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Favourite words
8

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

 

--
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

Roadbridge,

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

ubiquitous
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

2
oleaginous
propinquity

"I had the misfortune to suffer the propinquity of an oleaginous salesman"

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Favourite words

if you like penultimate, how about antepenultimate?

I like the word pusillanimous (contemptibly timid / cowardly).  

RE: Favourite words

Antepenultimate is even cooler.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines:  FAQ731-376

RE: Favourite words

Compliant.  Sounds as nice as its meaning.

RE: Favourite words

My favourite appears on the immigration form which we furriners have to fill in every time we fly into USA so that the immigration officer can ascertain whether we're of sufficient ethical status to enter the country.

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

harrisj,
They aren't just picking on you. My engineering registration renewal form asks if I have been morally turpituded.

RE: Favourite words

Fragipan
Appurtenances

I've never seen a hearse with a luggage rack.-GS

RE: Favourite words

Serendipity
Syzygy
Synergy

and, another vote for ubiquitous

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15
www.hp15c.org
--------------------

RE: Favourite words

feckless \FEK-lis\, adjective:
1. Ineffective; having no real worth or purpose.
2. Worthless; irresponsible; generally incompetent and ineffectual.

RE: Favourite words

One of my favorites that makes people raise their eyebrows and stare at you:

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

derisory

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.

RE: Favourite words

pulchritudinous

I like this one, because it is a good way to complement someone's looks while insulting their intelligence.

RE: Favourite words

This was the word for the day on April 17th.

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

I like perspicacity.

RE: Favourite words

Heh.  Someone wrote me a reference for my PE application using the phrase "perspicacity and sagacity".  (Or maybe it was "sagacity and perspicacity".)

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines:  FAQ731-376

RE: Favourite words


bioburden
dunnage
extant
lumpenproletariet

RE: Favourite words

Man, I feel like I'm back in my high school honors English class with all the word power being flung about here.

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

Hey HgTX:

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

Seeing Pulchritudinous from TheTick took my mind straight to Callypygian

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Favourite words

I like to point out when people are using "fallacious reasoning" - much more polite than telling them they are stupid/lying

RE: Favourite words

piffle

corus

RE: Favourite words

no really corus, its true!

RE: Favourite words

Prototypical...

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

RE: Favourite words

gelatinous (reinforces an unpleasant description)
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

MASTICATE; and I'll do it in public places too!

pennpoint

RE: Favourite words


If you like to masticate, you must watch the movie "The Road to Wellville"

RE: Favourite words

Speaking of masticate, if I am chewing on the carrot sticks that I stole from casseopeia while trying to figure out these $20 words, am I masticating, ruminating, or double-ruminating???

RE: Favourite words


Sacrebleu, would you like the hummus or the ranch dressing to go with those carrot sticks while you ruminate?

RE: Favourite words

Ranch dressing, thanks. BTW,I answered my own question - I am multi-ruminating.

RE: Favourite words

The Tick beat me to one of my favorites, but I was going to offer the noun form, "Pulchritude".

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.)

RE: Favourite words

stercoraceous
"- relating to, being or containing feces".

A semipolite way to say that something is sh_ _ _ y.

RE: Favourite words

How about:

Crepuscular rays
Eleemosynary

RE: Favourite words

digger242,

just tell your wife that you were trying to obfuscate

(courtesy of the X-files)

RE: Favourite words

WHAT?

Have you never been admonished to eschew obfuscation? I have...

RE: Favourite words

cacophony
baseline

RE: Favourite words



Gibberish

RE: Favourite words

I always thought supercilious was a good word, but it sounds made up in conversation, so I've never actually been able to use it.

RE: Favourite words

One of the favorites to describe either a person or some questionable design feature…

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...

RE: Favourite words

concomitant - goes along with
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

RE: Favourite words

Arto:

gesundheit!

~NiM

RE: Favourite words

Defenestrate.

To throw out a window.


What you'd really like to do to the feckless cretin who's wasting your time.

RE: Favourite words

From a popular dictionary website...

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

Arto:

See also Gazunda (vulgar - a chamberpot)

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Favourite words

(OP)
johnwm: thanks for reminding me about "oleagenous".

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

tme·sis    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (tmss, m-)
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.

RE: Favourite words

MikeyP

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

MikeyP said: The "tm" bit [in "tmesis"]comes from the Greek for "cut" (As in "atom" = "not cut".

