My Favorite Word

Cumbersome

form — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:19:31 +0000

It means troublesome, or a “burden.” I don’t think this word to be incredibly fancy, and I don’t think you’ll turn heads while using it; but I do think that it seems really silly to use such a long word for such a simple thing. Not my homework was hard, nay, my homework was cumbersome.

Steveo
WI

Froward

form — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:31:38 +0000

Meaning perverse or willfully contrary; refractory; not easily managed.

Froward is fun to write as readers often assume you are both misspelling and misusing ‘forward’.

Isidore

Otorhinolaryngologist

form — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:13:08 +0000

It’s so much more exciting to say “I went to the Otorhinolaryngologist” than to say “I went to the Ear Nose and Throat Doctor”.

Shauna

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Fabulist

form — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:14:43 +0000

A liar, or one who tells fables.

This word thrills me to no end, not only for the fact that I rarely hear it, but also because it sounds so similar to fabulous, which fabulists most certainly are.

Chyna
Alaska

Hullabaloo

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:19:35 +0000

I adore the word Hullabaloo (din or fuss). Not only because I can’t say it without smiling, but it just tumbles out my mouth excitedly everytime its spoken. For me it manages to encapsulate childhood magic and exoticism all in one.

Cookie Daniel

Oxymoron

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:18:08 +0000

My favourite word is oxymoron. It just sounds so fantastic. It always reminds me of a large load carrying beast and an idiot. For example an ox carrying Homer Simpson.

Amelia

Sentipensante

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:15:50 +0000

My favorite word came to me via a horoscope reading. In mid page, under the heading of Sagittarius, I read for the first time the word sentipensante. It has it’s root in the Spanish language, and is a thought composite of “to feel while thinking”. The heart and the head should have equal say, and what a euphonic word to describe it.

Ian Campbell

Rhetoric

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:14:52 +0000

My favourite word is rhetoric because it’s such a pleasure to say out loud. Your tongue sweeps down the roof on your mouth before the word ends with a sharp little flourish in the back of your throat. Nabokov makes a similar observation about the name ‘Lolita’ – I love the way that words can be very sensual and enjoyable to say regardless of their meaning.

Rachel

Gobo

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:13:39 +0000

I learned this word in college when I was a theater major. A gobo is a stencil for light used to create patterns. I first encountered it when a director decided to create the illusion of moonlight through trees using a gobo. I immediately thought “cool word,” followed by “what a great name for a band.”

Kara Morin

Spatula

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:11:22 +0000

It’s fun to say. Spa-chu-la. Not spat-oo-la, though. No, that just sounds silly.

Larissa

Inkling

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:10:15 +0000

My favourite English word is definitely inkling. I learned it when looking for some other word in my dictionary, and it immediately made me think of the detective stories I used to read during the summer holidays when I was about 14 years old. This is the perfect word to express the suspicions you have when reading such a story, since they are suspicions that arise from a world of paper… and ink.

lady of the lake

Incognito

form — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:43:54 +0000

One out of the list of my favourite words. I like it because it’s so different to most words you come across. And it has a pretty cool meaning as well: “The condition of having a disguised or concealed identity”

Paul Hunn
Weymouth, Dorset, UK