A Contest For Favorite Words & Phrases
![[professor_irwin_corey.jpg]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gzuK9jsKG-g/SUjXDQWsW6I/AAAAAAAAHcY/qxltGbaqw0I/s1600/professor_irwin_corey.jpg)
I was speaking with some friends the other day and they thought a little words and phrases game might be fun. And, as everyone here knows, I am a lotta fun until I hit my seventh beer.
My Favorite Words
Methinks: There is something so sweet about this word, It should violate third grade rules of grammar. But you will find it in Chaucer, Mallory & The Bard.
Ostentatious: What more can I say. I wish I was more ostentatious.
Acrimony: As in: The Speaker attacked the racist teabagging monkeys with great acrimony. Asperity is good, but the same ring is not heard in the telling.
Iniquity: As in: The Oval Office was The Den of Iniquity for eight full years.
Hemorrhoid: So painful and yet so disgusting at the same time. I mean "George W. Bush reminds me of a bad case of anal warts upon the military industrial complex." I mean that is pretty disgusting but Hemorrhoid or hemorrhoidal.........maybe its just the way Q likes to use it in context, of course.
Antithesis: The Republican Party now represents the antithesis of the values it represented upon its creation as a national organization.
Titty: Titty bar, titty movie house.....I don't know, maybe it's because I am still twelve at heart.
Asinine: I mean, it sounds so dirty, it definitely is a put down, and you cannot get flagged for using it in a comment on other more pure directed blogs.
Apostrophe: An elegant word but usually only referred to in grammar school.
Paralysis: Its spelling is so peculiar. A professor once declared it was Joyce's favorite word.
Contretemps: An inopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mischance. See, even the definition sounds highfalutin. George W. Bush found himself in contretemps, as he could not find his ass with both hands when dared by his staff.
Telepathic: I do not know especially why I like this word. It seems almost made-up when I think about it. You do not need to be telepathic when you hear Cheney speak to realize that nothing but lies are being relayed.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Favorite Phrases:
And Toto Too: An old SNL saying for a number of skits involving the good witch.
Tit for Tat: Same reason as titty. It's naughty.
East
me: Disgusting really. And
illogical. I mean why would you wish to have someone actually eat you? Same as
bite me.
Oh, and for good old Latin phrases to amaze your friends and shame your enemies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legal_Latin_terms
This is just to start everyone off. Surely the people at Café have an interest in words. Just list a couple of favorite phrases or words or both.
Oh, and I always take this opportunity to sell my new blog site at :
http://forestroot125.blogspot.com/
Chapter 2 of Arthur is now available.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uuCNAwXGaQ
September 28, 2009 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and I have more...
September 28, 2009 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Never heard of these guys Grouch. hahaahaha. I never did take the bus much. Lived too close to three schools that I attended.
But it is interesting how people will attempt to draw you into a conversation. ha
September 28, 2009 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heh heh.....shindig.....heh heh
September 28, 2009 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Be-lu-ga...
September 28, 2009 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ga-lo-shes...
And lest we forget: Windowsill....pickle relish...
Cinderella...
From the film "The Glass Slipper":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AnGaBWowkA
September 28, 2009 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is just delightful LisB. Just wonderful. I never saw this movie. The Glass Slipper.
September 28, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
OMG. That's hysterical and fits perfectly.
mac--a-dam-ia!
September 29, 2009 12:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
That is a great little movie Seashell. how ya doin?
September 29, 2009 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
"She was a cynosure of an influential demimonde". From 'The women', by Hilton Als. When I read it in the 1990s I had to look up cynosure as well as demimonde. While my vocabulary is not that impressive,that alone made me sit up and take note of such a short sentence. I also like 'bonehead' as a descriptor and as a noun. Satisfying, the way it rolls off the tongue.
September 28, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah Miguel. Why does bonehead work? I do like that. ha
September 28, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
My favorite: "So Larry, what do you think?"