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."

RE: Favourite words

Almost all f the unstressd vowls in Englsh cld be left out n th spelling nd not 'ffect th prnuncia[ti]n.

' is a glottal stop.
[ti] is the dedentalized, palatalized t.

William

RE: Favourite words

DwattedWabbit:
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?

RE: Favourite words

To weh3: unstressed vowels:

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."

RE: Favourite words

Not exactly.  The schwa is a vowel.  Cotton is pronounced by most Americans as "cotn", that is, with no vowel, including a schwa.

William

RE: Favourite words

True.  If my brain was not quite as fried as it's been lately, I would have presented a better example.

RE: Favourite words

I'm surprised no one has offered this one yet:

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

chthonic:  underground

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

RE: Favourite words

Reading over these posts certainly gives much cause for cerebration, but, if I could just remember and be able to use half of the words presented, I'd have reason for a celebration.
Thanks for the education, folks.

RE: Favourite words

One of my favorites is anthropomorphous.  It's fun word and people do it all the time.

Techmaximus

RE: Favourite words

See also anthropophagous - - as in 'Silence of the Lambs'

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Favourite words

DwattedWabbit wrote:
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

As a much younger, soon to be, engineer, my two roomies and me used to inject a certain word between syllables.  Little did we realize that we were participating in "tmsisization"

RE: Favourite words

(OP)
Here's a word that just sounds plain wrong! I thought of it while reading the "conform to/with" thread.

"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.

http://www.scottishgeology.com/classic_sites/locations/siccar_point.html

M

--
Dr Michael F Platten

RE: Favourite words

TMD,

I can't find "tmsisization" on the web or in online dictionaries.  Spelling possibly?

RE: Favourite words

sreid:  productive suffixation.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines:  FAQ731-376

RE: Favourite words

We've got two words created here during a heated discussion when the correct words were allusive:

Stressure - more than just pressure and worse than stress.

Gription - more aggressive than just plain traction and
           more dynamic than grip

RE: Favourite words

Allusive is a word, and so is illusive, but did you mean elusive?

elusive:  difficult to pin down (elude)

allusive:  relating to an indirect reference (allusion)

illusive:  relating to an illusion

William

RE: Favourite words

So that's the way it's going to be, eh, William? I bet you got thos explainations of what a word means from a dictionary

RE: Favourite words

Hey Kim B.,

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

William,
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

KB,

LOL 8^D

I would guess that "squirm factor" applies only to certain lower-level macroscopic biological systems.

W

RE: Favourite words

Never heard of "Squirm Factor."

Have heard of "Pucker Factor."

RE: Favourite words

   In a spelling bee in high school, I encountered "onomatopoeia".  It is such an impressive, important sounding word.  I was quite annoyed when I found out what it meant.  

                        JHG

RE: Favourite words

Glaikery!

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

Sheeple (n.) people who can be led around like sheep

I think I got red-flagged over this word in another thread :)

RE: Favourite words

Sarchasm - the gulf that exists between the author of sarcastic wit, and those who don't get it.

Maui

RE: Favourite words

Ooooooo!  That's a good one!

RE: Favourite words

Lyophilization;

pennpoint

RE: Favourite words

(OP)
Here is a fun one from my Shorter Oxford dictionary.

"onosecond" - The time which elapses between pressing the wrong button and realising its consequences.

M

--
Dr Michael F Platten

RE: Favourite words

I've always been fond of using "glean", "paradigm", and "plethora".  (But never in the same sentence...yet.)

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

RE: Favourite words

I found myself actually saying something about "recapitalizing our information infrastructure" yesterday.

Help! I'm being sucked in; I'm becoming one of THEM!

William

RE: Favourite words

NickelMet: at least your intern is bright enough to recognize that you were using words she was unfamiliar with, and went to find a dictionary.  Ignorance isn't her fault - she's only as educated as the system that gave her an education.  If she is really bright, she will continue her lifelong education by using the dictionary and by reading.

RE: Favourite words

In a former job, the resident suck-up manager decided that the discussion topic need further review. In front of the senior staff he announced that "We should couch this idea until we can gain more insight."

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

DwattedWabbit:

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

hebetudinous

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

I assume the extra r was on purpose.

RE: Favourite words

I feel like I'm reading an O. Henry novel as I read through this thread.

