I am a word nerd, a fanboy of William Safire who made a living writing words about words. With his "On Language" column for NYT and books such as The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time, No Uncertain Terms and Take My Word For It, he set the standard for erudition. What a great gig. (William Safire died in 2009).
According the the OED, English has 171,476 words in current use + another 47,156 that are classified as obsolete. Including obsolete, Olde English, multiple forms of words ... you get over a million. You probably know 20,000 - 40,000.
English's longest word is a medical diagnosis - of course. pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (look it up. It's on page 625-629 in your dictionary)
There's a 2-way tie for shortest word.
These are a few of my favorite words.
Dohicky - as I age seems I am always finding one of these
Fika - slow down and appreciate. (Visit the Fika Cafe in the American Swedish Institute)
Quixotic - exceedingly idealistic, a la Don Quixote
Unleave - what happens to trees in the fall or a creative way to say 'return'
Lede - and you always thought it was lead.
Lede - and you always thought it was lead.
Copasetic - my father's favorite word. How are you? Copasetic.
Invaluable - as in accurate/inaccurate. You are 'invaluable' may not mean what you think.
Procrastination - become good at this and you need be good at nothing else
Dicker - derived from the Latin decum. Bargaining for a lot of 10 items.
Gerrymander - from Elbridge Gerry's electoral maps 1800. Curses upon him.
Bailiwick - everyone should have one
Bedlam - see also: a London prison
Fudge - a fine example of a double meaning word
Canard - no not the shipping line
Miscreant - an excellent behavioral condemnation word (see also: scofflaw)
Nabob - made infamous by Spiro Agnew's "... nattering nabobs of negativism".
Malaprop - see 'foot in mouth'
Diphthong - sounds like an insult, but no ..
Schadenfreude - a character flaw in the most of us
Onomatopeia / Catamaran / Rigamarole - fun to say
Serendipity - see also: Eureka
Language of course is the combination of words.
And so we move on to phrases.
Fat Chance - see also: Slim Chance.
Sticky Wicket - see also: Wicked Googly
Ill at ease
The Sounds of Silence
Aim to please
On the fritz - see also: Gone haywire
Skate to the puck
...
Which leads to poetry.
"She walks in beauty like the night ..." Byron
"One equal temper of heroic hearts ..." Tennyson
"The Lord to me a shepherd is ..." Psalm
"Lord, thank you for the goddamned birds singing ..." Lux
"A people sometimes will step back from war: elect an honest man; decide they care ..." Pugh
"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone ..." Wilcox
"When your father dies, say the Irish, you lose your umbrella against bad weather ..."
Der-Hovanessian
Which leads to the ultimate: novels. Here's my 2021 favs list.
Copyright © 2021 Dave Hoplin
I'm guessing the unfavorites (is this a word) list is much longer. Avid reader.
ReplyDeleteLoved your words. Will check our your book list again. And I won't be able to look at the birds flocking to our feeders ever again without hearing your Lux quote!
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