September 28, 2009 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahahahah speechless
September 28, 2009 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
My favourite word is abstemious, don't get to use it much, so I'm glad to have the chance. It's one of two words in the English language that have the vowels, each used once, arranged in there proper alphabetical order. Another favourite would be cellar door. In my youth Mom told me it had been selected as the most beautiful sounding word in the English language.
My favourite saying is,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzJ2NKp23WU
September 28, 2009 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Delightful link jonnie, wonderful thank you.
September 28, 2009 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do not think I made this quite clear as I review these comments Jonnie. You have me playin this Beatle's song all nite. ha
September 29, 2009 1:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good on you! I was considering another contest, too.
Words: altogether asshat codswallop
utterly monotonous
Phrases: post hoc, ergo propter hoc:
After, therefore, because of.
(which is just plain silly as a rule)
Angle of repose.... Piss off ...
Don't get your knickers in a knot
September 28, 2009 6:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
ANGLE OF REPOSE. jeeeeeeeeeeez hahahah
I must think upon this....
September 28, 2009 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
(It's a Wallace Stegner title.) I like it a lot.
September 28, 2009 11:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Phrase:
I like "angle of repose" too. I like the recognition of complementary imperfection as an element in balance.
The house, neither plumb nor square, had long ago found its angle of repose.
Their relationship, which seemed rather odd to others, had found its angle of repose.
The cat was an expert in finding its angle of repose; whether draped languorously over the arm of a sofa, or carefully aligned along a fence rail, its expertise in balance was without parallel.
Etc.
Southern speak:
"In a heartbeat.."
He was besotted, "all over her like a duck on a June bug..."
Etc.
Words:
I like words that imply a willingness to maximize positive experience -- ebullient, exhilarated, engaged, etc.
I also like single words that describe pleasures derived through the senses: melifluous, aromatic, etc.
I could go on, but I'll stop with "spare" -- a beautiful word when used to describe the elimination of all that is superfluous, leaving only that which is essential.
September 29, 2009 7:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes Belle, I get this. We are so overtaken by our sight though and you bring me to other dimensions when smell, taste or 'feel' come into the narrative.
It is like going from the two dimensional to the three dimensional. Only its the fourth, fifth or sixth dimension.
Thank you. See, this place can become a writing lab.
September 29, 2009 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Word: Persnickety.
Phrase: D'oh!
September 28, 2009 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahhahaa. I knew I could get some good laughs out of this.
I already told ya, but I love your picture, just love it!!!
September 28, 2009 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, that's easy: virago. I love that one word can have two polar opposite but at once connected meanings: Here's the definitions:
1. a loud-voiced, ill-tempered, scolding woman; shrew.
2. a woman of strength or spirit.
Now for phrases. Most of the phrases I love are connected to the people who say them.
I had an Irish landlady who would say 1) Jesus, Mary, and Joseph or 2) Oh, for the love of Mike. Those phrases only work with an Irish brogue.
Then one of my college room mates in her gentile Southern accent saying: Well, that's about as dumb as a box of hair.
Finally, my father when he was exasperated with one of us kids: Jesus H. Christ on a Crutch.
September 28, 2009 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahahahah. I don't know now. The box of hair is WONDERFUL.
Virago, with the two different defs demonstrates thousands of years of sexism. Does it not? which of course has got to be one of the reasons you love it so. A blessed word and a curse word. No wonder you chose this moniker.
I was brought up in an Irish Catholic home and just love the barry Fitzgerald lines, for sure.
September 28, 2009 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love listening to people with an Irish brogue. They can even make the word f**k sound lovely.
You are indeed right about my choice of Virago. I think there are still folks who see strong women and shrewish women as interchangeable. I don't have any desire to change who I am, so I am willing to live with the ambiguity!
September 28, 2009 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Box of hair is nice. :)
Thanks
September 28, 2009 9:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mine is Jesus H. Christ in a hat. Don't remember where I picked it up.
September 29, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Words:
Diaphanous.
Accoutrement.
Dirigible.
Cahoots.
Phrases:
Are you gonna eat that pickle?
