Here’s a fun meme that I got at Semi-colon.
Words that always look misspelled to me:
cemetery
restaurant
pastime
Words I enjoy saying:
twilight, elixir, evensong, bullshit, Turkmenistan, nonsense, epistolary, spheres
Words I enjoy hearing:
“God, you’re pretty.”
“Forecast: 5 straight days of rain.”
Abbreviations I dislike:
Number one pet peeve in this arena: TWP for township. What the HELL is that? TWP??? Gimme a break. It literally makes me ANGRY when I see it on highway signs.
I’m also not wacky about “lb” to be honest with you.
Proper nouns I enjoy:
Glendalough
Narragansett Beach
Alexander Hamilton
Orion
Mr. Darcy
James Joyce
Milky Way
Mac Cosmetics
Words I associate with happiness:
music, theatre, family, books, beach, peace
Words I always misspell:
“embarrass”. I had to spell-check that. I just never get it right, it is not in my head, the way most other words are.
Other than that, I’m a terrific speller, but I always get stuck on that one.
Oh, and “recommend” sometimes gives me pause as well. Two c’s? One m?
Words I enjoy spelling correctly, every time:
Versailles
The whole it’s/its thing. I NEVER get that wrong. EVER. And if I do? It’s a typo. You’ll have to take my word for that. There are other grammar rules I’m not so confident of, in terms of mastery (uhm … I/me …) but that one I have down cold.
medieval
Words that, though I love their meaning, Im too embarrassed to say out loud:
I actually don’t really have this. I’m not embarrassed by much – at least not when it comes to language. If I love a word’s meaning – then I’m sayin’ it. Critics and fragile egos be damned.
I guess, though, that I am embarrassed (*spell-check*) every time I am forced to use the word “plether”. It makes my skin crawl. Thankfully, it doesn’t come up that often.
Words I can never remember the meaning of no matter how many times I look them up:
bimonthly
entropy
Words that sound like what they mean:
sneer
mud
gloomy
Words that sound like something other than what they mean:
enervating
What are some of your favorite words?
mahjong
elixir
halleluia
blueberry
calculus
Your least favorite?
Scone
Plether
hat-tip (you’ll never find the words “hat-tip” on my blog. I just cannot. STAND. IT.)
Oh – and I don’t like “Meh” either – but that’s just blog-speak. (More blog-speak terms I cannot stand: Well, first of all: “blogosphere”. Ew. I have hated that from Day One. Can’t stand “money quote” either. Ick. I can’t stand any of it.)
How much I despise blog-speak should be another post altogether … so I’ll let it go for now.
Oh, I think I’m gonna do this one. Although … several of mine are the same as yours, so … hm.
By the way, what exactly is “meh”? I’m embarrassed to ask, but what the heck is it??
Oh – people use it as a dismissive statement.
“I loved Beverly Hills 90210! Did you?”
“Meh. It was okay.”
I just don’t like it. I like some of the people who use the word “Meh” – so those of you who use “Meh” – don’t get all on my case about it – I just don’t like the word.
Tracey – and I love that we have similar tastes in words … why am I not surprised???
:)
I hate hate hate the word “panties.”
If you’re older than three, you don’t wear panties. You wear underwear, or thongs, or whatever. NOT. PANTIES.
Lisa – hahahaha!
You know – I’m with you on that. Never really thought about it, but now that I am, I totally agree.
“panties” — AGGHHHHH!!!
I’m no longer able to get the it’s/its’ thing right. I used to be proud of that but something has gone wrong with the synapses.
And when you say “plether”, do you mean the fake leather? i’ve never seen it spelled out. and if i did, i’d always assumed it was “pleather”. but maybe that is just me.
me like a plethora of plether.
and sorry girls, panties is a hot word. could you have a thong raid? boy short raid? no. panty raid? oh yeah!
Bren – yeah, fake leather. Ew. I suppose it should be spelled like that – and I’ve never even looked it up … it kinda skeeves me out to even think about.
Pleather as in: my long tan coat I wore as a kid, because it was the only way that I could get close to Fonzie. I had to have a “leather” coat.
