On Friday I posted about the Guardian Book Blog’s call for your favourite word. Without asking directly, as I’m doing now, Pickled Eel in Sydney added his to my post:
spiflicate [humorous]–to treat roughly or severely; destroy [OED]. Love it!
Whether it’s because it rolls off your tongue, stops it short, or puts the universe in order, a good word makes the difference, in prose and life. If you’re new to writing, make a list of your favorite words, get the Wordsmith word-a-day in your inbox, and begin by falling in love with diction. [One of my former high school students of course put antidisestablishmentarianism on his list. I made him use it in a poem.]
Here’s my short list of words of which I like the sound and/or meaning, to get you started and to which I hope you’ll keep adding–who knows, one day we might even compile the Lit Bloggers Word Dictionary.
epitome (yes, as a young girl I used to pronounce it ep-ih-tome)
mellifluous (James Earl Jones’s pronunciation not figured in)
chatoyant
legerdemain (as in ‘prose legerdemain’)
swivet (as in ‘in a’)
gloaming
knackered
Your turn.
PS_Two great word books I’ve found and often peruse:
Dictionary of Word Origins: A History of the Words, Expressions and Cliches We Use
Literary Lotus 
That brings me back to my residence in London! Great addition, Occy–thanks.
Two or three years ago a very British & rather old man, sightseeing the city where I live, strolled by me, & while pointing his cane at an old building he exclaimed to his wife: ‘Ah, look at that! How absolutely imponderable!’ I had never heard the word before, but ever since that day, I’ve been saying that very word out loud, sometimes as much as three or fours times a day.
Fostoogle, hmmm: not in the OED, but perhaps it should be!
I shall be back once in a while with more but here’s one for now: when we were kids in our teens, my cousin Gary told me about the word, Fostoogle. It means: to confuse.
Thanks Gigi, and All!
hi christine,what a delightful and thought-provoking challenge! there are so many wonderful words to choose from! here are just a few of my favorites:penultimatenefarioussnarkynestlemyopicquagmirehubrisnadiretherealthanks, and btw i love your blog!
A second vote for hyperbole :)And adumbrate. Outline.
Wonderful responses–I so appreciate you all taking the time to indulge in what for me, is indulgent fun. The list so far: 1. bollocks 2. chatoyant 3. desuetude 4. embellish 5. epitome 6. gloaming 7. infinitesimal 8. insouciance 9. knackered 10. legerdemain 11. masticate 12. mellifluous 13. ruminate 14. smithereens 15. spiflicate 16. success 17. swivet 18. tangeloLike I said, if I were teaching creative writing, I might challenge students with a poem using as many of the words on the list–perhaps I should challenge you creative commenters, as well as myself. Hmmm
Hey there,… here’s my favorite word: infinitesimal. It expresses the idea of something so small it cannot be seen or perceived or measured. Have a good one, great blog BTW.K
You’ve just won an award. Dress up –meaning put on your best t-shirt an pick it up!
smithereensCould be anything.Today on Take Five Chef we’re making Smithereens in Mustard Sauce…They came over the hills, torches flaring, smithereens blaring…House Democrats today declared they’d never bow to the demands of Senate smithereens…heh.
How about ‘circuitous’ – the path my day normally takes. Never a straight line……….
I’ve go a few words, but today I’ll add: embellish and tangelo
I’m not sure how to answer. I guess I’m easy, because I like nearly all of them. You just have to watch how you pair them up if you want them to behave.Anyway, for today I guess I’d pick desuetude. It has a nice sound, even if some people want to expel it. Okay, it might have cut a few classes, but I think we should cut it some slack. Desuetude deserves to hang around.______________________________________Desuetude \DES-wih-tood\, noun:The cessation of use; discontinuance of practice or custom; disuse. From Latin desuetudo, “disuse,” from desuescere, “to become unaccustomed,” from de- + suescere, “to become used or accustomed.”
Insouciance
You have got me started now. Epitome reminds me of “hyberbole” – I had no idea how to say it for years – looking it up in the dictionary was no help. But if there was ever a word that rolls of your tongue this is it. Now I promise to go away and do something else. A vote for hyperbole.Cheers (which is a stupid word) but the sentiment is OK. One of my staff needs your web site – he signed off his emails for ages with “chairs” without realising what was doing. OK, leaving now…
Ahh, that made me laugh – which is a good thing when you are in Baghdad. At the risk of being “spiflicated” (which if I recall correctly the the Full Oxford also included the v.i. “to beat”) you have opened a can of worms here with “knackered” which might mean “tired” or “pooped” but also means in my grandfather’s idiom “castrated”. I am here with a bunch of Brits who favour the use of “bollocks” which has a nice ring to it and possible falls into the same colloquial bucket as “knackered.” Well, there is a common testicle theme I guess. Won’t hog the list by throwing out more than one word (other than bollocks) at this point but “ruminate” is a tasty favourite. OK, I can’t help myself. How about “masticate” as well?Appreciate your blog – there is alot of thoughtand work that has gone into it. All the best.
Hmm my favourite word is no doubt Success. besides the obvious meaning, I like how it echoes other words, like excess, and in italian it rhymes also with quite a few other words – process, sex, and more.