You did what?
Don't tell me, I don't wanna know.
If you get caught, don't call me for bail money.
I told you not to pull his finger.
And let me conclude with this: If it were not for cuss words, some days I would be rendered completely speechless.
September 28, 2009 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Accoutrement.
I love all these words, for different reasons of course, but Accoutrement just flows, does it not? A wonderful word. Cahoots is a Twain word of course.
These phrases. On the bail I remember this drunk calling me at midnight to come and get him out of jail. Sleep it off I said. He says, AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A LAWYER?
Get your money up front is what I say.
FUN FUN FUN FLOWER. HAHAAHAH
September 28, 2009 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Words
Insightful... I just like it.
Yes... obvious
Phrases
'this is the trip, the best part, I really like.' -the Doors Soft Parade
'Wherever you go, there you are.' -Buckaroo Banzai
September 28, 2009 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
"this is the trip, the best part, I really like" - an absolute winner. Love it.
September 28, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Useful phrases:
- Valuable cash prize.
- Don't touch me there.
- He shoots, he SCORRRRRRRRRRES!
- Left testicle of God.
- Why don't you read what I wrote?
- So girls, how did you sleep?
The master at coining new words. Ricky.
September 28, 2009 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
the frickin valuable cash prize just pisses me off. When I first got on the internet last year I was so deluded as to take these surveys. Can you imagine a full grown man buying this shite? Nothing like that has touched my new pc, let me tell you.
Just as an aside, were you also married to my first wife?
September 28, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
dickday,
"valuable cash prize" is as bad as 'shipping and handling'.
September 29, 2009 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
My ears will go up like Scooby Doo. It must be genetic. Probably began a hundred thousand years ago with the concept of the dowry or some such rite or custom.
On the other hand, shipping and handling probably started after they upped the three cent stamp. I remember that.
September 29, 2009 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very good, very fine Sync. I was quoting BB before there was a BB. I was saying that in elementary school. haahah
September 28, 2009 7:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
vestri auris - stick it in your ear
September 28, 2009 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like that, I like that a lot. hahahaha
September 28, 2009 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
bathos
September 28, 2009 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
bathos? is that like wet pathos?
I was not that far off. Kind of describes you and Q I should think. hahahah
September 28, 2009 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
A favorite word is 'diphthong.' Not only does it possess an infantile, ineffable appeal, but it is so subtle a phenomenon that my dictionary can't handle it and starts throwing even more exotic "phtongs" at me:
Often contrasted with monophthong , triphthong .
Yes, the famous "monopthong"- and don't leave home without your "triphthong."
September 28, 2009 8:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
hhahahah. See. I mean its an innocuous word. I just looked it up again and I see the monophthong which I never heard of.
Now what if someone were on say...monkey face gregory and after the bonehead made some remark and attempted that boyish smile, the interviewee just looked hard at him and said: Monophthong? hahahaha
September 28, 2009 8:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
priceless.
September 28, 2009 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Quadriphthongic never was commercially viable.
September 28, 2009 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
you can say that till the cows come home...
September 28, 2009 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
moo.
September 28, 2009 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahha. Not even the tongue waivers....
September 28, 2009 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I rather prefer aphthong myself.
September 29, 2009 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
APHTHONG, A word that describes itself? ha
September 29, 2009 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Words:
Patina
Bodacious
Omelette
Goober
Thanks dd. An enjoyable (and educational) read!
September 28, 2009 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Omelet. Yes. I see. I hear it. Yes I always have loved that word.
Bodacious. now there is one I hardly hear anymore. Heard it a lot in school I should think!!
September 28, 2009 9:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Longer than a phrase, but I think ee meant it to be all in one breath, and I don't know how to chop it into a best part:
no time ago
or else a life
walking in the dark
i met christ
jesus)my heart
flopped over
and lay still
while he passed(as
close as i'm to you
yes closer
made of nothing
except loneliness
September 28, 2009 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey anna. a little ee aint bad. made of nothing except loneliness.
