Comments on: ... Shenanigans ... Antidisestablishmentarianism ... Medulla Oblongata ... Zog ...

... Shenanigans ... Antidisestablishmentarianism ... Medulla Oblongata ... Zog ...

anastasiav — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:06:39 -0800

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:09:47 -0800

Those words are indeed fun to say. I wish Dave were a better speller, though.

By: greengrl

greengrl — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:11:34 -0800

Y'know, my friends and I came up with a list like this on a road trip once, but ours included words like igloo, muckalucks, and manhole.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:13:24 -0800

He missed "ruminate", and "peripatetic" as in : "I'll have to ruminate on that for a while whilst I peripatetically meander along on my daily constitutional".

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:20:42 -0800

Arugula! ...no list is complete without it. ...and get this!: ...also known as rocket, roquette, rugula and rucola... Bonus! (I keep a list of fun words too, as well as a loooong list of fun imaginary words and their potential meanings.)

By: abischof

abischof — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:22:22 -0800

greengrl: And, of course, bulbous bufont :).

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:22:31 -0800

onomatopoetic alliteration I always liked that one. e.g.: The slithery snake hissed and spat its venom.

By: planetkyoto

planetkyoto — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:22:35 -0800

From Steve's List of 200 Underused Words and Phrases (unpublished): llickspittle, hoecake, the realm of visionary speculation, jakeleg, bleb, seapuss

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:27:11 -0800

hoecake? from Hollywood Shuffle?

By: machaus

machaus — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:27:28 -0800

Djibouti.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:29:47 -0800

Kalamazoo! Ouagadougou! (But Rancho Cucamonga is well chosen. I defy anyone to say that without putting a little extra zest into it. Unless they live there or something) Zesty!

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:32:14 -0800

Garbanzo!

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:32:23 -0800

also: anemone, enemy, anime. If we're going to include nonsensical phrases. This looks to be another MeFi thread whose own URL will prove to be a "site" much more interesting than that of the nominal linked site.

By: pedantic

pedantic — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:35:25 -0800

Daft, heathen, quidnunc, trite, servile. Hrm. I'm finding a pattern in my vernacular choice.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:35:29 -0800

Cunning, that reminds me of that old SNL episode where the uptight, plainspoken business folk at the lunch meeting keep lapsing into extra-zesty spanish accents whenever a spanish word comes up, like "Burrrrito" or "Nicarrrauwwua." I forget what the point of the skit was - there was a Latino character in it somewhere, right? - but like many of them, it's gotten much funnier in the reminiscence than it was upon first viewing. And yes, maybe Dave could scare up some definitions of "Rhutabega" and "Wankle-Rotary Engine" if he could spell 'em.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:36:33 -0800

kumquat

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:37:00 -0800

djibouti

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:37:40 -0800

argh! machaus beat me to it!

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:41:07 -0800

That list is more useful than an atlatl for an Alouatta palliata!

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:43:01 -0800

Tegucigalpa, La Republica Dominicana, and Okmulgee need to be on there. Does anyone else keep a mental list of words that are fun to type? The word "point" is a great one as the fingers on your right hand cascade down the keyboard. /dork

By: PrinceValium

PrinceValium — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:47:04 -0800

Buttafuoco.

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:47:46 -0800

My art history teacher enjoys the word "linoleum".

By: archimago

archimago — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:48:53 -0800

Winky Tinky Ha Ha Hut ????

By: davehat

davehat — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:49:02 -0800

Tegucigalpa! When I worked for STA, I used to try and make anyone who said "I want to fly to Honduras" say Tegucigalpa by asking them where exactly they wanted to go. Almost without exception, people dodged the question and said "you know, the capital". I'm also a big big fan of the word Banjo. It was my great pleasure to meet someone called Banjo a couple of years ago, but despite much pleading with my partner, I was not allowed to give the name to our kid.

By: vito90

vito90 — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:49:40 -0800

perfidious abattoir imbroglio kibitz bukkake myrmidon miasma

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:50:58 -0800

rubber

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:51:16 -0800

Guadalajara

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:55:29 -0800

Winky Tinky Ha Ha Hut ???? I have no idea. Here are the results of the Google Search I ran on the phrase. The linked site is the number one result. But you have to admit, it is fun to say....

