Saturday 5 July 2014

These are a few of my favourite...

...words. I did a quick straw-poll on Facebook this week, asking a simple question:

What's your favourite word?

I'm not sure that any of the answers are words that get used very often, but they're an interesting mix of foreign, emotive, philosophical, onomatapoeic expressions. A lot were chosen for the way they feel to say; some for the meanings and a couple for their flexibility.

I wonder whether a piece of writing containing one of these favourite expressions would make the reader more likely to take notice?

Presumably someone, somewhere has mapped the nation's favourite words.

Here's the list I got:

- Bizarre
- Shenanigan
- Autumnal
- Lassitude
- Plinth
- Gloopy
- Lentosaema (airport in Finnish)
- Unheimlichkeit
- Crepuscular
- Quail
- Rationalise
- Delectable
- Defenestration
- Shagala bagala ('mess' in kiSwahili)
- Hobb
- Abominate
- Idyllic
- Slake

I should point out that one of my friends takes umbrage with this question of ' favourite words', as it subscribes, in his opinion, to false economic reason. We ought not, he tells me, reduce the massive complexity of language to mere words. Thanks, JB.

No comments:

Post a Comment