Maui

RE: Favourite words

I am very much interested in O'Henry's vocabulary and subterfuge is the one I picked from him. Don't know whether it is obsolete or in use, I couldn't find a better word to replace it. Perhaps gambit may work but didn't see it being used outside chess terminology.

RE: Favourite words

When I was in grade school, we had an assignment of sorts, where we each had to find a long word to be included in a "spelling" exercise. Each student then recieved a list of these words, and had to be able to spell them on a test.

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

neat post., i can't wait to forget what i've read

RE: Favourite words

"Antidisestablishmentarianism" was a popular word in my junior high school.  No one actually bothered to find out what it meant, of course.  My parlo(u)r trick was writing (printing) it backwards starting from the end of the word on a piece of glass so it looked correct from the front.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines:  FAQ731-376

RE: Favourite words

My favourite long word is "purposelessnessless", invented by Rowan Atkinson and used in this context:

"We must have purpose.
We must not be purposeless.
We must not exhibit purposelessness.
We must be purposelessnessless."

RE: Favourite words

That must be why Mr. Bean hardly ever spoke :)

RE: Favourite words

ArcaMax word of the day.  One of my personal favorites...

Quote (Arcamax):

feckless \FEK-lis\ (adjective) - Lacking in feck, i.e. weak, ineffective, lacking vigor, energy.

"Daryl's active, single lifestyle left him little time for adequate sleep, leaving him feckless and lethargic at work."

"Feck" is an aphetic form of "effect" that arose in Scotland. ("Aphesis" is the dropping of an initial unaccented vowel.) It probably arose from a confusion of where to draw the line in the phrase [theffect], as "the effect" is commonly pronounced. Although "feckless" is often treated as an orphan negative, it in fact belongs to a complete family of derivations. The basic noun is feck "vigor, power, control of oneself," the adjective is feckful "vigorous, powerful, effective," and the adverb is "feckfully." All are still found in the Oxford English Dictionary, and hence are available for use by those with the feck to do so.

RE: Favourite words

And I thought feck was simply a less offensive variation of a similar word with a different vowel!

RE: Favourite words

You spelled "favourite" wrong.  It is spelled 'favorite'.  Funny, it seems that your spell check should've caught that.  Or maybe you enjoy extra typing.   Cheerio mate!


btw, this thread is AWESOME, dude!!

RE: Favourite words

"While guiding this expansion, these two have never lost sight of a heritage bequeathed to them by their father—the will and determination to strive for the betterment of Buffalo. The extent to which both have given of their time and their means to this end is a matter of public pride."

I came across the word bequeathed while doing some research on air cooling.

RE: Favourite words

Today I read the word satisficing: "...a combination of the words satisfactory and sufficing, to refer to 'good or satisfactory solutions, instead of optimal ones' for design problems."

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
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://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?sm1=UG5ldW1vbm91bHRyYW1pY3Jvc2NvcGljc2lsaWNvdm9sY2Fub2Nvbmlvc2lzIA==&fw=0&fc=19&ss=-1&es=-1&gwp=11&ver=1.0.5.157&method=1 for a history of "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" aka Pneumonia :)

Thanks
SC

RE: Favourite words

Flocci­nauci­nihili­pilification is generally noted to be the longest word in the English dictionary.  God alone knows where one could slip it into conversation without sounding somewhat pretentious though.

RE: Favourite words

The longest word cited by the Guinness Book of Records, which allegedly represents the name for human mitochondrial DNA, is 207,000+ letters long.

Maui

RE: Favourite words

I like the word "free".

RE: Favourite words

My favorite word would have to be "discombobulated".  A friend of mine used this word when I was in high school; I thought he made it up until I found it in the dictionary.  I've been using it ever since!

RE: Favourite words

Therefore, it seems perhaps that we should all strive to be or become "combobulated."

RE: Favourite words

How true

RE: Favourite words

I've always liked the acronyms-turned-words FUBAR and SNAFU...

My girlfriend's father even got me using fubar as an adjective: "Dang, looks like the winch is all fubared"

RE: Favourite words

On second thought, fubar is already an adjective... I shouldnt be allowed to post on saturdays..

RE: Favourite words

LOL at "combobulated"...guess I was a bit "discombobulated" when I posted the note below to the wrong forum...so here it goes again.

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

Can someone tell me exactly how much water there needs to be to consider it COPIOUS?  Would you be able swim in it, or would it only reach the ankles?

kaf

RE: Favourite words

If the water is in your basement, up to the ankles should suffice.