Twas the coat immortalized in the Sturbridge Village pictures when Susan and I were so mean to Lisa.
Well, maybe you should add it to your commonly misspelled words then. and ‘mispelled’ is one of them. two s’s? one?
This made me laugh out loud:
I’m also not wacky about “lb” to be honest with you.
Bren – hahaha You are right. I don’t even know if that word is in the dictionary. It’s a fake word!!!
Like “blogosphere”!
Jess –
I just have such bad associations with that “lb” … I think the abbreviation needs to have at least ONE vowel in it, to lighten things up, and also to make whatever weight you are not sound so heavy.
“ou” in “pound” would be much better.
More vowels, please!
And “twp” is just unforgivable on multiple levels.
Oh, and do not ever say the word “scone” in my presence.
“Panties”.
I hate it.
I’m so glad another woman finally said it. Chrisanne and I NEVER use that word. I feel like I’m in grade school:
“I need new panites. I’m going to go panty shopping.”
I think if women need to use it, so should men. Can you imagine?
“Hey Bob, I just bought the most comfortable panties today. Then I went to the hardware store and bought a wrench. In my panites.”
Can you say the word scone with a short ‘o’ and make it really pretentious? Pronouncing it like gone…
ewww, that’s even worse.
Favorite word: calculus…
Hopefully you were thinking of Newtonian math and not the hardened plaque deposits.
Or Bren –
How ’bout ‘ricotta’ – said in that phony accent that made us scream with annoyance.
“Ricohda …”
I can’t write it phonetically – but member how that drove us insane??
JFH –
I just love the sound of the word. I don’t care either way.
The question wasn’t: Words that you love the MEANING of. Or: what are your favorite THINGS. It’s “what are some of your favorite words”.
I’m not wacky about blueberries – I’m a strawberry girl myself – but I love the word “blueberry”.
Etc.
Alex –
“Hey, Bob …”
hahahaha
And I just need to repeat something from your blog, because it bears repeating:
I need to put on my Vera Wang to go get a simple rectal exam.
Mm-hm.
GENIUS.
OT: Alex, this was me two weeks ago Thursday. . .
Squee!
::sob::
LOVED. IT.
“Then we stopped off at Balduccis and bought some ricohdda …”
SHADDUP!!!
Hmmm, this is a common conversation between my wife and I:
(daughter can’t get here pants up after going to the bathroom)
Me: Pull up your underwear first before trying to pull up your pants!
Wife: Girls don’t wear “underwear”, they wear “panties”
Must be a Southern thing…
It’s not a Southern thing. I grew up in the midwest, and I can remember my mom asking the high-school me if I packed enough panties for camp. Ack.
I’m still standing by it: Younger than three? Panties. Older than three? Underwear.
You’ll never catch me saying panties.
Oh – I found something hysterical that relates. We had a conversation here a while ago about “favorite words” – Here’s the post – everyone chimed in with their favorite words in the comments.
and then I asked if everyone could work all of our favorite words into some kind of paragraph or narrative.
GENIUS ensued – I’ve been reading thru them and guffawing with laughter:
Here they are.
…But doesn’t the meaning of the word have an effect, in an onomatopoetic sense, to the sound of the word, Sheila?
My favorite one still is:
To this day, dad swears (usually with a glass of scotch in hand, or some other elixir) that his fondest memory is the conflagration which resulted from the schools not-so-solid decision to combine a fireworks display with their annual scrimshaw festival.
I can’t stop reading that sentence – I am howling.
JFH –
Maybe, but that’s not the question. I’m not interested in that. Separate the meaning from the sound. That’s the game.
I just like the word “calculus”. I like the multiple “u”s in calculus – and I am, in general, very fond of words with “l” in them.
Another word I adore is:
“mellifluous”.
This also has the “u” factor, as well as the “l” factor.
Another one from that old post:
The patient was a sluttish louche, overly fond of hedonism. He had sullied his reputation beyond repair, and gradually made his descent into madness. Nookie had ruined him. When he discussed the creature, he would start to gesticulate wildly, and the electroencephalograph readings showed dangerous excitations of the humours. He would also repeat the phrase: “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtan” which I mistakenly believed was nonsense.