September 28, 2009 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I think I might've chopped that bit if I'd chopped. Or my heart flopped over.
September 29, 2009 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
You actually typed "EAST me" :confused:
........
Cloaca - disgusting word. Not used nearly enough
clo·a·ca (kl-k)
n. pl. clo·a·cae (-s)
1. A sewer or latrine.
2. Zoology
a. The common cavity into which the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts open in vertebrates such as fish, reptiles, birds, and some primitive mammals.
b. The posterior part of the intestinal tract in various invertebrates.
.....
Phrase: "Not exactly a rocket surgeon." :P
....
For some reason this made me think of funny Country Song titles (real or imagined)... and here are 1 or B that come to mind...
1) I'm So Depressed Without You Baby It's Almost Like Having You Here
B) I Still Miss You But My Aim Is Getting Better All The Time
September 28, 2009 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cloaca..brand new Ickyma.
Brand new
AND ROCKET SURGEON, ROCKS..........
And depression, boy that sure fits a lot of women I once knewhahhahahah
September 28, 2009 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Odiferous.
Rapscallion.
Lugubrious.
Fey.
Animadversion.
Jejune
(Use a lot of these (not "fey") quite often!)
September 28, 2009 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reticule.
Diurnal.
Blarney.
Sub rosa.
September 28, 2009 10:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Odiferous sounds dirty, does it not? So does lugubrious. for some reason.
Jejune is just cooooooooooooool!!!
September 28, 2009 10:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jejune is among my favorite words, yes, but in part this is because I am such an irreverent fellow! Ha-hah! Great thread, DD! Not perhaps on the level of the malevolent, carnivorous office plant, but even so! Very good!
==========================
Skulk
Crepuscular
Benthic
September 29, 2009 3:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
My first introduction to the word 'jejune' was in Calvin and Hobbes. I learned so much from that strip!
September 29, 2009 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
For starters, Emotive, rapacious, jingoistic, squattle, myopia, xenophobe, stentorian ...
September 28, 2009 10:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Myopia for instance. strange.
Squattle, has to be naughty.
hahaha
September 28, 2009 11:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
An Irish friend used to reply when tired of hypothetical questions, "If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle".
A word? Splat. It just is what it is.
September 28, 2009 11:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Missy. WE MISS YOU!!
Is that why they always say 'UNCLE' HAHAHAHA
Splat is a weird word. I suppose we are to think onomatopoeia. The sound of a tomato coming from Carrot Top's table or something.
At any rate. Good to see you.
September 29, 2009 12:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, Dick, you can think onomatopoeia if you'd like ... but I still prefer splat.
I miss you, too.
September 29, 2009 12:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I second dd's miss you, and raise you a third.
I miss you too, Missy.
But you can't have Mr. Peeg's slippers because (a) they're mine and (b) you wouldn't be barefooted if you had them. Just sayin'.
:-)
September 29, 2009 1:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uh huh! I can have them 'cause they're mine - who says I have to wear them on my feet? But as you pointed out, there are two pairs. I might be willing to share ...
September 29, 2009 2:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perfect!
(Seriously, I do miss you!)
September 29, 2009 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It appears to be a moo(t)-slipper point, I'm afraid. The peeg has returned! But should he stray again, we need to keep an eye on Quinn's sticky fingers.
You, too.
September 29, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Barefoot: off topic I know but I cannot find your email address. If you still have mine, please contact me; I will be your neck of the NC coast for at least three months beginning mid-October. More later.
September 29, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Done!
September 29, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, that Quinn guy was trying to horn his way into our act!
Check out Mr. Peeg's packaging for his new product.
What think?
September 29, 2009 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perfect, Shell!
September 29, 2009 6:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sayings:
If you don't stop that I'll hurt you with my brain.
Mind over matter. If you don't mind it doesn't matter.
Nucking futs.
