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

[stella-polaris.livejournal.com]

Um, I don't think I have a favourite word, per se, but I really, really like the English word "blue". It's just so round and solid and it rolls off the tongue. Blue. It's a like a smooth, polished stone.

In Finnish, I love the word "mitä", which means "what". Because the thing is that in colloquial Finnish, it can also be used as a statement. Not officially, of course, it's an intonation thing. Say it dryly and incredulously enough, and it becomes a statement as a response to something really, really weird or stupid. "What."


However, possibly my favourite Finnish word is "pohjantähti", meaning the Northern star. Hence my username :) I love the tempo of the word, and it just sounds really stern and beautiful. Also several older Finnish words, like Aamunkoi, (Lucifer), which basically means the morning dawn.


A lot of Finns seem to think Finnish is an ugly language, but I personally disagree vehemently. Not to mention it's probably the best language ever for sarcasm.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Because the thing is that in colloquial Finnish, it can also be used as a statement. Not officially, of course, it's an intonation thing. Say it dryly and incredulously enough, and it becomes a statement as a response to something really, really weird or stupid. "What."

Very cool! The closest English comes is "What" pronounced as "whut" (as you'll see in lolspeak sometimes), but it a sort of flatly surprised intonation, as though the speaker is so taken aback by the weirdness/stupidness of what's confronted them that they can't sound surprised or shocked.