While I definitely consider myself a logophile, I do detest lexiphanicism. As evidenced by the story <word nerds>, I also love playing Scrabble, but often run into a logastellus or two who will use one of those online cheat programs. That is a hot issue.
On a day when I would like to talk about anything not related to you know what in you know where, I came across something and thought I would add my own two cen…er…two toonies to the mix.
According to Merriam-Webster, their “10 Most Liked Words of the Day” (as voted on by users of The Facebook) are as follows: bathetic (a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace), canoodle (to caress amorously), crapulous (gross excess in eating or drinking), flummox (to bewilder or confuse), gumption (resourcefulness; initiative), kismet (fate), numinous (mysterious), sagacious (shrewd), vamoose (scram) and vicissitude (changes; ups and downs).
Ex) Elder Bum-suk and Junior Young-bum were quite crapulous after a night of noraebang merrymaking, but Elder Bum-suk flummoxed his young friend when he began canoodling him in numinous yet sagacious ways that displayed real gumption; sadly, Bum-suk’s bathetic offensive had Young-bum vamoose for the nearest side street, where he could expel his soju demons in public and ruminate about the vicious vicissitudes he had experienced that evening.
As fun, funny, and funnily as those words are, however, users of The Facebook are missing a bunch of real doozies, notably those that make great showstoppers in Scrabble. These include, but are certainly not limited to, the following how-d’ya-like-‘dem-apples:
aerie, aileron, bezique, caziques, cwm, muzjiks, neonate, syzygy, zemstvos, zymurgy
As for mellifluously euphonious words, Dan Dalton (@wordsbydan) over at BuzzFeed asked readers for help in coming up with his “32 Of The Most Beautiful Words In The English Language.” It’s a great list, so check it out, especially if you’re using an online dating site and need to impress someone with your prodigious lexicon.
Feel free to leave a comment if you have a word(s) to add to any of these lists.
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Richard H. Harris 