Seriously – people are BRILLIANT.
I’m shaking with laughter.
“Hey Bob, I just bought the most comfortable panties today. Then I went to the hardware store and bought a wrench. In my panties.”
The only flaw in this is that men never buy their own underwear/panties. If no one buys them new ones for Christmas or birthdays, they just wear the same ones until they rot off their loins.
“Loins”, by the way, is a fun word to say. “Panties” is also a fun word, because I – like David Letterman – think the word “pants” is hilarious. “Underpants” ALWAYS trumps “underwear”.
Like who DOESN’T like the word “mellifluous”… I know see what you mean about “lu” factor words.
… Oh, and a correction, my wife says “little girls” wear panties: women wear underwear… Married 17 years and I just get that now?!
Mark
“loins” is an excellent word and definitely not used enough.
I also enjoy “tuberculosis”. Gorgeous word.
I love “brilliant.” I say it all the time, like Madge.
King of the U-words? Vacuum.
Vacuum is amazing. Can’t touch this!
I’m a bit fond of “turbulence” as well.
cuticular – having the properties of dead or horny epidermis…
Boy that’s a dichotomy for Mr. Epidermis… horny OR dead, kind of describes most male teenagers.
amusingly, on a pant-type note, we were talking in honours about how the Victorians called pants “inexpressibles” and called undergarments the standard “unmentionables”. i think we need a return to inexpressibles as a regular term!
To wear
The unmentionable clothes
To express
Inexpressible garments…
Hmm… I actually like the word “scone” but only because it looks like “stone” and makes me think of hard smooth grey round things, which was intensified by my reading a book called The Throne of Scone… I was very disappointed to find out that scones were neither smooth nor grey.
I also like the word “scintillation” a lot, although I was also crushed to find out that it wasn’t pronounced with a “k” sound! It doesn’t sound nearly as, well, scintillating to me with an “s” sound…
scintillating is an EXCELLENT word.
And yes – to call my thongs “inexpressibles” would be MUCH closer to the actual truth!!
I love that! To acknowledge that some things just should NOT be spoken or seen.
Kinda like elbows and knees. Didn’t the Victorians have those long tablecloths because even the feet and legs of tables were considered “inexpressible”??
Nice word – melody or melodious
Ugly word – phlegmatic
Sheila- Lb disdain just confirms that you and Conor are kindred spirits. He HATES that abbreviation, too!! And here is my theory re:panties vs. underwear.
Everyday, normal wear= underwear
Beautiful, “going out”, potentially-gonna-get-some-action, or you just KNOW you look good enough to deserve something= panties
Beth – hahahaha I love that you have a theory!! This is awesome.
And yeah, I just can’t get behind “lb”. Can’t do it.
Will I see you this weekend? Will you be around?? I’m getting in on Thursday morning.
That was fun. I can never remember how to spell embarrass either. And mahjong is a great word. I love the way it feels in my mouth, smooth and creamy and a little melty like good chocolate :)
Stefanie – I know! I wish I had more occasion to say “mahjong” – I adore that word!
I know i’m a few days late, but Beth you are totally right about the panties vs underwear definitions. You know what I really hate? Not the abbreviation ml. for milliliter, but the fact that some people pronounce it “mil”, like 1 teaspoon = 30 mils. THATS WHAT I HATE!!
LOVE Mahjong!
and you know how i feel about “meme”
meme= ewe
They say “knickers” over here in England. I think it beats hell out of “panties”.
Who could possibly dislike the word “scintillating”? Or “phlegm”?
Your blog-speak aside reminded me of “words” that I really really hate on blog comment threads: “errr” and “ummmm”.
For example:
Person 1: I think X is true because of A.
Person 2: Ummm, A makes no sense.
Generally the tone is much ruder than this sounds. Imagine that A is a long line of reasoning. Person 2 is saying, in effect, “I can’t believe that you’re so stupid that you believe A.”
I generally can’t be objective about the assertions of a person who responds to another’s arguments with a comment preceded by “errr” or “ummm”. I actually get angry when I see those words.