With all due respect. (a "nice" way of saying "f@*k you")
Words:
Pontificate
Discombobulated
Quark
Nebulous
September 28, 2009 11:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mind over matter. If you don't mind matter. Pretty damn goooooooooooood, Libertine. ha
Pontificate always a favorite because Caesar was supreme Pontiff just like El Papa.
September 29, 2009 12:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah dd, me being of Italian ancestry and Caesar being a paisan of mine, pontificate works in that regard, hahaha.
And another line, from a favorite movie of mine, could have made my phrases list...
"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son"
LMAO!!!!
D-Day? Whereabouts unkown...what a second are you him?
September 29, 2009 12:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gaming the System
Used by Republicans or neo-cons as an excuse for regime change or invasions, or simply as a catch all partisan attack.
September 29, 2009 12:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hi Noble. Long time no see. Gaming the System.
Democracy in action. AND THEY ARE PROUD OF IT!!!
September 29, 2009 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Word: egregious
For your next Cheney post, here is a new list of egregious sins that he perpetrated upon our regulatory system.
Favorite line: ...he needed killin'
Southernism: Some people are so inherently evil that if one turns up murdered it's because he needed killin'.
September 29, 2009 12:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I forgot to mention that he needed killin' is a valid defense in these parts. Everyone on the jury understands that.
September 29, 2009 12:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Geeeeeez Seashell, mighty tough language from a puppy. hahaha.
Great link...just great. I do not even have to bookmark it now. I will start on somethin about this tomorrow.
HE AND RUMMY DEREGULATED THE DAMN DOJ AND.......
Oh see. Time to listen to some Cat Stevens or some such. ha
September 29, 2009 1:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm mostly fine, dd. How are you? Is is really 32 degrees there? We're still cleaning up from last weeks flood down here.
September 29, 2009 2:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Sometimes bad, all the time good."
(- from a Vietnamese grocer who described my son who played hours of video at her market in the 80's. I still use it on him.)
Who rulz the quaquaverse? Quisquis.
Quaquaversal means "turned in whatever way", from Latin quisquis. In geology it means "dipping in all directions". Some days are like that.
September 29, 2009 1:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. there's an expression somewhere sound like kis kiss. It has to come from this quis quis. drippin...
Quaquaversal.....oh i get it. like reversal. verse..
qua is which.....
Sometimes bad, all the time gooooood. You know sometimes I feel like that Strato. The worst is better than nuttin.
You sure got me thinkin...
September 29, 2009 1:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
"The worst is better than nuttin." Now there's a good one DD!
Here's another quaqua-verse going off in all directions at once.
* 1990: "She had a long look at him, and after having just spent hours with Frenesi’s face, found it easier now to make out, past the quaquaversal beard and smudged eyeglass lenses, as clearly as she ever would in Zoyd her own not-yet-come-to-terms-with face." — Thomas Pynchon, Vineland
September 29, 2009 1:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
It is 32 windchill here. Fall has come. I dropped two books at the library.
Gives me a reason to see if I can find something by Pynchon. I certainly have heard him quoted before.
smudged eyeglass lenses......And the beard every which way. Drawing a picture with words.
September 29, 2009 1:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
When Shakespeare saw his first cowboy:
"Oh, what manner of men are these,
who wear their balls in parentheses?"
Which leads to "balls to the wall" (which actually refers to the governor on an aircraft engine).
Wirds? How about "steel"? Steeeeeel.
Oh, yeah, one I saw written on a wall.
"No left turn unstoned."
September 29, 2009 2:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
No left turn unstoned.
Left turns in the old days, the left lane would be stacked up for blocks. In the city during rush hour. Left turn signals help a little.
I think its the postal services that now just make right hand turns. ha
Kind of like our country from time to time.hahaha
Steel is a HARD WORD. would not think you would have a hard word beginning with 's'. hahaha
September 29, 2009 2:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Did you get it? I passed it by a few times before it hit me:
"Leave no stone unturned."
September 29, 2009 3:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh of course i got it. I had that 1.5 second delay which always says: this is a goooooooooood line.
September 29, 2009 3:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Asinine.
