Fun words to know and use (Page 2)

Not fair to put that word and definition next to that picture.

Okay, I'll go sit in the corner now. 

Renee,

Permission to hijack with a related statement and question?  Probably not worthy of it's own thread.

panegyric: Elaborate praise or laudation; an encomium.

I once had a girlfriend who was prone to panegyrics about my cunning linguistics.

Tania, go for it.

Marmaddy... speechless. Speechless and in awe. Glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read your post - it would have ended up on my monitor.

you are referring to the washington monument as it appears in the pic of comet/welshy in the hotties thread.

As much as I'd like to say yes...no.(n.): having a worm-like (literally) or convoluted appearance. "The gyri and sulci of the brain are vermiform in appearance."

"f-ed up beynond all recognition"

Also, a cool bar in NYC.

Thanks, Renee.

So because of this thread and the people who did not provide definitions, I have been on Dictionary.com for the past few minutes looking up the few I did not know.  This brings me to my statement:

Going back to junior high, when I got hot and heavy into my love affair with reading, whenever I would read (or hear) a word that I did not know the definition for, I would look it up.  When I was in my early 20's I bought myself this absolutely HUGE dictionary (anybody see the bible on the last episode of "My Name is Earl"?) that I keep open on my coffee table (I even had a stand custom made for it).  Because I have been doing this for so long, it has become such an ingrained habit, that I find it impossible to let a strange word go by undefined. If I see it on TV or hear someone say it or I read it, I HAVE to look it up immediately. I've tried not to, but it's like sand in my shoe, it distracts me until I take care of it.

So my question:  Any other's out there with this disorder?  Do I need therapy?

Yes! I've been saying "nacle of the lord" for two weeks...hoo-boy that's a funny show....

Tania,

You need therapy and the Oxford English Dictionary http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/?view=usa&ci=0198611862, the full 20 volume set.  The neat thing about the OED is that it has the etymology of all the words.  Way cool.

I confess I used to read the dictionary.  What a geek.

TW

Tania,

As I read the aforementioned book, I jot down words I encounter whose meaning I know not (hah!). Then I lookup the meaning online (which led me to creating this thread). Not quite your ginormous (won't find that in the dictionary) dictionary story but same spirit, methinks. I've even taken to jotting down phrases that strike a chord with me. To wit:

• Truth too intolerable for us to endure
• Pragmatically nihilistic
• Uncanny power in the rendering of personality
• The self is an abyss, the chaos of virtual nothingness
• Heroic vitalists are not larger than life; they are life's largeness
• His plays read us more than we read them

'Life's largeness' is my new favorite phrase. What a great image.

Reminds me of  a recent exchange with an acquaintance of mine.

Him: I hope you don't think me a Philistine.

Me: No. More like a hedonist.

Him: How about epicurean.

Me: No... I wouldn't call a steak person an epicurean.

Him: I'm trying for something more favorable than hedonist.

Me: Oh. Sorry.

*sigh* And I wonder why I don't have any dates...

I like the word coelenterate.  I use it to describe my management.  If you just say it to them aloud, they can't figure out how to spell it to look it up.

I also like troglodyte and Luddite, but Newsweek discovered those and they show up about every two weeks.

TW

Luddites... reminds me a convo I had with an old boyfriend of mine... after not conversing for 20 years one of our first conversations was about Luddites. Heh. Said former boyfriend's dad was a simon-pure* who ended up in jail as a result of being part of the Nixon administration.

*Learned that one couple of weeks ago

A word for Bill Bennett!!

TW

Soi-disant: self-proclaimed or so-called.

Great word for les BT francophiles.