Favourite words
Favourite words
(OP)
What are members favourite words (not including proper nouns)?
Here's a few of mine
Friable - because it doesn't mean what you expect. There is no English verb root for this adjective.
Contiguous - my absolute favourite. It sounds like "continuous" but is more "interrupted"
Fracas - because I just like it.
Evanescent - just because it sounds pretty.
M
Here's a few of mine
Friable - because it doesn't mean what you expect. There is no English verb root for this adjective.
Contiguous - my absolute favourite. It sounds like "continuous" but is more "interrupted"
Fracas - because I just like it.
Evanescent - just because it sounds pretty.
M
--
Dr Michael F Platten





RE: Favourite words
Sophistry. I use it on people when there talking bull.
It usually knocks them off gaurd and shuts the up!
Its nice to see that blank look on their face.
RE: Favourite words
I know just the guy I'm going to spring "sophistry" on.
One word I like is "factotum" since I believe it summarizes the reality of the engineering profession (and not as a bad thing).
RE: Favourite words
There's always one that fits the bill.
I must use "factotum"in a sentence at work next week.
But where?
RE: Favourite words
penultimate
(Neither for any good reason; I was just really impressed that words existed for such concepts.)
Hg
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Favourite words
propinquity
"I had the misfortune to suffer the propinquity of an oleaginous salesman"
Good Luck
johnwm
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RE: Favourite words
I like the word pusillanimous (contemptibly timid / cowardly).
RE: Favourite words
Hg
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
It asks if I have been indulging in acts of 'Moral Turpitude'. Just love that word.
More importantly, where can I get some?
John
RE: Favourite words
They aren't just picking on you. My engineering registration renewal form asks if I have been morally turpituded.
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Appurtenances
I've never seen a hearse with a luggage rack.-GS
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Syzygy
Synergy
and, another vote for ubiquitous
--------------------
Bring back the HP-15
www.hp15c.org
--------------------
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1. Ineffective; having no real worth or purpose.
2. Worthless; irresponsible; generally incompetent and ineffectual.
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plethora
1. A superabundance; an excess.
2. An excess of blood in the circulatory system or in one organ or area.
And of course I use it with reference to definition #1.
~NiM
RE: Favourite words
Here's another one I use from time to time.
"Eejit" meaning fool
RE: Favourite words
adj : so devoid of wisdom or good sense as to be laughable.
fatuous
adj: inanely foolish and unintelligent; stupid
obfuscate
Tr. v.: To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand.
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I like this one, because it is a good way to complement someone's looks while insulting their intelligence.
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panegyric \pan-uh-JIR-ik; -JY-rik\, noun:
A lofty, formal composition or speech in praise of someone
or something. Formal or elaborate praise.
RE: Favourite words
I also came across peculation which means embezzlement / fraud. Another good one to throw nonchalantly into a conversation!
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Hg
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Favourite words
bioburden
dunnage
extant
lumpenproletariet
RE: Favourite words
But, it has been useful as I've learned today that my understanding of the definition of penultimate was actually wrong.
Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas
"All the world is a Spring"
All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.
RE: Favourite words
At least they didn't put PERSNICKETY on that reference!
Also, I have to put a vote in for the duo of penultimate and antepenultimate. Like Stressguy, I learned something today!
LOL
~NiM
RE: Favourite words
Good Luck
johnwm
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RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
corus
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Unexpectedly came out of my mouth during a rant in a conference call. What I meant was, "typical of prototypes". After I finished, a small voice on the other end came on, "Did you say prototypical?"
Laughter broke the tension of the moment. Later, I looked it up and lo and behold, "of or pertaining to a prototype". I even had the context right.
I started using it wherever I could.
regards,
Hydroformer
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posit (I can't look at this word without thinking ovipositer)
Fragipan reminds me of a discussion I had with a geologist after reading through too many soils reports. I decided I was going to develop a book of adult beverages with my favorite geological terms as the names. The Glacial Till was crushed ice over hot fudge with a shot of Pertsovka vodka (black pepper and chili-flavored) on top with chocolate shavings for garnish.
The Fragipan could be Frangelico with orange-flavored vodka, garnished with a chocolate-covered orange peel swizzle stick.
must be the afternoon munchies. I'll go back to my carrot sticks now
RE: Favourite words
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
FAQ371-376
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RE: Favourite words
pennpoint
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If you like to masticate, you must watch the movie "The Road to Wellville"
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Sacrebleu, would you like the hummus or the ranch dressing to go with those carrot sticks while you ruminate?
