Just read this article on the bbc http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7659954.stm and thought some of you might find it useful. Theres a few cracking words there I'm definitely going to use for my novel.
Anyone got any others to add to the list?
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50,005 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2008 - 05 58
That's awesome. Um, I can't think of any to add right now. But it's my new goal to use all fifty of those this year :P
----------50,449 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2008 - 06 59
thaumaturgy: the performing of miracles or magic.
----------glower: to stare angrily or with a scowl.
canorous: melodious; musical.
seriatim: in a series; one after another.
kobold: a kind of domestic spirit in German mythology.
vexillology: the study of flags.
virtu: love of or taste for fine objects of art; also, productions of art.
slugabed: one who stays in bed until a late hour.
ebullient: high-spirited.
sublunary: situated beneath the moon; terrestrial.
tyro: a novice.
diffident: bashful or unassertive.
parvenu: an upstart; one newly risen in class or economic status.
quiddity: the essence or nature of a thing.
diaphanous: allowing light to pass through.
rictus: a gaping grin or grimace.
cormorant: a gluttonous or greedy person.
boffin: an expert
perforce: necessarily
anon: soon
"A bibliophile of little means is likely to suffer often. Books don't slip from his hands but fly past him through the air, high as birds, high as prices." --Pablo Neruda
10,101 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2008 - 08 18
Yiddish is full of wonderful words and expressions.
Mentsh, schlep, schmutz, oy, farklempt, chutzpah, schmooze.
Check out some of the Yiddish dictionaries online.
100,115 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2008 - 20 34
I make it a point to use the word "defenestrate" at least four times a day. Every day.
I'll be damned if I can't get it into the novel SOMEWHERE.
10,101 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2008 - 21 00
vexed
jingoism
transmogrification
Don't know where those came from...just popped into my head.
1,692 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2008 - 09 19
Shenanigans
----------Akimbo
Shazaam
Nifty
Phylactery
"Ha. Sanity? What would I do with something as useless as that? Lucky for me, I never had any such thing." - Kenpachi Zaraki
21,730 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2008 - 19 42
I'm quite a fan of stoic and shebang myself.
5,185 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 06 29
Orb!
I simply love that word, and can't get enough of it.
----------:D
-Con-
55,808 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 07 57
It's going to make us all feel a bit inferior, but I was recently reading Bill Bryson's biography of Shakespeare, and it contained some amazing info about the extent to which he (WS) coined new words and phrases. At his peak, he was apparently including a neologism at a rate of one every two-and-a-half lines of text!
Just a thought.
I love the words 'introspect', 'murky', 'consignment', 'mirror', 'fever' and 'stagnant', and the the Spanish word 'palabra'.
I reckon the sound of the language is important, but perhaps for NanoWrimo it is a potential area to waste time in?!?
55,808 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 09 07
Just to add, 'boffin', 'glower' and 'anon' strike me as commonly used, but other than that a really nice list.
102,843 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 10 39
Great words.
I'm also partial to the following:
cantankerous - cranky
succor - help or relief
kvetch - to whine or complain
quid pro quo - a Latin phrase meaning and equal exchange, something-for-something
lionize - to glorify something in an extreme or public way
synonymous - a synonym to; the same as
I'd love to hear some more, great idea.
----------2008 - Windwhyst (102,843)
10,101 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 12 12
I reckon the sound of the language is important, but perhaps for NanoWrimo it is a potential area to waste time in?!?
No doubt!
lugubrious
salutations
loquacious
somnambulate
BP
10,101 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 12 17
How?
Reminds me of a silly camp song:
The window, the window, the second story window;
Just think of a rhyme, say it in time---
And defenestrate the turkey!
(tee hee)
0 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2008 - 07 17
my favorite word is parabola. Were learning it in math class right now. i try to use it all the time. Just thought i'd add it.
----------I Regret I Have One Life To Live For My Cause, My House, My Empire
Lok before he was hanged by Captain Hour
50,058 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2008 - 11 45
I like amok-read Krakatoa
I like mettle-because it's the polite way to say having balls and not gender specific
Hegemony is my fire escape word- if someone uses it, I find a reason to leave
smarmy and moist used as a combo- example: The smarmy officer leaned in until his moist smile was inside my car and inches from my face.
triskaidekaphobia- because, being a lover of primes large and small, I don't have it
12,908 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2008 - 18 29
My friends and I have used "defenestrate" regularly for the past few years because it amuses us. Mellifluous, tintinnabulation, and sussurus are probably my favorite (at least somewhat) onomatopoeic/musical words ever. Quixotic is obviously another favorite, as is pusillanimous. My 11th grade English teacher would give us really random words for vocab quizzes. Like pusillanimous and ruth (the opposite of ruthless. get it? :-P We thought it was cool). Or did you know that the term for the sound a computer makes when it pops up one of those little boxes is called a feep? Pulchritude is great because it sounds nothing like its meaning - "natural beauty."