I confess- I love it. Its everything you say and the ultimate sin in today's intellectual world. There is simply nothing more insulting then to be labeled asinine. Or, at least as someone who has accused a few in the past. It feels good. I feel guilty sharing, but it does. I hate the asinine, but I love the concept. If it didn't exist i would make it my mission to coin it.
Lets see other favorites:
Acerbic-God that just doesn't get used enough. You can feel it.
Insipid- oh the insinuations...
obstreperous- just sounds like it means.I might be a prick, but don't fuck with me.
Verdant. Simply a beautiful concept. More please!
Effervescent.
Mirth. Well that is why I read DDay (that and the healthy rage ;)
I am sure I have hundreds more (well tens at least). I second many of the above like Jejune (always loved), discombobulated, etc.
September 29, 2009 2:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah mirth. It has a celtic ring to it which just means screwed around Latin in this instance anyway.
Insipid becomes over used, then its gone, and then it is back again.
Verdant. Life force. Oh yes. Maybe the word of the night Sal. I feel that force leaving me like leaves leave the trees this time of year.
Very good. Very fine.
September 29, 2009 2:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
At the end of the day. Not YOU, Dick! Just the over worked phrase. Because the end just never comes with some phrases' usage, ya know?
Have a good day. Also.
September 29, 2009 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's right Loosey. That's it.
THE END.
September 29, 2009 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
The "collective" is gonna get you for this dickday.
I hate the word "paradigm".
September 29, 2009 9:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Collective works. I want to use Paradigm too often. I think it has to do with its strange spelling.
I found, quite accidentally, that I would stay away from words that I could not spell. Now I embrace them but I take that too far.
Collective has so many connotations; politically and socially. I had not thought on this for some time.
September 29, 2009 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Skullduggery! (Arrrrr!)
Quintessence. (sounds great)
Niggardly. (because it confuses people)
Taciturn. (Get off my Lawn!)
Pure. (speaks for itself)
September 29, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well Dorn, You should win for grouping.
I get afeard of Niggardly, but I still use it.
Quintessence. Puffery? But I like that word anyway. It is one of those terms you must be careful with. Certainly use it only once in a piece and do not follow up with it again in your next piece.
Similarly with taciturn. Taciturn has that 'classics' feel about it. Do you not think?
September 29, 2009 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed, I do, kind Sir.
September 29, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vermillion.
invective.
disinform/prevaricate/dissemble.
disabuse.
strumpet/trollop.
inane.
lachrymose.
malingerer.
fetid.
I may get points off my score because I named no phrases, but still I feel I should win anyway because I contributed the most words and consistent with my nature some of the most derisive and objectionable ones!
September 29, 2009 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Lacuna" - no list is complete without it.
September 29, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
sorry, meant to reply to acamus, but this list is worthy too.
"Disabuse" accomplishes the seemingly impossible, and "vermilion" is in the title of one of my favorite books of all time- "Vermilion Sands" by J.G. Ballard.
September 29, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
drivel!
September 29, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
vermilion, OTT?
Love Gerard Manley Hopkins phrase "...gash, gold vermilion..."
Thanks for the reminder.
September 29, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vermilion's rhyme in the poem, "sillion," deserves mention, too.
And the mere fact that this is another word my dictionary can't handle only "endears" (another Hopkins word) it to me the more.
The poem, as well as the definition, can instead be found here.
http://www.jacredford.com/pds/
September 29, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for that, Diachronic. Truly appreciated.
September 29, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
lacuna
bathos
September 29, 2009 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Doomer beat you on bathos, Acamus. But Lacuna...
'a space or gap, a missing section in a manuscript...'
I love both of these words. Do not think I ever used either of them to my advantage. Would you say:
The lacunae in your thinking patterns are monumental?
September 29, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought there wouldn't be any good word left by the time I got to this, but how about
Flapdoodle
gewgaw
and for phrases
my tongue got in the way of my eye teeth and I couldn't see what I was saying
And a spoonerism.
You're listening to the CBC: The Canadian Broadcorping Castration.
