hev: I understand what you're saying, and it's perfectly all right if I don't get many responses. I realize most everyone's been here much longer than I have, and have seen many posters and their favorite words come and go. I just figured I'd do the customary "My favorite words" post and move on to other things... Thanks for the link!

Plum pudding
Pumpkin
Savory
Fried oysters
Oyster dressing
Smokehouse
Slosh
Sleigh
Sienna
Triboluminescent
Polyphonic
Scaffold
Rill
Petiole
Doldrums
Tibouchina
Cryptomeria japonica (or vice versa--can't remember)

Enough for now,
Wordwind

I am SO with you on tintinnabulation. I learned it in grade 8 English class, when we watched a programme called Wordsmith - how I loved it. The other word from those days that I've always liked is sesquipedalian. Oh, and preposterous (before + after).
My favourite word is the Dutch word for orange juice - not sure how to spell it, but it's something like sinnasappelsap. It rolls sooooooooo beautifully!!!
And... I was thrilled to learn that impeccable comes from the Latin for not sinning. And dismal comes from bad day. So cool!

Hiya tt - and welcome!

This thread is timely as I'd been preparing a post about one of my fave terms for several days. Much more than a word, it's a statement that (for me at least) conjures up vivid and emotive memories about traditional life in rural Australia. Check it out under "Circle Work" in Miscellany.

Thanks - stales.

There are some really great proper nouns that I love:
(apologies for spelling errors...)

Saskatchawan
Monterey
Carlsbad
Nova Scotia
Tallahassee

I've always loved visually descriptive words like resplendent, fulgent and verdant.

One word that I like, and I'm not sure why, is obsequious. It's the first big word that I taught my little sister to say. She's four now and, if given some assistance, can almost write it.

It's the first big word that I taught my little sister to say. She's four now

Great work, Jazzo! Corrupt those young'uns into being wordies before they know what hit'em!

My daughter, when in high school no less, had the same experience when she described the sky as cerulean.

[cross-threading to Declining Standards in Education]

Granddaughter
Granny

'nuff said

When I was in second grade I was taught the word aborigines and I just love the way it sounds. Also:
papaya~I just love saying it
sketchy~thats a sketchy word
inconceivable~its funny when you say it out loud
pagoda~ I just opened the dictionary and got it
I just love saying some word and the way they sound, some words are just beautiful.

inconceivable

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

A couple of Hawaiian words come to mind ...

1st, naturally, is Aloha. Such lovely meanings and - said correctly- it flows from the tongue.

2nd, wicki-wicki - (fast or quick) The wicki-wicki bus makes fast trips between airlines at the airport and to the parking areas. Mother calls "wicki-wicki" to children to hurry them up!

3rd Pau (done, finished. i.e. "Pau hana" ... done work
or just "Pau" as when waitress asks "Are you pau?" meaning have you finished eating.

4th - Mahalo - thank you

5th - Kokua (ko-coo-ahh) co-operation but cooperation with a kind heart!

Not necessarily in that order except Aloha always first!

That's it! I'm pau.

the grief of knowing too much too soon

I don't usually get into questions like this, "what is your favorite ________?" Too many words, too many contexts. A favorite here today might be a pet peeve there yesterday and just another word yonder tomorrow. But this knowing too much too soon reminded me of a situation I got into in grammar school, maybe 5th grade (age 10) when we had read a story from Australia that had the word kookaburra in it. The glossary at the end of the story gave as a definition for kookaburra "a laughing jackass". Many of y'all know that this is a phrase used instead of kookaburra in much the same way as we might refer to tuna as "chicken of the sea". I don't remember if I had correctly sussed from the story or whether I looked it up elsewhere, but when we were asked to define kookaburra on the quiz, I said that it was a bird. I was the only one, including the teacher, that had the right answer, so, of course, I was marked wrong. I didn't recognize it at the time but I think that was when I decided that sometimes people will be so stuck in their wrongness that there is no point in trying to correct them; the best thing is just quietly know that you are right.

Eutectic Castolin (pronounced in French)

I don't know why but those words just rub me the right way. There is a company of that name near hear and it makes me smile every time I drive by. I've always thought that if I'd have had two children after having seen that sign they would have been called Eutectic and Castolin. Jonathan thinks it was a good thing he was born before I did.

Also Puffin. I like the name (it sounds cuddly and squeezable) and I like the bird (very cute).

There are plenty of other words that I like but these seem to be my "have always been on my fave list" words.

those words just rub me the right way

lol! that ranks with words that 'taste right' for me =)hi, Tonya!

Puffins are the mascot of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, so here's a pic of one of my neighbours for you, belM.

http://www.activitywales.com/pwildlif2.htm

inconceivable
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Ah Doc, I knew there was a reason I liked ya! (Apart from the fact that you're an Aussie, of course.)

I can't see or hear that word without the lithp in it though... thus, incontheivable. The Princess Bride references, for all those who are *totally confused!