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
A good friend of mine is quite a bit older than I am, and his home is at a busy intersection. There are several hospitals and universities nearby, and he has told me a number of times that he enjoys sitting outside and admiring the pulchritude.
(A little off topic, but the day he made a comment about the "bevy of quail" waiting at the bus stop, I realized that inside every dirty old man, there remains the heart of a dirty *young* man.)
As far as "fallacious reasoning", you'll have that when dealing with disingenuous individuals, or are you only making such an allegation to cover up the fact that you are being deliberately obtuse? (My wife accused me of that once.)
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"- relating to, being or containing feces".
A semipolite way to say that something is sh_ _ _ y.
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Crepuscular rays
Eleemosynary
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just tell your wife that you were trying to obfuscate
(courtesy of the X-files)
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Have you never been admonished to eschew obfuscation? I have...
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baseline
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Gibberish
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RE: Favourite words
Protuberant anomaly
From Webster…
Protuberant:
Sticking out or
Forcing itself into consciousness
Anomaly:
Something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified (Sounds like ME )
Racing ... because other sports only require one ball...
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obturator / obturation = seal / sealing
obviate - make unnecessary - get rid of
gudgeon - the "gazinta" for the pintle on your rudder
that reminds me.... gazinta & gozouta, of course
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gesundheit!
~NiM
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To throw out a window.
What you'd really like to do to the feckless cretin who's wasting your time.
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ab·scond
intr.v. ab·scond·ed, ab·scond·ing, ab·sconds
To leave quickly and secretly and hide oneself, often to avoid arrest or prosecution.
RE: Favourite words
See also Gazunda (vulgar - a chamberpot)
Good Luck
johnwm
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RE: Favourite words
In the "Grammatical Annoyances" thread, Weh3 wrote about "split verbs and adjectives like guarandamtee and abso-doggone-lutely"
This is one of those "I can't believe there is really a word for it" things. And what a word it is! The only word in English which begins with "tm": tmesis.
The "tm" bit comes from the Greek for "cut" (As in "atom" = "not cut".
M
--
Dr Michael F Platten
RE: Favourite words
n. pl. tme·ses (-sz)
Separation of the parts of a compound word by one or more intervening words; for example, where I go ever instead of wherever I go .
interesting!
Betwixt: Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean so betwixt the two, they licked the platter clean.
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It's 'oleaginous' as johnwm spelt it, not 'oleagenous'. Great sounding word, but 'oily' is just as good!
I also like 'specious' - something which appears to be true but is in fact untrue. There's a lot of it about.
John
RE: Favourite words
Does that mean that an original spelling for "atom" might actually have been "atm," "a" for "not" or "against" and "tm" for "cut?"
The highest mountain in the State of Maine is known as Katahdin (accent on the middle syllable), a word from the local language of the natives there (whether Algonquin or Penobscot or Micmac or other, I don't know), but I've seen spellings that more closely approximate its actual native pronunciation (how it may have been spelled had these Indians had a written language), which reduces it to "Ktahdn."
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' is a glottal stop.
[ti] is the dedentalized, palatalized t.
William
RE: Favourite words
Interesting comment about atom.
Is it correct that Hebrew uses no vowels? If true, then Ktahdn in Hebrew might be further reduced to be spelled as Kthdn?
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Thus the definition of the so-called "shwa" sound, shown in the pronunciation nomenclature in dictionaries as an upside-down "e," which has a soft, unaccented "uh" sound, as in the second syllable of the word "cotton."
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William
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
asinine
1. Utterly stupid or silly: asinine behavior.
2. Of, relating to, or resembling an ass.
It's a word I rarely use out loud, but it fires off in my head at least once a day while observing the events of the workplace.
Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas
"All the world is a Spring"
All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.
RE: Favourite words
ethereal: intangible. I once used this word, and someone said it sounded like something you would have for breakfast, like "Thuper Thugar Crithp".
ephemeral: lasting a day.
chimerical: fantastic
fantastic: existing only in fantasy
fabulous: existing only in fables
phenomenal: tangible or sensible (sense-ible)
Some of these are hard to use correctly, because they will be misunderstood.
William
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Thanks for the education, folks.
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Techmaximus
RE: Favourite words
Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
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RE: Favourite words
Does that mean that an original spelling for "atom" might actually have been "atm," "a" for "not" or "against" and "tm" for "cut?"
Atom comes from the Greek word "atomo" = a + tomo.
"Tomo" comes from "tomi" = cut.
But cut = "tmisi" as well.
In neutral gender "tmisi" becomes "tmito".
So atom can become "atmito".
I love etymology (examinig the origins of the words). Thank you for giving words to play with.
