Published on 12, July, 2020
Words fascinate me, I love them and I know so many and can even spell a few of them! I find different words give so much more texture and depth to what we say. I find the origins of words as interesting as the words themselves and the different uses for the same word although it can all get confusing when you have to work out which witch to use and weather/whether it will make a difference to waht you're saying.
Is English the only language to have so many similar words or words that change with context?
I also have a theory that that dialect words and accents follow the boundaries of the old Anglo-Saxon countries, if you look at a map of the original kingdoms pre Alfred the Great, then the variety of accents beccome more apparent. Of course i some areas such as the North East you have to factor in a large amount of Scandinavian words and accents too and along the borders of Wales.
Do you have favourite words and least favourite? I do't like the word "genre" mostly because it's hard to stop saying it and it ends up with a few extra "re-s" takcked on the end as you run out of breath whilst saying it.
I also gecome faascinated with "F" and "Ph", such as fantastic and phantasmagorical
Beautiful! Is it a pearl cloud? Or pearlescent? Or something...
I got this cloud-bow a few weeks ago. Amazing (I don't know what they are really called, but there was no rain. It was in the clouds)
There are so many words I love-like Mignonnerie-meaning cuteness. I haven't even been to France and never need to say this word lol I just like to when I'm on my own. It rolls off the tongue so ssmoothly, just sounds cute I guess. I also like discovering new words, why I own a few different dictionaries. I like to learn them and then try to work out how to pronounce them which isn't always as easy as it sounds. But I love to learn so I always have a really fun time.
Rainbows are beautiful
There's just something magical about them! ️
I remember as a teenager reading books written for adults and looking up the words I didn't know in the dictionary. I like understanding where words come from, their cultural history if you like, as well as their meaning. My favourite words have interesting rhythmical patterns when you say them out loud (like in-ter est ing), I can see it in musical notation (dotted crotchet, quaver, crotchet crotchet)... And I'm currently reading about phenomenological research methods, so that is a comforting word right now. Phenomenon can replace 'mnah-mnah' in the song the muppets did... "phenomenon... doo doooo doo doo doo"
My least favourite words are the ones that people use wrongly as it makes my brain hurt in confusion.
Ahhh you must love Countdown with Suzy Dent and the origin of words? My favourite word for a while has been iridescent not only because it sounds beautiful but because I love all colours especially rainbows - stunning!!!
This happens with me too. The badge sounds hilarious! Maybe you have a "resting friendly face" as opposed to the rbf?
I feel sad when this happens as I tend to think that perhaps I am the only person they have spoken to that day. Perhaps I'm not and they spill to everyone they meet which again is pretty upsetting in my book that they are trying to form a connection and going too far..... A common thing I see a lot.
I guess you could have a badge saying "please don't talk to me." ;-)
Words/sentences are one of my favourite types of pattern- I find it hard to write sometimes as the order and meaning has to be perfect, but it is fun to manipulate them to make different meanings. English is definitely an unusual language, particularly as it becomes more 'global', I am not too familiar with other languages yet but French has quite a few similar words (both within the language itself and with other languages like English), and lots of written Arabic (which I am still very new to!) does not include the vowels so you have to work out what the word is from the context!
I like words like ankylosaurus and haematopoietic, I'm not so keen on expect or definitely although I use them a lot (the dislike is more from the spelling), and I'm quite averse to words ending in -que. Do you find your experience of the written word similar to the spoken word? For me they are like two totally different languages.
'The bill' is masculine in Italian - il conto - but feminine in Spanish - la cuenta. While in French it hides its feminine gender 'l'addition.
I always look up the etymology of words to see where it came from. I feel as though language is "alive" in a way. It lives through the those who speak it, it transforms and evolves throughout the spans of generations, even collecting words from other languages into it's own, and it dies if no one speaks it anymore.
I'm just glad English doesn't have the masculine and feminine types of words that other languages seem to have. And I've realized that one word could be feminine in French, but masculine in Spanish! It all sounds very confusing to someone like me.
Some words I like: involute, triskele, phylactery, apex, trunnion, quoin, squinch, tenesmus, theosophy, plenitude.
I look like a cross between Lenin and a retired Turkish wrestler, and still people will approach me in the street to beg or start random conversations, I don't understand.
I would imagine if you wore that, you'd get people asking you "why are you wearing that badge?".
I cant help thinking if people stopped approaching, you'd miss it!
Quite often my favourite word to say is "quibble".
Before I remove my head because it is hurting, I will tell you something that happened to me today.
I have spent a lifetime being approached by random strangers who then start talking to me as though they know me and often give me far more information than my brain can process or my ears want to hear.
It happened today when a woman approached me when I was sitting outside a cafe and started telling me about her health and her GPs health and other interesting facts.
She had just walked past me in the street and picked on me for some reason (the same reason the hundreds of others have I assume).
I wanted to ask her to kindly leave me alone as my croissant awaited me and was in danger of being blown away by the wind.
My husband told me that when he was at work he had a badge he wore that said 'f*** off'.
I though I might buy myself one.
Just the look on people's faces would make it worthwhile.
So, 2 words that impart a great deal (but that in reality I'm too obliging to actually wear).
I have some favourite words but I'd definitely give myself away if I said them here!