A similar word a professor of mine in college loved to use was "oodles" (use oodles and oodles of water!)

RE: Favourite words

In the south, that would be referred to as
"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

and what about composite words such as:

ignoranus

bannosecond

megahurtz

billigram

etc...

Regards, Wil Taylor

RE: Favourite words

This is great.  I keep a white board in my office where I write down words that I encounter in the course of my readings.  I also try to put a phonetic pronounciation in brackets by the word, along with a brief definition.

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

Eschew obfuscation.


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

In an argument it's (usually) amusing to ask someone if they are "belligerent to the point of intransigence" or "intransigent to the point of beligerence".
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

RE: Favourite words

to supersede
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

I just saw the word kludge in the VB forum. It describes what I usually have to do to make Pro/E do what I want it to!

RE: Favourite words

pcs1034

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

Sometimes it's the simple ones that are fun. I love correcting people on the use of Affect and Effect. My daughter just had an English teacher downgrade her essay claiming she used it incorrectly, when in fact the teacher was incorrect. I had to go get in her face on it, thats just the way I am. It could have had an effect on her GPA, and I didn't want that to affect her acceptance to a college.

Eng-Tips: Help for your job, not for your homework  Read FAQ731-376

RE: Favourite words

"wiffle words" is a favourite at our place ... it derives from misunderstanding a european's pronounciation of "way forward"  

RE: Favourite words

I love the french verb "massacrer", as in "damage" or rather "destroy", and I often translate it directly into English.

"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.

RE: Favourite words

"Malicious compliance" - carefully doing exactly what one has been instructed to do, in the knowledge that what the Authority asked for is fundamentally different from what they meant.

A.

RE: Favourite words

I like "squittering". -When a spray nozzle is not spraying correctly and the liquid just dribbles out.  Also used to describe very light rainfall.

RE: Favourite words

A new favorite...

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!

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1675734

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: Favourite words

"Difficult 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.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/difficultwords/

RE: Favourite words

The list contains some words as difficult as
'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.

RE: Favourite words

PERUSE.

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

I never learnt so many english words big smile

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

RE: Favourite words

I like the word "knackered." How I used to feel after a 2 hour drive on an Indian Highway.

RE: Favourite words

From the same stable as kchayfie's post from May comes a little gem from one of my colleagues:

Quote (kchayfie):

I like to point out when people are using "fallacious reasoning" - much more polite than telling them they are stupid/lying


(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

ok, my turn :

tremendous, terrific and elevator smile of course, they're more impressive to me than to you people

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

RE: Favourite words

Terrific, Fantastic, Prestige, Incredible, Pragmatic, Glamour, Generally

.... none of which need necessarily mean exactly what the casual listener expects them to.

A.

RE: Favourite words

Sitting in Starbucks last sunday waiting for the girlfriend to get her $5 cup of so-called coffee, I noticed a stack of cards on the table - Seems Starbucks has done some product positioning with a new movie called "Akeelah and the bee" - something about a spelling competition I guess.
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

Folks...

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

RE: Favourite words

. . . additions to 'knackered'.  Indians love to use the word "lacuna" but I think that the use of such words is otiose at best.

RE: Favourite words

BigH, if you type define:<word> into the google search box it rummages around for some definitions. For such a commonly used word (in the sense of omissions or blind spots) lacunae gets surprisingly poor defintions.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: Favourite words

Greg:  Thanks - I just had never heard the word lacuna (sing) or lacunae (pl) in the 49 years before I went to India!  We could talk about the Indian "intimate".  When I arrived there back in 2001, the government sent out a "Intimation" that anyone receiving any foreigner at his house (presumably, even for tea) would have to run to the police station and register that foreigner.  Subsequently, a newspaper showed how many of the very top politicians would have to keep running to the police whenever their son/daughter-in-laws or grandkids/neices/nephews visited.  The intimation died on the spot.
cheers to all.

RE: Favourite words

"Lacuna Seca" was a race track in some car video game I had when I was kid...

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

RE: Favourite words

"intimations" are alive and well in Scotland too, where they serve in place of Church Notices.

A.

RE: Favourite words

FrenchCAD -- you're probably thinking of Laguna Seca, in Monterey, USA.  It hosts several big series such as A1 GP and MotoGP, and featurs the corkscrew, a very hairy, up to 1 in 5 downhill left/right corner.
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

oh, that might be this yeah...

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer Consultant
France

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