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 07:58:47 -0800

sphincter

goatse

By: will

will — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:00:28 -0800

Turnips. It's all about the turnips, people.

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:00:57 -0800

Does anyone else keep a mental list of words that are fun to type? The word "point" is a great one as the fingers on your right hand cascade down the keyboard. Any word that goes consonent-vowel-consonent-vowel-etc is great for me, provided the consonents are on the right side of the keyboard and the vowels on the left. "Jena Malone" is almost perfect, except for the 'o'. Can you tell I type w/ 2 fingers?

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:05:29 -0800

"Lima" is really fun to say if you use a Speedy Gonzales accent.

By: jozxyqk

jozxyqk — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:06:27 -0800

How could you forget Lake Titicaca??

By: brownpau

brownpau — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:08:51 -0800

Smock smock smock.

By: NorthernLite

NorthernLite — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:10:13 -0800

Didjeridu I see Zamboni on the list (although aren't those more fun to drive than pronounce?). Speaking of ice sports, I've always enjoyed saying the name Ulrich Salchow. Ulrich Salchow. Ulrich Salchow. (Ah, a triple Salchow.) The word "point" is a great one as the fingers on your right hand cascade down the keyboard. I have a musical background. Sometimes that tactile sensation reminds me of playing the other kind of keyboard. And speaking of music, I wonder if our delight in the *sounds* of language originates in the same part of the brain that is stimulated by music.

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:12:45 -0800

"Lima" is really fun to say if you use a Speedy Gonzales accent. Leeeema! Leeeeema! Ándale! (Sound effects here.)

By: shoepal

shoepal — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:16:44 -0800

Paging languagehat! Is there something inherent in these words that makes them fun to say? The way you shape your mouth to vocalize them? The sounds they make? Perhaps the rhythms or tones? Djibouti is a popular one. As is bukkake. Many of these words make for great Palilalia fodder.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:23:09 -0800

Rutabega! Chim-pan-zee! Chauncey! The president of Madagascar's name is Marc Ravalomanana!

By: graventy

graventy — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:23:28 -0800

No, no, no. It's all about words that sound dirty, but aren't. Like Muck-Luck.

By: shoepal

shoepal — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:25:35 -0800

onomatopoeia, egregious, shibuya, gregarious, echolalia

By: starscream

starscream — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:30:50 -0800

Main Entry: hip·ster a person who is unusually aware of and interested in new and unconventional patterns (as in jazz or the use of stimulants) Coffee meets keyboard. ;)

By: qDot

qDot — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:32:15 -0800

Where the hell is Wiffle?

By: KnitWit

KnitWit — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:33:50 -0800

Sven

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:35:38 -0800

Two words: Boutros Boutros-Gawlee!

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:36:03 -0800

I have a thing for names with lots of syallables - Glen Mitchibata and Iona Campagnola are two of my favourites. They just glide off the tongue.

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:38:01 -0800

Monkey, or any number of other words, when pronounced by Inspector Clouseau.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:38:57 -0800

enema

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:45:53 -0800

Paging languagehat! Is there something inherent in these words that makes them fun to say? Beats the hell out of me. But I'm loving this thread. Bananarama! Bamberg! Woonsocket! Micmac! quonsar!

By: bhayes82

bhayes82 — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:52:38 -0800

badonkadonk

By: JParker

JParker — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:56:13 -0800

polyvinylrododospagaspamomo

By: briank

briank — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:56:18 -0800

Jalalabad

By: JParker

JParker — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:56:51 -0800

oh, and ooze

By: QuestionableSwami

QuestionableSwami — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:58:56 -0800

Zugzwang, dipthong, picayune. (disappears in a puff of smoke)

By: nelleish

nelleish — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:59:36 -0800

personally, I've always been a fan of dodecahedron (Doe-DECK-ah-HEEEEE-Dron) especially during the brief period I could hurl it at my younger sister as an insult and feel superior because she didn't know it was a twelve-sided polyhedron yet. Of course this was the same time you couldn't get her to stop calling everything and anything a "discombobulated pumpernickel," including her siblings. Waaay too much Square One and Mr.Wizard watched at my house.

