Fantastic words thread

Dimrill · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:30

I've heard a few people saying that words start to look strange to them the more they're looked at. I thought this only happened to me, so it comes as quite a shock that others suffer it as well. I intend this thread to contain me (and others, if you like) to wibble on about certain words that do this to them, without the fear of de-railing other threads. Or even just words you like to use or look at.

So, to start off the one that caused me grief last week was "gary", and now Squirt used the word "beak" in Plissken's moany thread. Look at it... beak... it feels weird in the mouth. Beak....... beak.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26482

sponge

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 49252

Curmudgeon.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:32

Oh god.. sponge.... that's just wrong and weird.. sponge.

Shewolf · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:33

Snaffle.

Troglodyte.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:34

froth

Plissken · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:34

Predicate. I use that a lot more than is suitable.

"Foom". It isn't a word, but by golly it sounds good. "Foom." "FOOM!". "Foooooooom."

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 49252

Plissken wrote:

Predicate. I use that a lot more than is suitable.

That, presumably, is predicated on there being a predefined suitable level of use.

MrD · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 2139

Cluedo.

ElephantBanjoGnome · **Joined:** 22nd Dec, 2010 **Posts:** 8175

Perspicacity

myp · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 13:06

would would would would would would.

Now doesn't it look weird?

Zardoz · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 13:09

You taking the piss son?
\

myp · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 13:11

Nope. If you would say a 'normal' word enough, it would start to would look really would strange.

SteONorDar · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 13:44

A phrase, not a word, that Tolkien claimed to be the best in the english lanugage is "cellar door", he has a point.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 26482

I know a lot of people have a problem with the word 'moist' for some reason.

MaliA · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 13:51

Afflatus

Runcle · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 13:58

is that because it comes out sounding french? cellar door that is.

SteONorDar · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 14:06

Runcle wrote:

is that because it comes out sounding french? cellar door that is.

It's just the whole sound of the phrase I think. He used it as an example of how, despite having such a mundane meaning, divorced from context it has a beautiful sound.

Runcle · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 14:19

actually wasnt that on donnie darko aswell?

MaliA · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 14:20

Runcle wrote:

actually wasnt that on donnie darko aswell?

As was Drew Barrymore and I love her.

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 49252

Speaking of Donnie Darko, has anyone seen Southland Tales - supposedly the spiritual successor to DD, 'starring' the Rock, Sean William Scott, and Sarah Michelle Gellar?

Goodness it's unwatchable tosh.

SteONorDar · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 14:48

Runcle wrote:

actually wasnt that on donnie darko aswell?

Yes it was - I remember being happy they'd picked up on an obscure Tolkien reference. Must watch that again sometime. And re-read all of Tolkien.

kalmar · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 14:53

Craster wrote:

Speaking of Donnie Darko, has anyone seen Southland Tales - supposedly the spiritual successor to DD, 'starring' the Rock, Sean William Scott, and Sarah Michelle Gellar?

Goodness it's unwatchable tosh.

I just read up on it.

A film set in "Los Angeles, a city on the brink of chaos overshadowed by the growth of the underground Neo-Marxist movement", featuring "Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), ex-porn star in the midst of reconverting" that is "comparable in recent American film only to David Lynch's acclaimed Mulholland Drive".

Even if it really "may be one of the worst films ever", How can I not watch that? Even though it will clearly be disappointing. :'(

Rodafowa · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 14:55

Investigative. Horrible word. It sounds all sticky-out in the wrong places, like the South African accent.

Anthropomorphic, on the other hand, is brilliant.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 15:01

Diametrically opposed.

That's a nice pair of words.

SteONorDar · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 15:04

Curiosity wrote:

Diametrically opposed.

That's a nice pair of words.

ooh, isn't it just!

Coruscate and Scintillate are two other favourites of mine.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 15:09

SteONorDar wrote:

Curiosity wrote:

Diametrically opposed.

That's a nice pair of words.

ooh, isn't it just!

Coruscate and Scintillate are two other favourites of mine.

I'm a big fan of coruscate.

Rodafowa · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 15:18

Sussurate, too.

SteONorDar · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 15:26

Why is it that, upon hearing the word onomatopoeic, it is not immediately obvious what it means?

MaliA · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 15:33

SteONorDar wrote:

Why is it that, upon hearing the word onomatopoeic, it is not immediately obvious what it means?

BECAUSE OPENING BOOKS WITH NON OPPOSABLE THUMBS IS CHUFFING DIFFICULT

Dimrill · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 11:53

Chin.

CUS · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 11:58

Ocelot.
Apposite.
Submersible.
Bathysphere.
Detente.
Blaxploitation.

Trousers · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3080

Flange

Runcle · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 13:12

thread

Zardoz · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 13:25

CUS wrote:

Ocelot.

\

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

SteONorDar wrote:

Runcle wrote:

is that because it comes out sounding french? cellar door that is.

It's just the whole sound of the phrase I think. He used it as an example of how, despite having such a mundane meaning, divorced from context it has a beautiful sound.

See also "Celador Productions", which is a respelling of the same phrase.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 13:46

In true Tolkein fashion I shall now pronounce Celador with a K instead.

CUS · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 13:56

Dimrill wrote:

In true Tolkein fashion I shall now pronounce Celador with a K instead, over the next ten or twenty pages.

FTFY.

Runcle · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 13:57

would the door of your beer fridge be called a stelladoor?

chortle of course not its vile.

Zardoz · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 13:59

Vile

Vial

GazChap · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 15:00

Defenestrate.

Discombobulate.

MrD · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 2139

Trousers wrote:

Flange

Zardoz · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 20:28

cuboid

metalangel · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 23:20

Bah! I have arrived too late to stop the inevitable 'defenestrate' post. It stopped being clever and amusing a long time ago.

My words are:
hooligan
carcass
incinerate

My hated words are:
sarky
toddler
shambolic

Dimrill · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 23:21

gaol
gobsmacked
boggle
plop

GazChap · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2008 23:47

MetalAngel wrote:

Bah! I have arrived too late to stop the inevitable 'defenestrate' post. It stopped being clever and amusing a long time ago.

Pooh to you, with knobs on!

I don't like the word because it's funny or clever. I like it because there's a word in the English language specifically about throwing people out of windows. The act of defenestration was so common back when the word was created that they felt they needed a word for it. Brilliant.

SteONorDar · **Posted:** Tue May 13, 2008 1:57

If you fit a window, are you enfenestrating?
If you replace it, are you refenestrating?

And is double glazing bifenestration?

I really should go to bed...

Da5e · **Posted:** Tue May 13, 2008 1:58

Yes, Steve. Ensomniate.

SteONorDar · **Posted:** Tue May 13, 2008 1:59

Davydd Grimm wrote:

Yes, Steve. Ensomniate.

ACTUAL LOL!

TsuMuch · **Posted:** Tue May 13, 2008 17:46

Wednesday

Wednesday

wed-nesd-ay

Wednesday

wed-nes-day

wednesday

WEDNESDAY

Be Excellent To Each Other

Fantastic words thread

Who is online