What is your favourite word?

[emperor_mai]

Today, my favorite word is frabjous. Not only is it wonderfully silly, it is fun to say, and I like the way it looks when I type it. Frabjous.

Oh I'd think you'll also like fantasmo-gorical.

[Zherog]

My fave word? I'd have to say...morbid obesity. heh. Why is morbid even in there? morbid obesity...

That's two words.

[Amotis]

I have two favorite words:

Indeed.

Looooongcat.

That is all.

[emperor_mai]

That's two words.

I suppose if I hyphen it...

[Eldan]

Difficult. I'll have to split it up. Also, I'll only consider english words.

Adjective: Lugubrious. Although I forgot what it meant. I just remembered it because a friend used it in a conversation and our english teacher claimed it didn't exist until we proved her wrong with a dictionary.

Verb: Piratize. How can you beat that? FLCL is awesome.

[hippie_dwarf]

It has to be Flocinocinilapafilification. I'm no sure what it means or even if it's a word but it cool and a b***h to say.

There were two other word me and my firends made up geography one day, one meaning 'to do something' and the other 'a fish mongers uncle' but i can't remember the actual words. Man we were bored.

[Shatteredtower]

If we're ruling out defenestrate, then I'll toss out GALLIMAUFRY.

Ah, Zherog, you speak my language. That's among my favourites as well, and one of the many reasons I like the Foglios' works.

Another of my favourite words is gynotikolobomassophile, though there's something about hydrophobophobia that intrigues me.

[SweetLikeLemons]

Oh I'd think you'll also like fantasmo-gorical.

Yes, that is also a pretty good word. I like it better spelled with a "ph" though.

[Ego Slayer]

Firstly, and I say this solely on an assumption, Dwarf, if you're trying to post, and it seems to be lagging, DON'T click submit again. It'll eventually post, even if the page doesn't turn back over to the thread.

Anyway, I can't think of all my favorite words...
I'm rather fond of "ephemeral" and "kvetch." =)

[Shatteredtower]

Floccinaucinihilipilification means "categorizing as worthless trivia", Hippie_dwarf. I hope you'll pardon me for correcting your spelling.

I forgot another favourite: zugszwang. Yes, it's originally German and almost exclusively used outside that language as a chess term, but the fact that it has been used to describe political situations as well as chess (and is limited in application to neither) makes it as English as sushi or verandah. The word doesn't even simplify down to its literal translation ("compulsion to move"), because it implies something greater -- the fact that everything would be just fine if you had the option of doing nothing in response to one or more threats.

[emperor_mai]

Yes, that is also a pretty good word. I like it better spelled with a "ph" though.

oooooooh way too sugary. like eating candycoated puppies.

[Bob_the_Mighty]

My favourite word has to be sassafras, because it is impossible to say without laughing.

A close runner up is sarsaparilla, because it's fun to say and is written with more sylabals than it's said with.

[Zherog]

Ah, Zherog, you speak my language. That's among my favourites as well, and one of the many reasons I like the Foglios' works.

:smallgrin: I learned it from a baseball blog dedicated to getting Joe Morgan fired as lead analyst from ESPN. I'd link it, but it uses a lot of words Santa doesn't approve of and would probably make your grandma frown...

[LCR]

Bumfluff and maybe necrosis.

[The Demented One]

Circumlocution is probably my favorite, followed by glossolalia and echolalia.

[InaVegt]

Blubber is an awesome word, even though it's dutch and not english.

Blubber.

[Delaney Gale]

My favorite word is sadly both Japanese and obscene.

As far as English goes, I'm partial to quixotic, used to describe something or someone visionary, impractical, or extravagantly chivalrous, much in the manner of Don Quixote.

It also racks up the points in Scrabble.

[AslanCross]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/castigate

[Nomrom]

I really like the words that are actually three words combined into one, such as heretofore, nevertheless, nonetheless. I like to think that using them makes me sound smart.

My sister-in-law believes that the most odious word is moist, and I think that she might be right.

Me and my friends also came to that conclusion. Your sister-in-law wouldn't happen to live in Texas, would she?