Costas
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
"unconformity" - a surface of discontinuous contact between two sequences of continuous strata.
The most famous example is "Hutton's Unconformity" just south of Edinburgh which proved that sedimentary rocks were not created by a single deluvian event.
ht
M
--
Dr Michael F Platten
RE: Favourite words
I can't find "tmsisization" on the web or in online dictionaries. Spelling possibly?
RE: Favourite words
Hg
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Favourite words
Stressure - more than just pressure and worse than stress.
Gription - more aggressive than just plain traction and
more dynamic than grip
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elusive: difficult to pin down (elude)
allusive: relating to an indirect reference (allusion)
illusive: relating to an illusion
William
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
http://www.googlewhack.com/
RE: Favourite words
I think that my question was in keeping with the spirit of the thread.
I did look up "illusive" at m-w.com to make sure of the definition, having suspected incorrectly that it had something to do with illumination. So, I did use a dictionary, but I would not have if I had not recognized an ambiguity in the first place. "Allusive", after all, could be understood in your sentence to make sense in some way. Thank you for affording me the opportunity to learn something.
In relation to "stressure", there was a discussion in my office one day about squishing and squashing, and I suggested something to the effect of "coefficient of squishiness". I was corrected, that the correct term would be "modulus of squishicity".
Regards,
William
RE: Favourite words
I should remember my favorite rules of grammar:
1. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
2. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
3. Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice.
and,
4. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Is mos the same as 'squirm factor'?
RE: Favourite words
LOL 8^D
I would guess that "squirm factor" applies only to certain lower-level macroscopic biological systems.
W
RE: Favourite words
Have heard of "Pucker Factor."
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JHG
RE: Favourite words
Luniac.
A cross (I think) between Lunatic and Maniac and uttered by my seven year old daughter just before he cut us up and we whizzed off the road. We can laugh about it now, but it is one of those 'kid' words that will always stick in my memory.
My other favourite word is 'Why?'. When the Tsunami hit Thailand, my kids were out there. I could not get through on the phone and desperately tried to text them. I sent 'Are you OK?. I got the reply 'Why?' and knew that they had not seen or experienced the worst. The message is still on my phone and it shuts me right up every time I see it.
I think 'Lucky' is about to become my third favourite word...
ChelseaFC
RE: Favourite words
I think I got red-flagged over this word in another thread :)
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Maui
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
pennpoint
RE: Favourite words
"onosecond" - The time which elapses between pressing the wrong button and realising its consequences.
M
--
Dr Michael F Platten
RE: Favourite words
What I wanted to relate is that in using these words over the past couple of weeks, a puzzled look came over my current intern's face whenever I did so. It turns out that she had to look up "paradigm" and "plethora" to figure out what I was saying. And she found it amusing to use the word 'glean'.
What can I say...the younger generation...plus she is a blonde. (laughingly I say that...sarcasm)
~NiM
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Help! I'm being sucked in; I'm becoming one of THEM!
William
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
table, couch, chair - I guess any piece of furniture will hold the item.
"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein
RE: Favourite words
I agree...at least she did look them up. We'll see at the end of her tenure if she is learning though...check her vocabulary usage. (Of course I am joking about that.)
~NiM
RE: Favourite words
I do grant that, I have offically utilized hebetrudinous only once in writing up an employee's performance review.
Vita sine litteris mors est.
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Maui
RE: Favourite words
as in "This forum is full of sesquipedalianism."
look it up:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sesquipedalianism
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
My best friend at the time (still a friend of mine) came back to school with antidisestablishmentarianism. Needless to say, he was not the most popular kid for the remainder of the fifth grade. I can't remember what my word was, but I know there are 25 people my age who know how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism at the drop of a hat.
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Hg
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Favourite words
"We must have purpose.
We must not be purposeless.
We must not exhibit purposelessness.
We must be purposelessnessless."
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Check out:
http:
For the definition
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
btw, this thread is AWESOME, dude!!
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I came across the word bequeathed while doing some research on air cooling.
RE: Favourite words
The term is used to define the little tripod like thing inside pizza boxes that prevents the lid of the box from pressing into the precious cheese on the pizza.
It came from Henry Petroski's book "Small Things Considered: Why There is No Perfect Design". I just picked it up today, and so far it's been a good read.
RE: Favourite words
Antidisestablishmentarianism is a political philosophy that is opposed to the separation of church and state. The term was used to denote opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England. The word is most often used as an example of the longest English word that has an actual meaning.
also see http:
Thanks
SC
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Maui
RE: Favourite words
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My girlfriend's father even got me using fubar as an adjective: "Dang, looks like the winch is all fubared"
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Here's a word with I've heard one of our corrosion engineers use: COPIOUS.
