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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2 |
About 20 years ago, I started collecting ‘colorful’ words. I realized that some words sound a bit funnier and
have a somewhat greater emotional impact than others.
Some examples: aghast, amok, begrudge, besmirch, bliss, bogus, chafe, coy, crave, cringe, dawdle, dote, dwindle, eke, feisty, ferret, fester, festoon, fickle, finagle, finicky, flabbergasted, flutter, foible, frazzled, frenzy, frolic, frumpy, garble, gawk, gibberish, glimmer, glitch, gloat, gruff, guffaw, hubbub, ilk, irk, lush, mayhem, mollify, mull, nab, ogle, paltry, pander, penchant, plight, plummet, posh, pummel, quibble, raucous, ravage, rebuff, rubble, scoff, scour, scrimp, scrounge, sham, shenanigans, sizzle, splurge, spree, squalid, squeamish, squelch, squirm, sully, surly, swath, throng, thug, thwart, trounce, trudge, woo, zeal.
Whenever I read or heard a colorful word, I added it to my list. By 2001 I had about 200 such words. But the
list was burned up on 9/11 because I worked in 7 World Trade Center, a building that came down in the afternoon.
So I continued to compile the list. As of now, I have almost 1190 words, all gems
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,974 Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,974 Likes: 3 |
I, too, collect words. Not as many as you, however. Getting to
use them is the trick.
WELCOME
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2 |
I don't know the etiquette of this forum - is it possible trade emails?
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,136 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,136 Likes: 2 |
I'll offer you two more for your list of colorful words, on behalf of former Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz. They were his two favorite words, he said.
eleëmosynary - linguistic precursor of "alms"
and
phantasmagorical - a double-dactyl, if you're into such things...
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,136 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,136 Likes: 2 |
(P.S. Click on the flashing envelope.)
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,974 Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,974 Likes: 3 |
Akiva: as wofa said above - click on the flashing envelope at the top.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,474 Likes: 12
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,474 Likes: 12 |
Some more good words:
altazimuth
angelology
buckminsterfullerene
cancrizans
clanjamfrie
mesembryanthemum
noumenon
oological
paraprosdokian
tintinnabulation
tmesis
umquhile
xenoglossy
zugzwang
Ftatateeta
Schiermonnikoog
Witwatersrand
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,974 Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,974 Likes: 3 |
there is a university in Witwatersrand
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,474 Likes: 12
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,474 Likes: 12 |
Witwatersrand means "ridge of white waters" in Afrikaans, in reference to the waterfalls there.
Schiermonnikoog, an island off the coast of the Netherlands, means "Grey Monk Island".
Ftatateeta is a character in George Bernard Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra.
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