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Favourite Words

Shambolic – it simply sounds better to me than chaotic..
Do lots of people have favourite words or just a few of us nerds?
As everybody is starting to think holidays (or maybe you prefer to vacation), it seemed a good time for a different type of blog.
Have you noticed how many words with pleasant associations sound more attractive than those that describe the negative.
Watching a TV quiz show the other night made me wonder. The contestant hated bulbous and gusset!
There have always been some words that appeal to me, triskaidekaphobia being one.
I now know that I had the meaning wrong!
I thought it meant fear of Friday the 13th, but it is simply a fear of the number 13, so how does paraskevidekatriaphobia grab you? That is the real word for fear of Friday the 13th. Love it!
Now I prefer rural to bucolic, but Robert Beard (see below) selected the latter as one of his favourites.
Effervescent is a gorgeous word, so descriptive and onomatopoeic while ethereal makes me think of gossamer and fairies…
Halcyon, sumptuous and panacea – how often can you use those in a sentence, but they sound wonderful.
Aubergine and ratatouille are two food specials and lithe, lissome and love hang together well.
Mondegreen ( see below) just makes me smile.  A word that means mishearing lyrics, lovely.
Opulent, murmur and meander, OK, that’s it! I really like a lot of words, and keep thinking of more, so on to those I dislike.
Phlegm, vomit, mucous figure high up, as does bunion. Lots of people mention moist as an unpleasant word, and how about guesstimate? Really don’t like ignoramus, nor imbecile and am not wild about unctuous either.
The absolutely beautiful Scabiosa Africana, known as scabious. Need I say more!




I know I said that’s it, but how can I leave out mom and dad along with the memory of my 13 year old self totally embracing floccinaucinihilipilification – the action of estimating something as worthless.  A good word to end a frivolous blog about nothing…….



Links, References and Notes

Accsys provides people management solutions ie Payroll, Human Resources (HR), Time and Attendance as well as Access Control/Visitor Management.
The company develops, implements, trains and services our solutions. We provide readers, turnstiles, booms and CCTV.
We run both on premise and in the cloud, as well as mobile options for ESS. Recruitment, online education and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) are part of our offering, too.
www.accsys.co.za
http://www.accsys.co.za/accsys-peopleplace-talent-management
email:   tschroenn@accsys.co.za
twitter: @TerylSchroenn

References
1 Dr Robert Beard – www.alphadictionary.com
2 Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl o' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen (should be “and laid him on the green”)


Note:  Thank you for reading Teryl@Work.  Should you wish to use any of the material, please acknowledge this blog as the source.
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