Subject: What's your favorite word?
Posted by: GuruOfTrivia
Date: Jun 28 10
I've known people whose favorite words have ranged from "plump" to "inglenook." What's yours?
Posted by: GuruOfTrivia
Date: Jun 28 10
I've known people whose favorite words have ranged from "plump" to "inglenook." What's yours?
95 replies. On page 4 of 5 pages. 1 2 3 4 5
Mixamatosis 
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Deliciously. Reply #61. May 03 16, 2:28 PM |
Litecruzer
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Love. Reply #62. May 03 16, 2:50 PM |
lonely-lady
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Serendipity Reply #63. Sep 22 16, 6:52 AM |
13LuckyLady
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Possibility Reply #64. Sep 22 16, 7:43 AM |
Creedy
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Posh. It makes such a lovely popping sound Reply #65. Sep 23 16, 6:22 PM |
LillaVanilla
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The word I'm currently obsessed with is "dungarees". I've no idea why. It could be that I associate it with the Far Side cartoon of the dung beetles wearing filthy dungarees. Reply #66. Feb 01 17, 9:18 PM |
SisterSeagull
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'Carillon', 'Cathedral'... I have a penchant for 'C' words! Reply #67. Feb 02 17, 1:24 AM |
| Mixamatosis
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One word that fascinated me was the Irish word "Gombeen". A gomebeen man, I imagined to be a kind of monster, a bit like a zombie or a sort of idiot (Mr Gumby from Ponty Python), or a cross between the two. Eventually, I found out it means "a man who lends money at an unreasonably high rate". Reply #68. Feb 02 17, 5:54 PM |
| Mixamatosis
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Sorry, made a typo - "gombeen" is the correct spelling. Reply #69. Feb 02 17, 5:55 PM |
hekawi
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Freedom Reply #70. Mar 02 17, 2:20 PM |
sadwings
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Priestliness Reply #71. Feb 08 18, 8:53 AM |
| Skyflyerjen
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Freedom or hope or the word "feminine" said backward out loud, it's kinda fun... "eninimef!" Reply #72. Feb 15 18, 10:27 AM |
sectant
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Words that nobody uses anymore like 'behooves' and 'gadzooks' and 'please' and 'thank you' and 'England will do well in the World Cup.' Reply #73. Mar 21 18, 3:26 AM |
| Mixamatosis
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One odd thing is the large number of words in Britain for being drunk. Here are some of them "plastered, blotto, pissed, legless, three sheets to the wind, and some I knew from Liverpool were "palatic (elsewhere paralytic), bladdered, sh*t faced, wellied. I'm sure there are more. Perhaps others can remember some. In Thomas Hardy's novel "Far from the Madding Crowd" one of his characters, Joseph Poorboys, who is drunk while driving a coffin, talks about having "the multiplying eye". That may be an old country expression as I've never heard it in modern times. Reply #74. Mar 29 18, 5:44 AM |
Memorycat65
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Mix, I've always lived in the deep South, and if you could hear my voice, you'd understand. I've always loved collecting "Southernisms," and my favorite for being drunk is, "Why, that old boy is tighter than Dick's hatband." When I was little, I was told that to be "tight," meant that you were a cheapskate. (My parents were from the northern states, or maybe they didn't want to explain being soused to a child). Anyway, when I got older, the other meaning was explained to me. The expression has always struck me funny. Anne Reply #75. Mar 30 18, 11:02 PM |
| Mixamatosis
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Hi Anne, That expression made me laugh. Come to think of it, we also have both meanings of "tight" but the but about the hatband is very funny and I've not heard it before. I think the expression tight was more used by previous generations here. I'd like to hear more Southernisms. They don't need to be about drunkenness. Reply #76. Mar 31 18, 2:21 AM |
| Memorycat65
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Mix, thanks for your comments! Another "Southernism" I grew up with is " Those two boys got in a tussle, and one of "em went down like a one egg puddin.'" Btw, there are several great books out there about Southernisms. I can't remember the authors, but you could Google them: "How to Speak Southern" and "Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit." Both are hilarious and are sure to make you smile! I know you hail from England, and years ago I read the James Herriott books set in Yorkshire. I fell in love with the dialect of that region. The number one item on my "bucket list" is to visit your wonderful country. I taught World Civilization and history for many years, as well as English, and just can't shuffle off this mortal coil happy without seeing and experiencing the places I've talked about in class. Interesting that you should like Southernisms, because the people who settled here and moved into the wild Appalachian Mountain regions were largely English, Scottish, and Irish. Their speech is a direct reflection of the speech used on your side of the pond during Shakespearean times. Over the generations, that version of English went west, but the more affluent settlers remained on the east coast and built their plantations in Tidewater Virginia, and the Carolinas. Their speech remained upper class English, but became less so over the generations. Then, there's Georgia -originally a penal colony established by James Oglethorpe in 1733; they also wanted to establish a "buffer" colony to separate the British colonies from Spanish controlled Florida to the South. These settlers were largely sent here for "petty" crimes and to take the pressure off a population boom and rising unemployment in England. Taken all together, all the dialects of English, Scottish, and Irish combined to give us what we today call "Southern." Our nations share so much! Down, girl - enough lecture. Can't tell you how much I enjoy this site, and getting to know such a sharp and lovely group of people is just icing on the cake! Anne Reply #77. Mar 31 18, 12:00 PM |
| Memorycat65
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Sorry ya'll - didn't mean to go off on a tangent, but I currently work at an elementary school (after years of working in secondary education), and maybe it's just my age, but these days, when I hear a name like "Plato," I think "Play dough"). In other words, sometimes I just get excited about having an adult conversation about anything! Anyway, my current favorite word is "onomatopoeia." Kind of rolls of the tongue doesn't it? Reply #78. Mar 31 18, 2:15 PM |
| Mixamatosis
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Memorycat 65 I hope you get to make your journey to Yorkshire. It is indeed a beautiful county with York and all its history from Viking times onwards and the home of the Brontes as well as James Herriott locations, Whitby (the site of Dracula legends) and Robin Hood's Bay, a beautiful village on the coast. Other beautiful counties, if you're up that way are: Northumbria, (north of Yorkshire) which has Hadrian's Wall, Bamburgh Castle (on the coast). Alnmouth (beautiful village and beach), and 3 miles from there, Alnwick, which has an old railway station turned into the biggest second hand book shop in Britain, and fantastic Alnwick Castle, home of the Percy family which was the setting for much of the Harry Potter films. Down the coast is Holy Island (also called Lindisfarne) associated with St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, one of the earliest Christian sites in Great Britain. They are all beautiful and fun to visit. If you had any more time you could nip west to Cumbria, known as The Lake District, with very beautiful scenery with hills and lakes, where you can take a boat across Lake Windermere to the home of Beatrix Potter in Near Sawrey. Reply #79. Apr 01 18, 1:33 AM |
C30
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Memorycat..........One of the things about my homeland (England) that never ceases to amaze me, is how little distance a visitor need travel to hear an completely different dialect. When you consider the fact that roughly UK is the same size as Alabama! Over here, individual counties have their own dialects. I am from the South (well, more East than South, but classified "South" by Northerners)....to whit.........rural Essex, and specifically England's oldest recorded town, Colchester. Disregarding Southern part of county, which is virtually London, the rural Essex dialect is similar to it's neighbor Suffolk.........but different! Reply #80. Apr 01 18, 2:50 AM |
95 replies. On page 4 of 5 pages. 1 2 3 4 5
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