Clearly, I am a sesquipedalian. :-) When I get really mad and start to insult someone, if I really need to blow off some steam, I start throwing in long words. It really throws them off. XD And makes me feel better.
31,484 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2008 - 19 45
meticulous: Extremely or excessively concerned with details
superfluous: Being more than is sufficient or required; excessive
sinister: Presaging trouble; ominous
orifice: An opening, especially to a cavity or passage of the body; a mouth or vent.
nictitating: To wink.
cinnabarine: Bright red; vermillion.
susurrus: A soft, whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.
cretin: A person of subnormal intelligence
betterment: A change for the better; progress in development
succor: Help; relief; aid; assistance
regurgitate: To cause to surge or rush back; vomit
10,101 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2008 - 20 04
Clearly, I am a sesquipedalian. :-) When I get really mad and start to insult someone, if I really need to blow off some steam, I start throwing in long words. It really throws them off. XD And makes me feel better.
When I was in the 8th grade, I discovered "Roget's Thesaurus." When I finished my in-class busywork, I would go to the shelf and pick it up. I loved learning new words.
Later, some friends and I tested out of the SRA spelling program, so the teacher had to find something for us to do. She had us find our own vocabulary list for the week. Suddenly, all my friends were into Thesaurus!
I remember finding "zygote," the last word in the dictionary. Since it had to do with sex, we all thought it was very cool, like we were getting away with something naughty.
4,859 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2008 - 11 08
<<
>>
I found the link interesting too but I'd never, ever use any (or rather, most) in a story. XD I'm one of those people who don't like to use obscure words in my stories.
18,055 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2008 - 13 18
Yay, they listed tintinnabulation! I love that word!
I also love saying "susurration".
Plus, I do things like say the full names of TNT and DNA rather than just the acronyms.
----------2008: The Verse
10,755 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2008 - 08 52
I'm planning on using 'masticate' this year.
----------2008- Canton
2008- Separation Anxiety- crashed and burned before the first was over.
2007- The Remnant- Winner
"Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning
0 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2008 - 18 10
I like the word "soporific". :)
----------PassionOrPain
50,094 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2008 - 19 50
I like "Ferromancy". It's not a real word, per se, but is instead a really nifty synonym for "tecnology" as given by a time traveller from the webcomic Dresden Codak.
----------2008: "Wicked Invention VISE" <-- This year I'll finish for sure!
53,988 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2008 - 07 57
haha, I love the word turpidtude! It always reminds me of the movie Hairspray when Amber gets the word 'Turpitude' mixed up with 'Turpintine'. haha. John Waters is a genius.
77,356 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2008 - 09 05
haha i love all those words
i really like hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
it means fear of long words
no i did not make it up
93,302 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2008 - 13 34
OMFG! Top of list number one is defenestrate! (that's one of my all time favorite words and threats :D )
---------------------------------
Dreamer of Inescapable Nightmares
ぜつぼした！
And I will look at these scars and shove my despair aside, and forthwidth shall come a grand total of 100,000 words!
6,794 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2008 - 09 15
Eldritch- weird, eerie
Mellifluous-softly, sweetly flowing
And it's not really a word,but it's a favorite saying of mine.
"Quidquid Latine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur"
Which means, in Latin, "Anything said in Latin is profound"
61,050 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2008 - 12 13
Fun article, but I take issue with a couple items:
Anyone who does crossword puzzles knows that the word for a leftover bit is commonly spelt "ort," not "urt." I Googled "urt" and didn't get any such definition on the first page of results. For "ort" it comes up first.
Entry 22 -- Floccinaucinihilipilification -- the submitter did not offer the definition, so you'd think BBC would have added it to the entry. It means estimating something as useless.
I think trying to work every one of these words into my Nano would be far too distracting! Maybe in the rewrite...
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Life is short, but November is shorter.