I Have the Best Words

 

An addition to my ‘choice words’ category, which has, I suppose, become a series.  Honestly, I’ve really started to enjoy keeping track of the random words that pop into my head.  The American-English language is a pretty amazing thing, it’s as though we plundered all of these other languages and just kept words based on completely arbitrary criteria.

• hoyden- I didn’t even know that this meant ‘boisterous girl’. I thought it was more of a hooligan-type noun. You know, thuggy.  But now I want to be a hoyden (that is, if I can’t be a gamine). And now I’m trying to think of examples of hoydens. Like that little girl in The Philadelphia Story.
• malarkey- Thank you, Joe Biden!
• peccadillo- A miniature, lavender cousin of the armadillo minor offense or sin.
• reconnoitre/reconnoiter- If we admit that reconnaissance is an excellent word, we have to confess that reconnoitre is even better. Plus, so French! Thinking about the root words is fun (well, I think it’s fun)
• pollywog- Awwww
• guppy- Double awww. Don’t these just sound like things you would apply to an adorable group of child summer campers?
• codswallop- Cue Hagrid “Codswallop, in my opinion.” There are just so many excellent and fun words for nonsense (see, malarkey)
• mirabilis- Okay, so mirabilis is technically latin and my autocorrect wants to change it to ‘marbles’. But it’s also a plant, so acceptable maybe? Less appealing? Anorexia mirabilis (anorexia marbles).
• acumen- I love acumen. I want to marry an acuman.
  No idea where that came from.
  But the acu- beginning is lovely and I like acumen better than acuity.
• gustatory- This word is all about the mouth-feel 😉
• salvo- BOOM BOOM BOOMBOOMBOOM
• scudding- Sailboats and pretty clouds. Dreamy but also quasi-sudsy
• fungible- Easily exchangeable with another item (i.e. money) with a side of fungus.
• BAMF- Slang. Bad Ass Mother Fucker. Up there in my ambitions with hoyden and gamine.
• jejune- Naive, simplistic. Beautiful-sounding.
• torvous- Sour of aspect. Isn’t that just excellent?!
• maudlin- Oopy goopy sentimental or pitiful
• beguiled- Would be sexy, except it’s also a horrifying Clint Eastwood movie (I couldn’t make it through five minutes, and I generally worship Clint Eastwood) AND NOW THEY’RE REMAKING IT?!
• torpor
• stupor- Torpor and stupor rather go together, but while torpor is physical, stupor is more mental
• impromptu- Spur of the moment, unplanned. The stuff nightmares are made of.
• glib- If you’re being glib, you’re basically being flip. Both should be used more.
• amorous- DTF
• dolomite(s)- The northern Italian Alps and also a mineral. A calcium magnesium carbonate, to be precise. And the vicinity of Verona (Romeo and Juliet land)
• influenza- Such a pretty word. I would love to see someone name their daughter influenza based on sound alone. After all, Ramona Quimby named her doll Chevrolet.
• cupidity
• saturnine- Those words associated with Roman Gods though.
• quell- This is such a sinister word. I love it.
• sylph-  A dark green and blue hummingbird or an imaginary spirit of the air. Quite poetic.

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