Noun. 1.) The practice of using long, sometimes obscure, words in speech or writing.
Survey!
What are some of your favorite words? Preferably, long or obscure words, but any words nonetheless?
I can thank Lauren for introducing me to the aforementioned long word. And what a fabulous word at that! I don't think there's anything wrong with aspiring to be sesquipedalianists...
Some of my favorites have included:
-quintessence / quintessential
-resplendent (I stole this one from Laura ;)
-halcyon
-nascent
... and jubilation.
(ok ok, it's not obscure, and not terribly long, but I love it anyway.)
(I think I used all five of these words in my senior essay... ha! In high school, I tried to figure out ways I could work the word quintessence into every major essay... I even learned it in spanish to put in my AP Spanish exam essay... I'm such a dork.)
by love.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
sesquipedalianism.
Posted by Kristi at 11:00 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
survey WOOT
my top five faves:
1) extrapolate
2) solid
3) gravity
4) perspicacity
5) and...just for Sean..."manifest"...
"resplendent" is definitely a good one. I don't know why I'm putting up a word for Sean when he never reads blogs outside of Livejournal. I told you 'bout Sean, right? The guy who joked that you'd stopped by while I was out buying cookie dough ice cream?
the other day I had a scoop of cookie dough ice cream, sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies. it was definitely overkill.
Karen's list (ongoing):
1. defenestration
2. phantasmagoric
3. dork (because everyone, at some point in time, is called a dork by me - including myself)
4. chattel
5. spontaneous
6. accoutrements
Yes, yes ... I have a couple of favorites (or favourites, if you don't mind too much). These are in no particular order.
1. loxodromic
(I like the adjectival better than the nounal or other versions of the word. It is the curve of a spiral superimposed onto the surface of a sphere -- especially in the nautical sense of the path of a ship travelling in a "straight line" at an angle to the equator).
2. perissodactyl
(Another adjective. This means "having an odd number of toes" -- especially toes that are splayed radially from from the line of the leg bone.)
3. obfuscation
("To make obscure" especially nice because it has the smoky, rich flavor of the word "opaque" (it's not just hiding something, it is making it unseen by means of changing opacity... very nice!))
I would have to say my top 5 favorite and mind boggling words and their meanings are as follows:
1. uhhhhhh
This word in Hebrew means - "I have no idea what I'm talking about"
2. hmmmmmm
This word in Hebrew means - "You have no idea what you're talking about, but I'd like to sound interested"
3. reeeally?
Did you mean to say THAT??
4. uh ohhh
I guess you DID mean to say that!
5. geez
You must be stupid.
Mmmmm, sesquipedalianism, love it.
I tend to have fleeting faves, so currently you'll find me saying:
gestalt
animadvert
enconmium
incarnadine
verdigris
Technically those last two are colours, but so much more descriptive and romantic than mere 'red' and 'green.'
The other three I didn't bother defining, as a) I assume most of them are fairly common b) if they are not as common as I believe and the only reason I know them is because I need to learn to step away from the GRE book, then you'd be better off looking them up for yourself...unless you aren't a visual learner...and then I'm just being a moron (true to nickame, I suppose.)
just as a note, "plum" is the proper spelling for the color and fruit.
#1 Floccinaucinihilipilification is the act or habit of esteeming or describing something as worthless, or making something to be worthless by said means. Its pronunciation may vary from \'flä-chE-'nau-chE-ni-'hi-lE-'pi-lE-fI-'ca-shun\ to "FLOK-sih-noh-see-NEE-hee-lee-PEE-lih-fih-KAY-shun" or "FLA-sih-NAH-see-nə-hill-lə-pill-lə-fih-kay-shun" or "FLOK-se-NÔ-se-NĪ-hil-e-PIL-e-fi-KĀ-shen."
It is the longest non-technical word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, which presents it "as enumerated in a well-known rule from the Eton Latin Grammar". The OED dates its first use in literature at 1741 in William Shenstone's Works in Prose and Verse: "I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money".
#2 I'd like to add Eschew to Sir Robert's suggestion so that when comined we get the helpful instruction to "eschew obfuscation"
#3 Let's ignore anyone who suggests this fun exercise is nugatory.
"They've had plumbs in the dining hall of late and Dave approves."
Oh, but my dear brother David, you were.
Post a Comment