[Cyrano]

Can we disallow defenestrate now please? Everyone loves that word, and it wouldn't be fair to all the others. Like:

squamous (scaly, with connotations of also being slick and slimy)
sonorous
malignant
polyphony
byzantine
sinople (means red and also green)
Gdansk
fudge
glom

and

harbl (it's my favourite by a mile. Harbl makes me happy )

Is it bad that I know what every single one of those words means without dictionaries or other aids?
Because it feels oh so right...

In other news, I like "serenity". Because it's both a cooler word for peace and because Joss Whedon ate my childhood.

[Earthstar_Fungus]

I have this strange obsession with the combination of letters "woob". I have never heard this word used before and can only assume it may be the omnomotopoia of jelly jiggling. It probably didn't exist until I thought of it.

[Trauco]

My favorite words, separated by language, because i love how they sound, and i love what they mean: (obviosly using Revised Romanization for their spelling)

Einfühlung - German, it loosely translates as "Empathy", but to really understand it you got to read Abstraktion und Einfühlung, by Wilhelm Worringer

Arete - Greek, It's a mix between being the best you can be, honor, authority, and a lot of other virtues (it can even mean "virtue"), best example Iliad, by Homer

Synergy - English, refers to the phenomenon in which two or more discrete influences or agents acting together create an effect greater than that predicted by knowing only the separate effects of the individual agents

Hwarang - Korean, "Flower Knights" and old elite of warriors, also a Taekwon-Do pattern ("tuls" in Korean, equivalent to the kata in karate) named in honor of them, it's my favorite "tul" because when you end it, you got to say Hwarang!! (Hw = to Ph in english)

Sublime - Spanish, beauty capable of take away your rationality, even causing pain because it's imposible to comprehend. I think it means the same in english and spanish, but i like the spanish pronunciation better for this one.

But if you make me choose one, i stick with Hwarang!

[Cyrano]

I always thought Arete was creative spark. I guess from Mage: The Ascension. Thank you for that definition, btw.

[Trauco]

Yeah it struck me kinda odd when i played Mage, but it also made sense that better mages had higher Arete. (tho i played Mage the Crusade, not the Ascension)

[MountainKing]

as English as sushi or verandah.

"Where would the Queen get a word like veranda?"

[Sisqui]

I like diaphanous:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/diaphanous

Also, disingenuous:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/disingenuous

[Vonriel]

I've always been a fan of hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, for the sheer irony - it's a fear of long words.

However, I think my favorite word is syllable. Unfortunately, I can't really describe why, because the only way I can think of to define it requires using the word itself, which is actually probably why I like it so much.

[bugsysservant]

Do different pluralities count as different words? If so, octopoda would be up there for me. Nothing pisses me off like someone saying octopi.

I also like pedantic. Its the stereotypical "smart word" due largely to a family guy quote (Lois, I find this meatloaf shallow and pedantic), but its surprisingly useful.

Finally, someone had to mention peripatetic, because if the English language lacked the phrase "pair of pathetic peripatetics" it would be a much sadder language.

Ooh, and meme. Its fun to say, talk about, and write. And don't get me started on memetic...

Edit:

Today, my favorite word is frabjous. Not only is it wonderfully silly, it is fun to say, and I like the way it looks when I type it. Frabjous.

If I had a nickle for every funny look I have recieved when I said "oh frabjous day, calooh, callay" I would be a much wealthier person.

Yet another Edit!!!! (yes I do read Terry Pratchett, the quote holds true.): Oh, almost forgot "Schadenfreude" I once handed in a major paper for a psychology unit on how the topic exhibited extensive schadenfreude only to have it returned with the first usage circled and a note saying "I don't know what that means". But I got an A, so...

[Em Blackleaf]

Supercalifragilisticexpeialidocious.
That's not a real word, but I love it.

I spelled it right, right?

Well, my favorite real word is grandeur.
I just think it's a cool word.

[averagejoe]

Wow, toughie. There's tons of words I like.

Salvo is definitely up there. It just sounds cool (In the "cool action hero" sense.) It starts with that strong SAL, and it fades out just the right amount as it ends. Plus it has a great cadence for sounding strong.