culled from list five's comment section and a few willing twitter peeps. these are your favorites. and now they're mine too.
1. scrumptious
2. tweeze
3. clunky
4. marsh
5. hullabaloo
6. defenestrate
7. aboulia
8. unctuous
9. new york
10. montagne
11. qualms
12. rapprochement
13. iridescent
14. vestibule
15. shenanigans
16. smithereens
17. incandescence
18. menagerie
19. quixotic
20. moisture
21. aperture
22. aesthetic
23. hijinx
24. broccoli
25. apropos
26. humdinger
27. exacerbate
28. conundrum
29. onomatopoeia
30. swoon
31. literary
32. et cetera
33. gingham
34. yummy
35. luscious
36. subterfuge
37. anthropomorphic
38. quandary
39. caliber
40. delete
41. plethora
42. palpable
43. superfluous
44. lovely
45. hootenanny
46. scalawag
47. insane
48. zack
49. beloved
50. allegorical
51. moonlight
52. mayhaps
53. sublime
54. bemoan
55. bequest
56. tiny
57. hello
58. deluxe
59. bonus
60. cozy
61. angst
62. rustic
63. ballerina
64. melancholy
65. chartreuse
oh you word lovers, you. you are my people. I spent a good part of the afternoon rolling these words around my mouth. I said many out loud and spent more time with a dictionary than I'd care to admit. these are good words. these are really really good words. they deserve to be written over and over again, to be used in sentences and paragraphs and stories of all kinds. they deserve to be said out loud, to be casually interjected into conversation whenever possible, proclaimed with conviction over dinner when the lull is too much and muttered softly under breath when there's nothing else to say. thank you for sharing. thank you very much.
consider this an open call for more words. there's no end to good words. I am sure of it.
(seven down, forty-five to go)
81 comments:
I loved your first list of words a couple days ago. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this expanded list and can't wait to watch it continue to grow!
I like the word "myriad."
your blog .. is so spirited. it expresses something so well! not to be philosophical. (but i am in college) anyways- i was thinking about favorite words today so i was shocked to see this. but i really love the word "round" and "clutch" is a favorite too.
these are such great words! i also love that you let 'new york' slide as a word.
since i missed the last post, i'll put my favorite word here: ameliorate. i worked it into my english vocabulary once i started speaking french.
When I think of fun words, i think of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uuCNAwXGaQ&feature=related
I'm copying the list into my sketchbook as I write this... English is only my second language so there's many that I don't understand, but still... I think sometimes you don't even have to learn the meaning to hear the song that these words sing.
I have always been fascinated by the names for colours like viridian, alizarin crimson, aureolin, carmine, sepia, indigo...the list goes on and on.
Colour charts and sheet music have the same function, at least for me.
i love polka dot. i guess it's 2 words, but i like to pretend it's one! and by the way, i have never commented before, but i have been consistently reading your blog for 2 years and i LOVE it. the dancer in me loves it. the artist in me loves it. the wordsmith in me loves it. thank you for being there!
Great list...love #45!
There are way too many to choose from, but I'd say my top three are: crescendo, crepuscular and ruckus :)
Super List !!!
Archipelago is my favorite word; I don't much get to use it in ordinary conversation, so it's turned into a pet name for my children. They are old enough to roll their eyes at weird mama.
No matter. Still like the word.
I literally got giddy when I started to scan the list and then happy to see HULLABALOO make it! yay!
Not to inspire another list but another favorite word over here is Habiba. It's arabic meaning beloved one and when we lived in the Middle East there was a OMG sweets shop there called Habiba Al Nabulsi. It was my little one's favorite so now she calls sweets Habiba :)ha! You can't say it without smiling.
What fun! I'll throw in "succulent".
My sweet 8-year old would like to contribute "pachycephalosaurus", and my sweet baby would like to contribute "love". *sigh*
oh! and "indubitably"!
