|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
This article, from the Sydney Morning Herald, was sent in Anu's weekly AWADmail this week: ~~~ Mums take heart. The most beautiful word in English is mother. But father doesn't even make the top 70. To celebrate its 70th anniversary, the British Council compiled a list of the 70 most beautiful words in a survey of more than 42,000 people from 102 non-English speaking countries. About 7000 English students in the council's schools were quizzed directly; the rest responded to an on-line poll. Filling out the top 10 were, in order: passion, smile, love, eternity, fantastic, destiny, freedom, liberty and tranquillity. Down the list were peace at 11, serendipity (24), pumpkin (40), lollipop (42), bumblebee (44), peekaboo (48), kangaroo (50), whoops (56), oi (61), hodgepodge (64), fuselage (67) and hen-night (70). Only one of the words, cherish (16), was a verb that could not be used as a noun. Mother was the only word that described a relationship between people. Professor Anna Wierzbicka, of the School of Modern Languages at the Australian National University, suggests that people voted for the top five not so much because they like the words themselves, but because they value the concepts they represent. They would probably have voted for the equivalent words in any language. "For example, when they say passion, they are not really thinking about the English language, they are thinking about things they value in life." But she says some of the words express concepts that are specific to English, and do not necessarily have exact equivalents in other languages. "For example liberty or freedom. Perhaps even destiny. There are many languages, like Australian Aboriginal languages or Japanese, which wouldn't have words like liberty or freedom." When we get to hippopotamus (52) or flip-flop (59), however, people seem to be deciding more on the basis of sound than meaning. "But something like hen-night they like not because of its sound, but because they think it's an amusing idea, and they like the amusing idea. And possibly the way this idea is expressed. It's a kind of jocular expression." Carmella Hollo, a linguistics lecturer at the University of NSW, says a similar survey was conducted of native speakers in 1980 by The Sunday Times, and the top words were melody, velvet, gossamer, crystal, and autumn. She says people are generally thought to favour words with m, l, r and n sounds, and to dislike f sounds. This may partly explain why mother tops the list, yet father doesn't rate a mention. ~~~ I dunno about y'all, but native speaker or not, I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a single "most beautiful" word, whether we mean to sound of the word itself or the concept it symbolizes. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/11/25/1101219683777.html?oneclick=trueThe primary source: http://www.britishcouncil.org/
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529 |
"There are many languages, like Australian Aboriginal languages or Japanese, which wouldn't have words like liberty or freedom."
Or Swahili or German. The concept transcends the term. The term is universal and the term is Love - unequivocal and indiscriminate - Love.
How could it be otherwise?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
I'd say that the phrase "the most beautiful word in the English language" is meaningless and worse yet without referent. It's as elusive as the apocryphal "funniest joke in the world". Poppycock, piffle, and bushwa. http://www.jumpstation.ca/recroom/comedy/python/joke.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Fish don't have a word for water.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
I'd say that the phrase "the most beautiful word in the English language" is meaningless and worse yet without referent.
I'd say that contemplation of "the most beautiful word in the English language" is perhaps the most meaningful thing we could do to introduce the language to a student of english, jheem, and the fact that it doesn't have a "referent" is a liberating virtue of the exercise, not a criticism, and certainly not a restraint.
What is more, I think John Keats, one of the pre-eminent poets of our language, would agree.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty -- that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
What comes first, jheem, the awareness of beauty, or its analysis?
For those to whom analysis comes first, it is because, I suspect, they have no 'awareness' of their subject.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
contemplation of "the most beautiful word in the English language" is perhaps the most meaningful thing we could do to introduce the language to a student of english
Sorry, but I have to disagree. The contemplation of the most meaningless sentence in the English language is more meaningless than the sentence itself. This is not a criticism of you or meaninglessness. This does not mean that the assignment of such a contemplation ought not to occur in the school setting. In my estimation, school is more meaningless than the contemplation of the most meaningless sentence in the English language.
