out of curiosity

[aesc]

What is your favorite word of all time, the word that fills you with bizarre, ineffable happiness whenever you get the chance to use or say it?

Mine is 'sloth,' although my favorite not-English word is Old English neorxnawong, which is the word for Paradise (as in, the Garden of Eden). Nay-orx-na-wong! Say it!

I ask this question periodically because I love words and I love it when people talk about them and enjoy them. It makes me happy and it relaxes me.

Back tonight with fic! \o/

Comments

[everagaby.livejournal.com]

Perspicacity. Every time I read it in a novel I immediately award bonus points to the author for: a) knowing it exists, and b) fitting it seamlessly into a paragraph. (Neil Gaiman is the only author I've ever read to use it in more than one book. Yet more proof of his awesome)

Tragically my use of it every day usually involves me having to break out the OED and hand it to whoever is staring at me like I just called their mother a baby-eating she beast.

Oh, and the Russian language in general. Although there are a few standouts, including the word sneemat (easier to spell in Cyrillic) that means:
1) To rent an apartment
2) To make a film
3) To hire a hooker

So someone can actually say that they were trying to sneemat a place so they could sneemat a film with that hooker they just sneemated.

And they have a word for slow death or disfigurement as by pecking (typically done by a bird).

[aesc.livejournal.com]

And they have a word for slow death or disfigurement as by pecking (typically done by a bird).

AWESOME! I love words like that, that seem so specific you have to wonder what event or set of events prompted the word coming into use.

[hellpenguin.livejournal.com]

it's like "cleave"! <3