And a Parker definition: Horticulture
You can lead a hore to culture, but you can't make her think
And thank you for Professor Irwin Corey. I credit to my profession.
September 29, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
See, I knew you would come. This was built for you. hahahaaha
Maybe forty years ago, but its been a long, long time since I heard this one.And Professor Corey, well in his prime, at least while I was still a child, was funny, funny, funny.
September 29, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Gewgaw" led me immediately to "hoi polloi".
September 29, 2009 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
My favorite phrase: "That went over your head like an airplane over a cow."
My favorite word: Verbatim.
September 29, 2009 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
LIKE AN AIRPLANE OVER A COW? HHAHAHA
Where in the frick did you find that one?
September 29, 2009 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I made it up. lol It was an inside joke for awhile between me and a friend, then it slipped into everyday usage.
September 29, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Um, you going to eat that?"
September 29, 2009 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do not know why, but that IS funny. I do not know why because things are funny or not funny.
Logic is lost.
September 29, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Two long time favorites of mine:
Gadzooks!
Bah!
And a phrase I'm fond of:
"Hold your horses!"
September 29, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
heheheheeeeeee. I do not run into:
HOLD YOUR HORSES!!!
All that much anymore. Now it is again permanently etched onto my brain. I am sure that my next comment or post will contain that idiotic phrase thanks to you. Now I cannot stop laughing!!
Gadzooks, hold your horses, more like.
September 29, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Glad ya like my picks!
I like the look on a young person's face when I use the phrase "hold your horses." It perplexes them to no end and you get that squinting "huh?" look.
Another good word:
pilgrim
I especially like it as used in times gone by as in "Where ya headed pilgrim?" I loved it's use in dialog by Will Geer in the movie Jeremiah Johnson.
September 29, 2009 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Harmony
Melody
Symphony
Ebullient
Fulsome
Canaveral
PissWhizzle
Phooey
Boogers and Farts!
Boswellia (said in an east-indian/british accent)
"He doesn't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt."
September 29, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wendy, now you have taken me back to the eighth grade.
Thank you!!
September 29, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ruh-roh. Those words are ubiquitous (another fave) in my idiomatic vernacular still.
September 29, 2009 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
words I like but don't understand:
plonking (something heavy hit you on the head?)
portentous (something big fat men say...?)
prig (something polite to call prickish pigs...?)
parlous (so bad you don't want to talk about it?)
pollulating, practicable (stupid ways of elongating words...?)
all I got is p's today, Dick...
;0)
September 29, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quaint Obey. Remember you must mind your 'Ps" and your 'Qs". Ha!
Prig. I am drawn, of course, to older English terms.
September 29, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
A fan of parlous, myself. Suggesting parsing, somehow.
September 29, 2009 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
More words and phrases Obey hears a lot of... but probably doesn't understand:
- Deodorant
- Table manners
- Anything in the Swiss language
- Don't put your hand there
- Nose hair trimmer
- Please go back and read what I wrote
- Trough manners
- Do that again, and I'll stick your nose in it
- I can't believe you put that inn your mouth
- Quadrophenia
- Anti-perspirant
- Bloody Rude American
- Pit manners
September 29, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL!
First my penis, now my personal hygiene, eh? ALL I GOT TO SAY TO YOU...
September 29, 2009 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL!
First my penis, now my personal hygiene, eh? ALL I GOT TO SAY TO YOU...
September 29, 2009 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahahahhah. I did not get this.
Obey really should call you out for a duel or something.
September 29, 2009 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obey can't even remember whether he's already posted a comment or not! HA! And double le HAHA!
After all, he should know about the historic antagonism between the Canadians and the Swiss. It's BITTER, Dick. After all, WE'RE supposed to be the global good guys, peacekeeping, all of that. But noooooo. Along come the Swiss with their "neutrality" and their clocks and cleanliness and their steenking cheese, posing as "good guys." I, for one, am thoroughly Sick of the Swiss.