What a fabulous list! Words are my absolute favorite-- think about what you can do with them all!
Two more for your list: moxie and serenity.
I am a word lover as well. I subscribe to dictionary.com's word of the day email. I look forward to it. Does that make me weird? boring? Nah!
oh, man, this is SUCH a good list!
my favorite word, said aloud (by my husband specifically), is "honestly."
as for written words . . . wow. i will have to give that one some thought!
At our house we say naughty instead of bad. I think we got it from my husbands English relatives.
don't have time to ponder those right now but i want to...it is on my "TO DO LIST" but i want to add my fav...nincompoop!
LOVING the list idea! Very inspiring, and I think I may just have to follow suit! I love the word "conducive"
dumpling.
patina.
aubergine.
courgette.
Cool words!
One of my favs: Nuances
Another is Despite
mellifluous....love how it sounds like exactly what it means
Great list...hullabaloo is awesome.
One of my personal faves that I'd like to add is: wonky!
indefatigable
Shenandoah.
Articulate.
Enumerate.
Hope.
Illustrious.
Wonder.
Hey, I'm a big list maker meself and somehow stumbled on your blog! I LOVES! Here are a few suggestions for lists that are fun to think of and fun to talk about with others:
-favorite childhood television shows: Fraggle Rock, Full House, Ahh! Real Monsters
-favorite 90's songs: Got a Be - Deseree
-favorite summer activities: beaching, pooling, wearing summer clothes
Anyway, I am enjoying your blog!
-Margaret
areyouthereworld.blogspot.com
hyperbole. epic. pilfer. atrocious.
Funny, I had a similar blogpost ages ago. The words I waxed on about were:
Exquisite
Reliquary
Sonata.
Here's the link if you're curious:
http://madcapchronicles.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/lust-and-other-objects/
Shenanigans, hullabaloo and hijinx are some of my favorites!
Some to add: tomfoolery, panqueque (Spanish for pancake), crawdaddy, sluice, bangarang (from kids movie Hook) and finito!
Let's not forget harangue! :)
Ahhh I love language so much. "Hyperbole" is one of my favourites.
You forgot one of my personal favorites: discombobulate.
I was busily looking things up and feeling silly, and then I get to the part where you were also using the dictionary and I laughed to myself...what a great list.
Uber. That's my favorite. "My grandson is uber cute." See. Love it
SURREPTITIOUS - love that one
Cattywampus! We musn't forget cattywampus!
I think I cursed a cat by naming him Melancholy...Choly for short, of course. Poor cat. Beautiful word. My favorite since the 9th grade.
yes, yes, I too am a fan of onomatopoeia. k
rascal.
i'm a word lover, too -- in fact, am doing my 365 photo project centered around words:
http://eleganceofwords.blogspot.com
i will be linking to this wonderful list!
i like word combinations:
"spontaneous combustion" is one of my faves.
i have so enjoyed reading your lists ~ the words you love most especially.
I love using flotsam indiscriminately.
Also, kosher for anything NOT having to do with meat.
Words are so great.
I'm a graphic designer so visual aspects of words appeal to me. Let me suggest these:
awkward
appaloosa
photo
bicycle
fork
As always, you inspire me.
What a fun project! I love words... Love reading the dictionary. Here are 3 more words:
mayhem
scrumptious
prosaic
alrightie. 1- i find your blog so wildly inspiring. oh my goodness, it's wonderful.
2- i love words! every time i read one i like, i find myself whispering it to myself all day long. some people think i'm crazy.
My goodness, I just started a list of favorite words a week or so ago and have not finished it to post yet. I must get mine up on my page!
Some of these are my favorite as well. So much fun visiting here.
syrup. mmmm, sweet words...