What is more, I think John Keats, one of the pre-eminent poets of our language, would agree.
Mister Keats, he dead.
What comes first, the awareness of beauty, or its analysis?
Meaning comes before beauty.
Language comes before analysis.
Thought comes before posting.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
Meaning comes before beauty.
If I "savor" a wine, jheem, do I savor its sensations, or its chemistry?
Yes, Keats is dead, jheem.
And so is Shakespeare, and Lincoln, and Gandhi.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529 |
Now jheem, there you go again getting all bothered and such just because of a simple little question. Of course a single word or concept can be compared to other words and concepts. Remember, the most dynamic agent of human progression known to mankind is Christianity.
And the essence of Christianity is just one word - unqualified love. (uh, make that two words).
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
there you go again getting all bothered and such just because of a simple little question.
Sorry, themilum, but I'm not particularly bothered by you, plutarch, or any questions thereto. He asked a question, and I answered it to the best of my abilities. If you don't like my answer, I'm sorry.
Remember, the most dynamic agent of human progression known to mankind is Christianity. And the essence of Christianity is just one word - unqualified love.
You win; you are mas macho; your non-sequitur is longer than mine.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
If I "savor" a wine, do I savor its sensations, or its chemistry?If you savor a wine it's because you have a tongue first, a brain second, and a language third. Where's the beauty? Taste and thought. In vino veritas, of course, but always in moderation. Yes, Keats is dead. And so is Shakespeare, and Lincoln, and Gandhi.Yes, and so are Marlowe, Polk, and Nehru. "Is there in truth no beauty?" is an ambiguous sentence. I leave it for you to contemplate over a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau. Oh, and lest you think I am angry: 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
I answered it to the best of my abilities. If you don't like my answer, I'm sorry
You did answer it, and most admirably, to the best of your abilitiies, jheem --- at least, up to the final sentence:
"Thought comes before posting"
That was not characteristic of you, jheem. And not worthy of you either.
Can we not disagree with one another in intelligent discourse without taking it personally, or making it personal?
I must confess that I was going to respond to your rejoinder "Thought comes before posting" with this:
"And thought comes before criticism, as well."
But that kind of 'eye for an eye' innuendo is what has soured even the best of minds, yours notable amongst them, to the high potential of this Board.
If I have been too quick to take offence in the past, that is a failing I sincerely hope to rectify. I hope you will encourage me in the effort.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
"And thought should come before posting"
This is my personal mantra. I write much to post on AWADtalk, most of which I don't post, but cut and paste into a text file which I save and usually never view again.
That was not characteristic of you. And not worthy of you either.
But, you see, even I can only be driven so far, before, at some point, I, too, snap. I am not sorry I wrote it, just that I posted it.
Can we not put this kind of innuendo behind us?
It seems not, alas.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
re Can we not put this kind of innuendo behind us? It seems not, alas
That sounds like a vote for more of the same, jheem.
But should that vote carry, even with a majority, it won't carry with me.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I think in this particular case the most beautiful word in the human language is "hush."
