#514597 - Sun Mar 14 2010 01:39 AM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Mainstay
Registered: Thu May 22 2008
Posts: 998
Loc: Delft<br>The Netherlands
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You are right, it's not like I knew what I was doing when I copy-pasted it  Check out this fantastic site for Finnish tongue twisters. http://www.alphadictionary.com/fun/tongue-twisters/finnish_tongue_twisters.htmlLentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilasAirplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student The longest Finnish word but an actual military term in the Air Force. Kokko, kokkoo kokkoo koko kokko! - Koko kokkoko? - Koko kokko. Kokkookko? (Savo dialect)Kokko (a surname), gather up the whole bonfire! - The entire bonfire? - The entire bonfire. Now will you gather it up?
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#514598 - Sun Mar 14 2010 01:58 AM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Enthusiast
Registered: Tue Feb 05 2008
Posts: 439
Loc: Western Australia
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On the mispronunciations, the place I had trouble with was the American state Arkansas - I knew Kansas was pronounced as it was spelt, so why the difference ? Favourite words - serendipity & happenstance.
_________________________
“Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming ... WOW! What a ride!”
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#514600 - Wed Mar 17 2010 03:04 PM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Multiloquent
Registered: Sat Dec 25 1999
Posts: 2824
Loc: Fairhaven Massachusetts USA
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I've got a thing about unusual words, such as tchotchke, omadhaun, daedal, synergy, bouleversement, et al.
A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you thought of. Burt Bacharach
tjoeb};>
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#514601 - Thu Mar 18 2010 07:32 AM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Champion Poster
Registered: Wed Jun 07 2006
Posts: 20697
Loc: Gauteng South Africa
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I love 'oxymoron' it makes me smile. Then there are a lot of towns in Namivia that have great names - Otjiwarongo, Gobabis, Okahandja, Tsumeb,Okakararawhich, to name a few. I hate the word 'learner' - why can't it just be student?
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"If Life Were Easy Where Would All The Adventure Be?"
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#514603 - Tue Mar 23 2010 10:14 AM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Moderator
Registered: Sun Apr 29 2001
Posts: 4095
Loc: Norwich England�UK���ï...
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Bedraggled. I pronounce it beDRAGGled. At about age eight I caused a minor sensation at school be confusing rumour and aroma. I think I'd written something about an *arumour. The teacher asked me what I meant and I replied by saying the word could mean 'the smell of tea or coffee' or 'a story going round'. 
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#514604 - Tue Mar 23 2010 12:18 PM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Moderator
Registered: Wed Oct 17 2001
Posts: 8479
Loc: Hastings Sussex England UK
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I'm not sure whether I ever misread misled, but I remember being momentarily nonplussed when I read in a school history book that our troops in the Crimean War were underfed. I interpreted it as un-derfed and wondered what on earth was involved in derfing a soldier.
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Dilige et quod vis fac
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#514605 - Thu Mar 25 2010 03:00 PM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Mainstay
Registered: Thu May 22 2008
Posts: 998
Loc: Delft<br>The Netherlands
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I just remembered I love "oodles"
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They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
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#514606 - Thu Mar 25 2010 03:35 PM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Multiloquent
Registered: Sun Jan 17 2010
Posts: 2507
Loc: Sydney NSW Australia
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Oxymoron's a great word. A mate of mine calls them "poxymorons". I think we should all get together and work out a definition of derf. I'm sure it's a word in a language somewhere. As for a synonym being used because you can't spell the word you want, well I'm guilty of that ;-) I have a new word for my favourites list. "Bumbershoot"! It's a 19th century American term for umbrella. I love the word brolly but bumbershoot has overtaken it temporarily. It's in a quiz I wrote coming soon so if you see it you'll know what it is 
_________________________
A platypus lays eggs and produces milk - it can make its own custard
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#514608 - Fri Mar 26 2010 06:28 AM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Participant
Registered: Tue May 20 2008
Posts: 22
Loc: Greenfield Park Quebec Canada
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Whisper. A fun thing to do in a woman's ear.Or vice versa.
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#692406 - Tue Feb 21 2012 02:57 AM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Mainstay
Registered: Sun Oct 23 2011
Posts: 514
Loc: Melbourne VIC Australia
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Without resorting to Monty Python's' woody and tinny words as a criterion, I really like obfuscation - the sound of the word fits so nicely with the meaning (wilfully ambiguous).
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#786127 - Fri Apr 13 2012 05:25 PM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Learning the ropes...
Registered: Fri Apr 13 2012
Posts: 1
Loc: Asheville, NC
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Hello, my name is Ralph,
I like the word curmudgeon. Why? You ask? This is what I have posted on a website I have:
I've come to the conclusion that I may possibly be a "Curmudgeon". Be honest now, if you didn't know what the term meant...what was the first thing that popped into your mind? My thought was some sort of an ocean crustacean. I should be rotten, and if the definition is foreign to you make you look it up. Being the nice guy that I am, I'll tell you for one reason only. The definition of the term will probably not be exactly the same as the one I'm about to give you, as the [archaic] rendering is: a crusty, ill-tempered, churlish old man. The [modern] definition is: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner. (That does not give you license to judge, demean, nor treat people with anything less than respect, honor, and dignity. I don't give a rats butt who they are or what they do. Try viewing their actions and behavior from their perspective instead of yours. Try and gain some understanding of that individual, and whether you like or dislike what you think you see...love them always. Lord knows we need to clean up our own doorsteps first...then go in for the kill:).
Another word I'm fond of is 'compassion'. I think we all need it and need to show it.
Ralph
Edited by bloomsby (Sun Sep 16 2012 06:48 AM)
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#823811 - Sat Sep 15 2012 10:02 AM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Mainstay
Registered: Tue Mar 09 2010
Posts: 634
Loc: Pennsylvania USA
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I have a few because they make me laugh when I hear them [someone I know mispronounced them]: coup, debris, paradigm, lineage, indigenous [all those words but one were from when I was in anthropology class, and the person who pronounced them wrong was the one reading my textbooks]
I like the word “inconceivable” because every time I see or hear it I’m reminded of the most common dictionary definition: “not conceivable”) [I cracked up when I saw that].
When I first saw the place names “Nova Scotia” and “Saudi Arabia” written, I didn’t pronounce them right. To this day, my mother and I still laugh about that (and I was definetly old enough to know better with “Saudi Arabia”)
Mom’s ex-boyfriend’s daughter used to say “walermelon” instead of “watermelon.” She could say “watermelon,” but for whatever reason whenever she was talking fast it didn’t come out right. [Her brother, incidentally, said “Lebadon” instead of “Lebanon.”]
Place names I like would have to be Trout Run and Wyamissing.
Someone I know doesn't pronounce the r in California, and it's not the local accent, so it makes me laugh [she grew up here and has never beenout of the state].
I forgot all about happenstance. Don’t see or hear it much.
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(1) Young I may be, but even young people are entitled to their opinions. (2)Attempting to silence me doesn't hurt me, but the silencer. (3) I must remain true to myself.
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#823928 - Sat Sep 15 2012 12:00 PM
Re: What's your favourite word?
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Forum Champion
Registered: Wed Feb 03 2010
Posts: 6516
Loc: Florida USA
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Lollygagging I'm sure had an innocent background. Why am I reminded of it whenever I see LOL? Are folk dawdling when they type it?
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If you aren't seeing Heaven while you dream, you're doing something wrong. Dreams allow escape from the passage of Time. The ultimate activity is the Dream.
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