I was just thinking today about how I like this word:
hootenanny
:)
yay - love it! i'm a designer who suffers from an obsessive typography disorder (OTD) so i really dig words and i love to play with them - here are some of my favs:
eeks (i use this way too often), wither, swell, chums, perhaps, ghastly, mortified, jaded, cabbage and teehee (i use this one too much as well - i can't help it and i'm not even sure it is a word).
lovely lovely blog :) cheers :)
dappled,
has always been a favourite
of mine.
LOVE this.
great words.. i love this list.. all the words are so much fun to say.
periwinkle. and in italian, my other language, prego.
Apothecary.
Presumptuous.
:)
irk. spirit. melancholy. disgruntled.
How about the German letter 'y'. Ypsilon - pronounced oopsylon.
I like it when little slang terms pop into my kids' vocabulary. Like when they are so little and they say something like, "I just bonked my noggin'" in the midst of tears. Or when we all start saying "tummy button" instead of belly button because one of them said that as a baby.
But my brain is wierd. I can't command it to bring up favorite words. I'm trying right now and it's not working. I love your list.
oh these are so going in my wordpool!
effervescent is one of my faves
as is convivial, though i don't use either of them often enough!
:)
Nascent. I love nascent. For the sound, and the meaning.
And linger.
And confess!!
Bailiwick, too.
prestidigitation. perspicacious. paripatetic. polemic. syphilis (!). sibilant. sordid. sussurration. lament. lullaby. lavish. lascivious. luscious. vivification. vivacious. voracious. vindictive. ferocious. fallible. fornicate. defenestrate. absquatulate. ocean.
what a great fun idea - my word is "yummy"
No love for serendipity? I'm looking up #7, aboulia, now. xo
you have inspired me to start my own...funny thing is when i went to my documents folder i found a folder called "words i love"...apparently i had already started a list ages ago and forgotten about it...HA!
a few words from my list...
wedge, peony, timepiece, agile, aubade, billet-doux, cayenne, flibbertigibbet, lapidary, benison, mahogany, ecru, mellifluous, mocha, orchard, piddle, ruckus, sagebrush, brushstroke, stoic, sprinkle, subterranean, swig, thorax, tangled...
i could go on and on...
leotard, crimson, vermillion, love, heart, creme, breathe
serendipity. the meaning and the way it sounds so zippidy do da like.
i like smarmy....
My favorite word is actually the French word for marshmallow, which is guimauve.
yesterday i heard the word 'cretin' somewhere and i dwelled on it for ages. it's just so fun to say, in english or french!
'idiosyncratic'...I say it to bug my 8 year old. She is inexplicably repulsed by it! My favourite, though, is loquacious. Superb list.
Oh, delicious words - I love this! Going to have to make my own list...
Hello, I'm new round these parts. I love your blog.
Oh, what a great list... BUT... it needs a 'shamozzle' definitely! I promise adding a 'shamozzle' won't make the list a shamozzle. : ) ~ Alisa
proposterous!
is 'town crier' anywhere near in the list?
l o v e that word... and its meaning... :)
persnickity, besmirch, snarky, bodacious, to list a few of my faves
sojourney, kaleidescopic, elevate
catastrophe.
my favorite word is "haraya". It's translation is imagination in our language, which is Filipino. In our dictionary, haraya was defined as the ability of the mind to create an image you have never seen or experienced before.
I like "astragal".
I love this list of words :)
whenever I'm in the mood to write a song or poem, I pull up this list, and write a couple on my arm. that way, when I have a sudden spark of inspiration, I have a "copius" amount of words to choose from, thanks to your compiliations! :)
xoxo
You might really enjoy a poem by Marilyn Krysl called "Saying Things." She lists the words she loves and talks about the beauty of "your mouth . . . speaking the thing into existence." I never respond to these sorts of things (different generation, I suppose), but I enjoyed your entry immensely and thought you might like to hear what Ms. Krysl has to say. Aloha
My last name is Marsh and Zack is my brothers name so I had to comment on this, and I word that I love is xiphoid
a little late but "apropos" that one i love.
i like 'frond', 'obsidian' and 'brioche'.
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