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
To say that any particular word in any particular language is the most beautiful word in that language presupposes a standard of beauty and some definition of word. Is it the sound of the word? The look of the written word? If it's the concept behind the word it's not really the word per se that's beautiful and I would submit that this is the case with mother. If this is the case, then it doesn't really make sense to say that it's the word that's beautiful nor that it's particularly beautiful in that language as opposed to other languages. We also have the fact that beauty is a very subjective quality. With all these variables I can't see any reason to disagree with nuncle's statement.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
If it's the concept behind the word it's not really the word per se that's beautiful I would agree, Faldage. To a person dying of thirst in a desert, "water" is surely the most beautiful word in the english language. Yet some words are beautiful because they marry sound and concept, or sound and imagery. "Melody" is such a word. "Melody" is "melodious". "Fierce" is "frightening", "formidable" and "ferocious". Is "mother", beginning as it does with "m", more evocative of nurturing than "father" which begins with "f"? mmmm good! f ??? Perhaps we judge words, like people, by the company they keep. "m" hangs out in more beautiful company, overall, than "f". 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
I submit that the most beautiful word is 'beautiful'.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
I submit that the most beautiful word is 'beautiful'.Such beauty lies in the mind of the beholder, musick. For myself, I would say "birth" or "laughter" or "sunset" because of memories which I associate with these particular words. Beautiful is what these things are, but they are not "beautiful" [at least "the most beautiful"] apart from my experience of them. It occurs to me that the words we choose as "the most beautiful" are a mirror into our very soul. Those who feel imprisoned will see more beauty in "liberty" than those who are free. Those who are overcome with stress will see more beauty in "tranquility" than those who are overcome with boredom. This is precisely the genius of the famous "Luscher Color Test". The primary color or colors a person chooses in preference to others is deeply revealing of that person's psychological state, even their state of health ... and these preferences will vary over time as these "states" vary in any given individual.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Such beauty lies in the mind of the beholder, musick.If you insist.  For myself, I would say "birth" or "laughter" or "sunset" because of memories which I associate with these particular words....
Beautiful is what these things are, but they are not "beautiful" apart from my experience of them.
It occurs to me that the words we choose as the "most beautiful" are a mirror into our very soul.We all experience things based upon "within the course of personal, human events", and even if a majority consensus can be reached, it cannot truthfully/accurately define beauty. I believe we'd all be alot better off if it was that easy... yet rather bored. Of course the concept is a purely subjective one, but when the subject is presented as a mirror, one must present the shape of the mirror as subjective, as well. I've not experienced "birth" (other than my own) but I'd agree, it is a beautiful thing... but I base that on the befores and afters. Laughter can be beautiful but when occurring with a certain deviousness... not so beautiful (per se) anymore... and "sunsets".... OK, you got me there! I could say that your choice of "birth", "laughter" and "sunset" as beautiful things reflect a soul that is "death", "sorrow" and "sunrise" but I know not enough about the person that is you to make any *sense of it. Is the beholder, then, solely responsible for beauty, or does it take at least one other to acknowlege *it?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
your choice of "birth", "laughter" and "sunset" as beautiful things reflect a soul that is "death", "sorrow" and "sunrise"
Sounds very Orwellian, musick, as in "War is Peace".
I would have thought the more obvious interpretation is the concommitant, not the converse.
If one believes in epiphanies, it doesn't take the presence of another to experience singular beauty, even in the most ordinary of things.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Velvet.
Just my first, instantaneous response when I read your thread starter, AnnaS.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I agree with Faldage--I think the writer is referring to the concept the word stands for, not the word itself. In this sense, I strongly disagree with 'birth'--it's nasty and disgusting. (I'd have been a good candidate to be an adoptive mom.) Ew.
If we're talking about sound, I'd still vote for mellifluous. We had a thread or two here some time ago on this kind of thing.
If we're talking about the way a word looks, my first thought was 'mellow' because it is tall only in the middle; but I think most palindromes would be better, as they are perfectly balanced.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
I strongly disagree with 'birth'Sometimes there is more beauty in the eye of a bystander than there is in the eye of a beholder. Women bear the weight of birth ... so true. For a man the bounty comes as a gift ... without strings attached.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
Gossamer. I like the sound as well as the concept. It's not onomatopoeia ( is that correct? I tried spell check but it gave me Onondaga  ) because it does not describe a sound but to me it sounds like what it describes. Firmer outlines, g and r, with just a susseration (sp) in between. Is there a word for this effect? (other than silly) Corruscate is another one with it's flat surfaces of vowel alternating with the hard consonant edges.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I went many years ago to an ice capades show that was performed outdoors on the shore of frozen Lake Michigan. Unfortunately all the backup singers got too close together and fell through. Just another example of corruscating on thin ice.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Oh, Ted!! Your puns coruscate (sense 2) through this Board.
cor·us·cate (kôr'ə-skāt', kŏr'-)
intr.v., -cat·ed, -cat·ing, -cates.