By: JParker

JParker — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:04:30 -0800

lugubrious, brouhaha, glockenspiel, schmaltz, heteroscedasticity, gorgonzola Very timely. I linked to a different list two weeks ago.

By: asok

asok — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:15:33 -0800

sassafras lugubrious (on preview: popular choice!) Maybe it has something to do with the rhythm of the word? Maybe it is the transitions from phoneme to phoneme.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:24:52 -0800

"Cellar door" and "smock" are two sadly lacking entries.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:25:34 -0800

Curse you, Brownpau!

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:30:17 -0800

Lollipop. Mollify.

By: Quartermass

Quartermass — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:35:38 -0800

Hahaha!!!! Manhole

By: aramaic

aramaic — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:00:20 -0800

Bandar Seri Begawan ...I love that name. Begawan. Begawan. It's like buddhist chanting.

By: bonehead

bonehead — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:08:47 -0800

The only thing tricky about methylchloroisothiazolinone is knowing that linone is pronounced li-NOWN. Also, "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" did have a specific (if incorrect/incomplete) meaning before marketing got ahold of it.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:10:02 -0800

episcopalian kajagoogoo rikki tikki tavi : >

By: btwillig

btwillig — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:14:14 -0800

lugubrious

By: clever sheep

clever sheep — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:14:36 -0800

boutros-boutros ghali! sphygmomanometer! ...and yes, the word "sheep"--when said as I've said it from childhood, with teeth held firmly together, motionless. try it!

By: mokey

mokey — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:16:19 -0800

lapsang souchong

By: taz

taz — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:18:48 -0800

canoodle.

By: ed

ed — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:27:25 -0800

perfunctory fastidious unctuous schlep kvetch onerous splendiferous In fact, for the most part, adjectives are fun to say.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:32:32 -0800

if we're going to go yiddish--every single word : > schmuck schmeckel schmatta....

By: squealy

squealy — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:32:57 -0800

embonpoint.

By: Pericles

Pericles — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:40:53 -0800

"Cheeseweasel". It's my nickname for my daughter. I also rate "rikki tikki tavi", "acetylsalycylic" and "popacatapetl".

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:43:45 -0800

ahem.... indubitably.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:44:46 -0800

All the atskys and otsky's Blavatsky, Trotsky........ also, farpotchket (Yiddish, sp?) - something that's all fucked up as a result of an attempt to fix it.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:46:02 -0800

Whee! Spuyten Duyvil, ten eyck, rutabaga, rhubarb, spaldeen, spallation, doodlesack, Bannanrama, ed koch, aaahhhhhhhh John Sununu (say it like a crazy maitre d') boolean, hurley burley, churlish, fondue, speonk. Oh there are so many, a surplusage, a sufficiency.

By: bigschmoove

bigschmoove — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:48:30 -0800

sassafras succotash truculent ferdyschenko flibbertigibbet floccinauccinihilipilification hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic muckaluckahimuckahineyho? rhombicosododecahedron was always my favorite shape...

By: bigschmoove

bigschmoove — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:52:30 -0800

alas, sassafras is superfluous. I defenestrate myself. Or maybe seppuku would be better. Hari kari?

By: jennak

jennak — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:53:55 -0800

I've always liked the word titillating because it sounds naughty, but it's not. As far as fun (or frustrating) to say -- Albemarle (a name typically relegated to the Southern US) has always been top of my list. As someone who grew up speaking Spanish, I just can't get my mouth to form that "arle" bit. Oh, and jpoulos: Queretaro is much more fun to say than Guadalajara.

By: bigschmoove

bigschmoove — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:59:00 -0800

is there an unfun Mexican city? Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Uruapan (soi-disant world Avocado capital)?

By: bigschmoove

bigschmoove — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 11:04:18 -0800

one last one, from my old greek textbook:

A word bearing the acute upon the ultima is known as an oxytone, one with the acute upon the penult as a paroxytone, one with the acute upon the antepenult as a proparoxytone. One which bears the circumflex upon the ultima is called a perispomenon, one with the circumflex upon the penult is a properispomenon. These terms, though formidable, will save much laborious periphrasis.