As in: "When flushing a piping circuit containing amines, use COPIOUS amounts of water."
~NiM
RE: Favourite words
kaf
RE: Favourite words
A similar word a professor of mine in college loved to use was "oodles" (use oodles and oodles of water!)
RE: Favourite words
"A Gracious Plenty"
"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein
RE: Favourite words
ignoranus
bannosecond
megahurtz
billigram
etc...
Regards, Wil Taylor
RE: Favourite words
Some favorites are;
ANTHROPOGENIC - of, relating to, or resulting from the influence of human beings on nature. You see that one at lot in environmental articles.
AMELORIATE [uh-MEEL-yuh-raht] means to make a desperate situation better; to improve.
CAPTIOUS [kap-SHUHS] means marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections.
LABILE [LAY-byh] means open to change, likely to change, adaptable.
and my final word...which I am very aware of when dealing with management and supervision.... I will never, never..
TRUCKLE [TRUK-el] means to act in a subserviant manner, to submit or yield in a servilely complianst or deferential manner (that is, to tuck my tail between my legs and crawl away).
I have many more...I get comments from a lot of the folks that visit my office. Most seem to enjoy it and also benefit from it.
Thanks for the opportunity to share...
Bob L.
PCS1034
RE: Favourite words
Those two words just go together don't they?
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Favourite words
Often it pulls them up short as they realise they don't know the difference...
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go past." Douglas Adams
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superseded
supersedure...
a lot of people write it supercede... which is, reluctantly, accepted for the verb... but not for the noun...
our job is to supersede all previous paradigms... that is why we are engineers...
supersede = change... i love this word.
saludos.
a.
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
ameloriate
I just love the sound of that word. It seems to me like a "whoosh" word. The first time I heard it was from a Metallurgy Professor. His take home quizzes were not something to be desired! They needed to be ameloriated.
RE: Favourite words
Eng-Tips: Help for your job, not for your homework Read FAQ731-376
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
"The catalyst has been massacred" is a perfectly understandable be it slightly familiar phrase for my French colleagues, it seems to make most English speakers smile.
I also love to read and hear Italian verbs, the shorter the better, all available vowels are used to indicate different tenses. If you stare at them long enough, the vowels get different colours like little Lego blocks, very beautiful. Otherwise I don't speak much of the language at all but would love to.
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A.
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
pecksniffery = blatant hypocracy
a pecksniff = sactimonious hypocrite
The term is based on Seth Pecksniff, a Dickens character in Martin Chuzzlwit. Interestingly the character Martin Chuzzlewit is an apprentice architect who loses his job. Wish I had time to read!
h
"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"
RE: Favourite words
Do you aim to become a member of the literati, or do you wish to be a savant? Do you want to avoid being verbigerative and be succinct instead?
Search the Hutchinson Dictionary of Difficult Words' A-Z index of over 13,900 difficult words to increase your vocabulary or just find out what those words really mean!"
Note: Easier to browse by first letter than to type.
htt
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'address', 'absentee' and 'additive' etc. without any other meaning. Section on B contains many Hindi words, which need not be learned if one has equivalent words in ones native language. Nevertheless, it is a good link.
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I spend a lot of my time at work perusing drawings.
PERAMBULATE.
After looking at the drawing I often perambulate around the office.
RE: Favourite words
Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
(The shift manager's log entry is) "In error with respect to the facts".
Typing this also made me ponder whether I should be writing "...respect of..." or "...respect to...". Would appreciate any opinion.
----------------------------------
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...
RE: Favourite words
tremendous, terrific and elevator
Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France
RE: Favourite words
.... none of which need necessarily mean exactly what the casual listener expects them to.
A.
RE: Favourite words
Anyway - each card had a rather long word, some of which were new to me, and included the pronounciation and definition.
That said - here's my entry today which describes most of us here within the Eng-Tips family:
elucubrate
"To produce by working long and diligently"
"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein
RE: Favourite words
Saw this playful use of words on the company website, a couple of days ago...
...featuring access to the Enterprise Authorization Service which will allow more authorized licensed suppliers "finer granularity of access" to standards...
Ya think "finer granularity of access" really means "refined access [criteria]"???
I'm still puzzling (sp) over this one...
Regards, Wil Taylor
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RE: Favourite words
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Favourite words
RE: Favourite words
Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France
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A.
RE: Favourite words
My favourite word at the moment (admittedly a proper noun, forbidden in the OP) is Barbados, 'cos I'll be there in a few days time.
RE: Favourite words
Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France