc. This covers people who double park on a narrow street and could care less that horns blare because trucks can't get by without scraping the trees. Also groups of pedestrians (usually out of towners) who refuse to cede the sidewalk to a person walking in the other direction. It's as if they expect you to step into the street. Very self absored!! "I recently discovered I liked the word 'convoluted.' I like how it rolls off my tongue. I savor its politeness -- it works nicely when I could have, in fact, legitimately said "screwed up." What word do you like?" |
| WinonaWriter | Posted – 7/26/2007 12:17:21 PM | show profile I read a Grist article the other day with the word "avuncular" in it -- which I think is a really cool word, but I don't know whether I will end up actually using it. Means (1) of or relating to an uncle, or (2) suggestive of an uncle especially in kindliness or geniality. |
| WinonaWriter | Posted – 7/26/2007 12:18:19 PM | show profile BTW, I love "f*cktard" and "hornswoggled"! |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/26/2007 6:34:57 PM | show profile Nellie, I'm with you on the polite stuff. They're so powerful in a sort of British way! To me, that delicate bite is nice -- and if it goes over people's heads, well, they're just not up to it. The bright mind will read between the lines and know exactly what "self-absorbed" means. When it comes to words, sometimes it's fun to underpromise and overdeliver on the nuance. Vive la nuance... |