1. To give forth flashes of light; sparkle and glitter: diamonds coruscating in the candlelight.
2. To exhibit sparkling virtuosity: a flutist whose music coruscated throughout the concert hall.
[Latin coruscāre, coruscāt-, to flash.] (Gurunet)
Zed, I love your examples! Hadn't thought of things that way, but it works.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
"The most beautiful sound I ever heard
All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word -
Maria ...
"Suddenly I found How wonderful a sound Can be -
Maria -
Say it loud and there's music playing,
Say it soft and it's almost like praying."
Truth is nothing - perception is everything.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
all the backup singers got too close together and fell through. Just another example of corruscating on thin ice
It's also an example of choruscating on thin ice, TEd Rem.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
TEd, it seems your touch was too subtle.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
it seems your touch was too subtleI wasn't quite sure if he was playing on both ends of the word. It seems he was. Very nice, TEd Rem.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 95
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 95 |
Something about the word "striated" strikes me (or stripes me, maybe) as a pretty word... but as for my favorite word, that would have to be "crwth". Any of you have distinct favorite words?
Some people say camping is boring. I say it's in tents.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I've always liked minimum just for the hemiola of typing it. Hemiola, there's another nice word.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
A Native American went to his psychiatrist: "Doctor, Doctor--I think I'm a wigwam! No, a teepee. No! A wigwam!" The doctor replied: "You don't have a real problem; you're just too tense." *********************************************************** Hemiola, yes! (Hi, eta! ) Where did it come from, though? Hemi means half, right? I just tried looking up -ola and found that it doesn't mean anything; then I tried iola, and it's just a name. Struck out with ola (leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper) and Ola ('nother name), too.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
hi Jackie! this is what I found at M-W via OneLook: Main Entry: hemi·o·la
Pronunciation: "he-mE-'O-l&
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin hemiolia, from Greek hEmiolia ratio of one and a half to one, from hEmi- + holos whole -- more at SAFE
: a musical rhythmic alteration in which six equal notes may be heard as two groups of three or three groups of twoso you got the half thing right. or is that half right?
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
and what does all that have to do with the word minimum??
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Try typing minimum a couple of times. I think the idea is you're supposed to hear a hemiola in your keyboard.
-don't shoot me, I'm just the translator
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
blogNot the "most beautiful", but the most "sought out". Extract from: 'Blog' Most Popular Word on Web DictionaryChicago Tribune, December 1, 2004 "Blog" began appearing in newspapers and magazines in 1999, according to the publisher's records. Merriam's lexicographers suspect the prominence blogs attained during the presidential campaigns and conventions this year sent people scrambling for a definition. "It does sometimes happen that words in the headlines so grab people's attention that they become a most-frequently-looked-up word," said John M. Morse, president and publisher of Springfield-based Merriam-Webster. Right behind "blog" in popularity on Merriam's year-end list were "incumbent" and "electoral." Other words on the list touched on the war in Iraq, storms, bicycle races and even the emergence of insects on a 17-year cycle: In fourth place was "insurgent," followed by "hurricane," "cicada" and "peloton". The eighth and ninth spots were taken by "partisan" and "sovereignty." For full story, go to: http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/sns-ap-dictionary-top-words,1,2657596.story?coll=chi-news-hed"peloton" ??? [7th position] Aha! Not an insect invasion, but the Tour de France. Main Entry: peloton Definition: in cycling, a densely packed group of riders who stay together for mutual advantage Etymology: French `ball, heap' http://www.capture-the-peloton.com/
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
A ratio of 1 1/2 to 1 is the same as a ratio of 3 to 2 (seasonally known as "ring ding-a-ling") which really is the same as a ratio of 6 to 4.
The ratio of 3 to 4 (otherwise known as "eat your g*d damn spinach") is also called a hemiola as musicians like to chop up the world into pieces... but *claim they aren't.
|
|
|
|
|