They must have been cracking up when they wrote that.

By: punilux

punilux — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 11:11:23 -0800

autodidactic (I taught myself that one).

By: bwanabetty

bwanabetty — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 11:18:14 -0800

frigate. sounds like a swear word, but it's really a boat!

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 11:38:04 -0800

frigate. sounds like a swear word, but it's really a boat! I've got a teeny little dinghy. I'd like a frigate.

By: sugarfish

sugarfish — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 12:04:05 -0800

apothecary

By: found missing

found missing — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 12:10:42 -0800

bunghole

By: gompa

gompa — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 12:40:19 -0800

intransigent (say it with Birch Barlow in mind) Also many Canadian place names: Tatamagouche, Chibougamou, Penatanguishine, Abitibi-Temiscaming, Flin Flon, Chicoutimi, Chilliwack, etc. etc.

By: wendell

wendell — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:11:19 -0800

HUMONGOUS meerkat duodenal great California place names: TUOLUMNE and LOMPOC (correctly pronounced lom-poke) and two from my pantry: balsamic and worcestershire (pronounced woostur-shur) It must be lunch time.

By: wendell

wendell — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:14:06 -0800

(oh, and Tuolumne is pronounced Too-ah-lu-mee... I once got through the first day doing a Farm Report a a small-time California radio station mispronouncing it "TOO-uh-loom"... all the farmers said "Damn Big City DJ")

By: elwoodwiles

elwoodwiles — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:32:40 -0800

I've longed bemoaned the fact I get fewer and fewer chances to say DIRIGIBLE. "AHHHH THE DIRIGIBLE IS ON FIRE!" "Is that a dirigible in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" "And now folks, as part of our Superbowl extravaganza, here's the Goodyear Dirigible!" Dirigible.

By: Phatty Lumpkin

Phatty Lumpkin — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:34:37 -0800

globular

By: Samsonov14

Samsonov14 — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:40:51 -0800

Hippopotamus.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:47:58 -0800

Prestidigitate, micturate, ocsculate! Ubiquitous, unctous, garrulous, loquacious. I could go on and on....

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:49:27 -0800

Er, unctuous, sorry. Not to mention unguent.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 14:29:03 -0800

I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet the Archive of Endangered, Special, or Fun Words, which has been on the web almost forever (at least in web time). They're not necessarily all fun to say, but a lot of them are. A few of my favorites from that list:

chiaroscuro
fungible
ornithopter (popularized by Frank Herbert, but not coined by him)

And a few favorites of my own:

Côte d'Ivoire (the country formerly known as Ivory Coast)
phenolphthalein (a chemical often used as an acid-base indicator. Usually people ignore the "l" and second "ph," leading to a pronunciation of fee-no-thay-lin, but if you're up for a challenge go for the whole thing: fee-nol-fthay-lin)
edamame

By: synapse

synapse — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 14:31:50 -0800

my good friends' last name Thamkittikasem And I'm a big fan of smock too.

By: palegirl

palegirl — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 14:45:36 -0800

I keep a list of phrases like the alternative superlative I'm going to focus on my thighs, exercise-wise abject reject poughkeepsie compatriots the chicago fire department fire prevention education cetner

By: viama

viama — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 15:02:44 -0800

I don't think I'd frequent wagamama quite so often if it didn't have that name (it's also easy to SMS!).
Which reminds me, Australia contains some my favourite placenames - Wagga Wagga, Tittybong, Wooloomooloo.

By: planetkyoto

planetkyoto — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 15:15:48 -0800

hoecake? from Hollywood Shuffle? No, from the dictionary, Webster's New Collegiate. My roommate Steve, a photojournalist, picked the words in1992, and then we tried to work them into headlines and cutlines (I was a reporter/editor) to earn points. I think I still have the list somewhere. Starscream: Hipsterism was on Steve's list.

By: LimePi

LimePi — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 15:30:31 -0800

Bulbous Bouffant Best. Words. Ever.

By: rusty

rusty — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 15:35:38 -0800

Circumambulate. I sometimes think I ended up on an island specifically so that I'll have a plenitude (!) of opportunities to say "circumambulate." Also, in the phrase category, bagless upright cyclonic. I go into Zippy-esque fits of repetition whenever I see one of those Hoover commercials. "BAGLESS UPRIGHT CYCLONIC! BAGLESS UPRIGHT CYCLONIC!" And re: banjo, I have friends who were attempting to make their child's first word be "banjo" by saying it to him repeatedly. Banjo. Banjo. Banjo. It didn't work. Kids are apparently hardwired for "mama" and "dada".

By: rusty

rusty — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 15:38:53 -0800

Also, just snagged from NPR: flim-flam. Best way to break up a boring meeting? Pick an apparently random moment when a speaker is droning on, stand up suddenly, point accusatorily, and shout "Flim-flam! Shenanigans!"

By: sharpener

sharpener — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 15:51:16 -0800

urethane neoprene plethora scalliwag tintinabulation and of course, bumfuzzled.

By: jopreacher

jopreacher — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:06:31 -0800

Fernando Chaveria. Say it in a very self-important attitude with a thick Spanish accent. Roll your R's kids.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:09:46 -0800

Walla Walla Washington Lake Titicaca (i know, mentioned already) Glockenspiel Caracas Brobdingnagian rhumba Bikini Blitzkrieg Troglodyte Metropolis punk Yggdrasil Zaxxon Medulla Oblongata Venustiano Carranza And a placename from a weblog I was reading the other day: 'Motocarros Unisex'

By: elphTeq

elphTeq — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:10:04 -0800

ephemeral. eldritch. parallelogram. wonky. albumen. frock. "debauchery" gets me every time, though.

By: vers

vers — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:13:20 -0800

rutabaga, alstroemeria, forsythia, ranunculus... ... strumpet, limpet, vetiver... ... and a personal favorite.... ... pithy

By: sharpener

sharpener — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:15:40 -0800

oh, and discombobulate.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:35:55 -0800

defenestrate rutabaga revelvance

By: skyscraper

skyscraper — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 16:45:16 -0800

absquatulate (to decamp quickly, if I remember correctly) I also enjoy the name Scrushy. Say it with me one more time - Scrushy.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:01:11 -0800

Roll your R's kids: Aurora also, auro borealis

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:02:14 -0800

Roll your R's

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:05:56 -0800

Squamous. It's beautiful. Dave's right about melancholy as well - that's always been a favourite of mine, because "oly" at the end somehow makes it sound like a different kind of word than it actually is. It sounds like it should be an adverb, like "quickly" or "suddenly" or "quietly". However it is, of course, an adjective or a noun.

By: ig

ig — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:14:33 -0800

cochabamba! (Bolivia) ubatuba! (oobatoooba) - beach in the north of Sao Paulo

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:55:45 -0800

defenestrate rutabaga revelvance posted by WolfDaddy at 4:35 PM PST on November 25 Thanks, WolfDaddy! See?!: Revelvance should be a word. But defenestrate? ...that should not. It's just downright scary. And I forgot: Grackle. Perfect. And so many people think they're just crows.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 18:48:22 -0800

Defenestrate is my favorite word! Not to say so much as the fact of it. A word that means "to throw out a window" is just too damn cool for, uh, words. What's with all the rutabaga love? Also squaloid, especially when applied to lawyers.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:24:55 -0800

Avuncular. Don't know why, I just always liked it.

By: tio2d

tio2d — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:34:04 -0800

I have some words that I read for years, but never heard them aloud. One I was so disappointed in was surreptitious. I wanted to pronounce it ser-rup’-chew-us (I think I equated it with voluptuous). I also like phenylalanine.

By: Dick Paris

Dick Paris — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:46:47 -0800

rubricate

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 20:05:09 -0800

Vulpine. (OT Am I the only one who spent years thinking disheveled was pronounced diss-hee-vuld? /OT)

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 20:27:11 -0800

Defenestrate is my favorite word! Not to say so much as the fact of it. A word that means "to throw out a window" is just too damn cool for, uh, words. The definition is very cool. But the first time I heard it, when I was a tot, I assumed it meant the same as "castrate." It just sounds that way. Ugh.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 20:45:15 -0800

I've always enjoyed the fact that there was a word "clayey," though I keep waiting in vain for opportunities to say it. And in the phrases category, this is one of the all-time greats: Veritable Proustian Madeleine.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 20:48:26 -0800

the dough I tried to make pie with ended up too clayey to be used? : >

By: mbd1mbd1

mbd1mbd1 — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 20:58:27 -0800

As an Albemarle County resident, I can assure you that few Central Virginians can wrap their tongues around "arle" either. It usually comes out sounding like "Albemaro." caucus glacial sesquicentennial

By: arto

arto — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 22:01:02 -0800

Hootenany!

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 23:10:45 -0800

kerfuffle. quinquagenarian. sarsaparilla. succotash. A steady diet of sarsaparilla and succotash caused a kefuffle among the quinquagenarians.

By: palegirl

palegirl — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 23:12:33 -0800

word nerd. It's got everything going for it.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 23:15:14 -0800

Quagmire.

By: palegirl

palegirl — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 23:15:56 -0800

One hen, two ducks, three squawking geese, four Limerick oysters, five corpulent porpoises, six pairs of Don Alfonso’s tweezers, seven thousand Macedonian warriors in full battle array, eight brass monkeys from the secret sacred ancientcrypts of Egypt, nine sympathetic, apathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity for procrastination and sloth, ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep, who haul stones in and around the quarries of the Queasy of Key, all at the very same time, eleven neutramatic synsthesizing systems owned by the seriously cybernetic marketing division shipped via relativistic space flight through the draconian sector seven.

By: Katemonkey

Katemonkey — Tue, 25 Nov 2003 23:59:29 -0800

What no mention of lemur and zebu? The drawn out 'e' is callin' y'all. leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemur zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebu

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 01:36:04 -0800

Revelvance should be a word. And it should be a word that describes a fabric so erotic it's vulgar.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 01:42:53 -0800

Oh, and... What's with all the rutabaga love? Us ed to be the safest site to which to send people during ISP tech support calls. Coz, y'know, www.bambi.com was, like, not. Safe.

By: wdpeck

wdpeck — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 02:04:20 -0800

Anamorphic. Codswallop. Pericope (peh-RIK-oh-pee). Curmudgeon. Geoduck (GOOEY-duck). And yes, Katemonkey, lemur, lemur, lemur, leeeeeeemurrrrrr! Ahhhh . . .

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 06:28:52 -0800

(OT Am I the only one who spent years thinking disheveled was pronounced diss-hee-vuld? /OT) When I was a kid I pronounced bedridden be-DRIDD-en and thought it was the past participle of a verb bedride. Don't know what I thought the verb meant, though.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 07:48:20 -0800

Thanks, amberglow. Taking off from your suggestion, I think I could make it even more inclusive... The Veritable Proustian Madeleine I tried to make ended up too clayey to be used. Oh, and for PHC fans, don't forget the ever-popular Piscacadawadaquoddymoggin.

By: lobakgo

lobakgo — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 11:04:25 -0800

spelunking rill Skookumchuck (apparently Chinook for "turbulent water", "rapid torrent")

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 15:44:11 -0800

Moist.

By: Tarrama

Tarrama — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 16:45:28 -0800

Tranquillity. Gossamer.

By: cbrody

cbrody — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 17:34:29 -0800

Salubrious. Inconsequential. Advertorial. Succinct. Supercalifragi... oh forget it.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 18:35:47 -0800

Just because only us word freaks are still checking this thread, I had to come back to share this: I was just browsing amazon and reading reviews and found an otherwise literate person referring to the item's wonderful "antique dotes."

By: webmutant

webmutant — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 19:58:56 -0800

*looks around to see if Matt's looking* ..... Zippity BOP!

By: lubricumlinguae

lubricumlinguae — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 01:31:45 -0800

waterbottle. say it many times in a row. waterbottle. waterbottle. waterbottle. wadderboddle . . . mmmmmm . . .

By: lubricumlinguae

lubricumlinguae — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 01:41:19 -0800

oh, and . .. Banana Nut. I can never say that without breaking into the "Mna Mna" song . . .

By: lubricumlinguae

lubricumlinguae — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 01:45:46 -0800

shoot. one more yummy one . . . sesquipedalian.