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Bombshell: Yes, I Am A Logophile.
Since I have been required to notify everyone in the neighborhood of my legal status, I see no reason to conceal it from you any longer: I am a registered logophile. It’s true. I love words. Shun me if you will, but I am no longer ashamed of the way God made me.
I’m not going to participate in the “nature versus nurture” debate of what caused me to be this way. My family and close friends already knew anyway, and at my advanced age, there’s no reason to stay in the closet.
As required by the terms of my probation, I hereby publish a list of some of my favorite words, along with why I love them so:
- Glossolalia: Speaking in “tongues” in an unknown language. Though this term typically refers to practices in some fundamentalist religions, I also use it to describe sentences constructed by members of Congress, including Maxine Waters, Eric Swalwell, Hank Johnson, AOC, Jeff Sessions, and, of course, the late James Traficant of Ohio.
- Onomatopoeia: Buzzzzz, sizzzzle, and hissssss are examples. I love this word because I learned to spell it in the 7th grade to prepare for one of the last spelling bees in the US not won by an Indian-American.
- Niggardly: Meaning selfish, miserly. This word has tremendous shock value, and I dare you to use it in public around honor graduates of any US public education system. Most recently in the news when used by former DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams, who is African-American, to describe a budget allocation. Williams was roundly criticized for his racist language.
- Snafu and Fubar: I love these words because they were totally made up by our armed forces and they’re so pleasing to the ear.
- Ululate: This ancient word re-emerged to describe the wailing by wives and daughters of the millions of victims of Middle East violence over the last 3,000 years. Plus, it reminds me of my Mother’s first name: Eula.
I could add to this list for days, but I wanted to mention another category, words I hate because they spread like Ebola through the ranks of the useful idiots who masquerade as journalists, who repeat them mindlessly:
- Unprecedented: Used by every media person and angry politicians to describe actions that have actually been carried out many times before.
- Ubiquitous: For many moons during a period in the recent past, every reporter on television used this term repeatedly. As you might expect, it’s use became, you guessed it, ubiquitous.
- Bombshell: Used now to describe everything. (See title to this piece).
- Tipping Point: Actually two words, and I hate them both.
- Tsunami: Everything is now a tidal wave.
Okay, you Ricochetti out there who are closet logophiles (and you know who you are), kindly add to these lists. There are words you love and words you hate. Let’s hear them.
Published in Humor
A faggot is a bundle of sticks bound together for fuel.
Hence the sentence, “Do not be niggardly when gathering faggots for the campfire.”
Favorite-Word: “Bikini” (for a host of reasons.)
Least-Favorite: “Whatever” (again, for a host of reasons.)
Bonus: I could never be a lawyer or police-officer because every time I encounter the word “pursuant,” my eyes glaze over, and I go into a trance…
My wife and I subscribe to AcornTV which carries a tremendous lineup of shows from other parts of the Anglosphere – the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. My job is to translate them into American.
“Do you have a spare fag?” elicited a raised eyebrow. (A cigarette.) And so did “I was slow to get up this morning because I was pissed last night.” (Drunk.)
I’ve always liked words such as discombobulate and disgruntled which only seem to be used with the dis prefix although gruntle and combobulate are or were apparently actual words (again, words that I have never come across on their own).
1. Syzygy- sounds neat and a lot of “y”’s.
2. Satyricon- No. Not the book by Petronius, but a word I would LIKE to think means “conservative with a sense of humor” (see: Michael Henry)🙂
I’m always saying that I’m not combobulated in the morning until I have my coffee. And I guess spellcheck does not recognize the word.
We better keep him away from trick-or-treaters.
I’ve always liked ‘aforementioned’ and ‘defenestration’.
I’ve come to really hate the words ‘toxic’, ‘privileged’, and ‘inclusive’.
Galoot.
Vallecula- part of the throat, but every time I see it I think it is the name of Dracula’s teenage daughter.
Also one of my favorites.
I’ve learned two new words through my estimating: vomitorium and natatorium.
Also, I went 60+ years of my life never hearing the word quotidian; now I see and hear it everywhere.
I think they only come in one size.
Big.
Antediluvian ( as opposed to Unclediluvian)
It started being used in the US Navy during the War between the States.
Two words that make me cringe when I hear them mispronounced are “mischievous” and “grievous.”
Syzygy, defenestration, galoot, gruntled & combobulated, antediluvian, vallecula–Well done, Richochettis. Well done indeed.
I’ve never been able to figure out how they get eriudite out of erudite.
I despise the common (mis-)usage(s) of scientist and scientific. I move these words be struck from polite speech.
[It’s as important to weed the garden as to set desirable specimens.}
Excellent word for playing Hangman. See also Lynx.
Defenestration seems to have lost luster in the age of Greyhound victims.
Didn’t George W. Bush appoint Robert Gates Secretary of Defenestration?
I was enjoying the comments until I came to these words. When I hear the last two, in particular, I’m pretty sure something inane will follow.
On a happier note, I’ve always thought that “Chime” and “Vespers” were lovely words.
Pusillanimous. Obstreperous. Recalcitrant.
Turn-ons: Incunabula, ephemeral, puissance.
Turn-offs: Irregardless, decimate, antifa.
My turn-offs are usually usage-based, rather than words. For instance, there are many verbs with noun forms that end in “tion.” For some reason, people have started using the verb form as the noun. For instance, “He’s going to have a hard elect this time.” No, he’s going to have a hard election. Same with disconnect/disconnection, connect/connection, etc.
Then there is “incentivize.” Try the word “incite,” instead.
I really dislike “coronated” as in: “I dread the day when Charlie-Boy (Windsor) is coronated King of England.” The word is “crowned.” I think there are some rare unhappy and obsolete (a great word) instances of its use, but they are wrong! There may be some uses of “coronate” in biology and maybe chemistry, as an adjective meaning “crown-shaped,” but it’s an unwieldy (good) and reprehensible (good) verb and participle.
Oh, yes.
Bonus Points: Choose and define three arcane/archaic words and use them in ONE sentence:
Succubus: A female demon believed to have sex with sleeping men.
Palimpsest: A writing effaced by later writing, with remnants of first writing still visible.
Brummagem: Cheap, showy, counterfeit. Derived from “Birmingham” pronunciation in regional dialect when Birmingham was a source for many counterfeit goods.
Example: “I saw a palimpsest on a downtown brick wall where vestiges of the original brummagem succubus image remained.”
Now, do your worst!
Brummagem or Brummie is also a term for the natives of Birmingham and their dialect. I have a Brummie sister-in-law.