P.S. Sorry Obey, nuthin' personal. Just tryin' to generate an exciting new international conflict. Thought this needed more airing.
P.P.S. How's Heidi?
September 29, 2009 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Phrases/terms:
Dumb as a bag of hammers...
Can't find his ass with both hands...
Left-handed compliment...
Moral turpitude...
Cold as a well-digger's ass... (Who the hell did the research for that one?)
September 29, 2009 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dumb as a bag of hammers. hahahaha
All I can think is clunk, clunk.
September 29, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Linoleum, magnolia, lullaby, and apocalypse, which sounds like something you should dance to while skipping lightly and is, therefore, a candidate for another favorite -- oxymoron!
September 29, 2009 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
It sure does. Now grab your partner, curtsy low, twirl around do see do...now apocalypse to ya.
September 29, 2009 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Words - cuspidor and spitoon - such lovely words for such a yucky thing.
Phrase - All the brains God promised a doorknob.
September 29, 2009 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
The cuspidor as kind of social approval for spitting spittle in public. Strange but where the hell did the ash trays go?
THAT'S NOT RIGHT....PROMISING THINGS TO DOORKNOBS, THAT IS JUST NOT RIGHT. hahahahaha
September 29, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RJRxNRUq7I
I had another one, but I got a Bizet signal when I tried to dial it up.
September 29, 2009 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Professor, I understand that it represents a life's work...but jeeeeeeeeeeez, you gotta get away from those students, especially the boys. hhhahahaahah
September 29, 2009 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, I haven’t heard that for ages - my mother loved that cuspidor verse, only she started it out “Oh, Theodore” instead.
September 29, 2009 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is amazing DD. I love the word fantastic and use it as often as I can. Another good word (combination of words actually) is cellar door, I believe Drew Barrymore said that it was the most wonderful sound in the English language (this was in Donnie Darko).
September 29, 2009 3:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Professor, every once in awhile I get the greatest discussion going. And this at the same time as Miguel's own discussion. Snark is evident but people are really sincere about their words and phrases.
I wish I could do high school all over again sometimes. If the kids could know, could feel these words and phrases as tools in a greater propaganda war besides a great game for any arena.
Fantastic as in Fantasia. Cellar door. You are the second to point this out. A mysterious cover over the dark and murky. The unseen.
September 29, 2009 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great, I'll check out Miguel's now, be sure to check out my latest entry. I'm feeling combative.
September 29, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
The English compound cellar door (UK: /ˈselədɔ:/) plays a certain role in discussions of phonoaesthetics; a widely repeated claim first put forward by J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay English and Welsh (1955) holds that its sound is intrinsically beautiful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellar_door
September 29, 2009 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for pointing that out.
Spelling is such a bare convention, compared to the subtleties of sound. 'Selladaw.'
September 29, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
STRANGE. Very strange.
September 29, 2009 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The timeline makes sense, I would have been six years old. The Tolkien reference would have been something we heard on the radio.
September 29, 2009 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Words:
Ziggurat
Noosphere
Cybernetics
Goetia
Bardo
Scram!
Attrition
Trifecta
Tryptich
Shenanigans
Phrases:
Jesus Christ on a (fill in the blanks).
Who gives a flying fuck?
That's horseshit! You know it, I know it, and the horse sure knows it.
September 29, 2009 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Goetia, nothing in the dictionary but several sites on the web for this strange, strange concept.
Ziggurat. Well its the only z word I find today in this rather busy blog. I forgot zeal which I really do love. The stairway rising on the outside of the multi leveled temple?
noosphere: Makes sense really, form the Greek noos.I have heard this term before. I should think it should be linked to Gaeia? The earth as an organism?
Tryptich; I had one of these, Asian, before I lost everything. Loved it. Dictionary wants to substitute the y for your i.
Wonderful. I,of course, looked up all the words in this long discourse that I thought were fuzzy on my memory. I try to do that most of the time because everytime I am assuming, well......
Great words. You made me work Zip but you usually do!! ha
September 29, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink