Favourite Words

[Dominic]

persiflage

I mis-read that; thought it might be part of Robert Plant's anatomy.

[Alannah]

ha ha!!

[judith]

Hi Judith
Thank you for reading the post I posted.
It looks as though you liked it so much that you learned the same word twice.

Discombobulated, nu?

Yes, and I'm fair scunnered by it.

[uiwangmike]

diaporama

[judith]

chuckle chuckle. I wondered if anyone would note this word. When I saw 'Blues Diaporama' I thought they were talking about diapers (nappies) and wondered what baby's diapers had to do with the blues.

[Gordon Neill]

Judith, I'm still reeling from your use of 'fair scunnered'. Well done!

[Hugh Weldon]

Adam wrote:

Discombobulated

I always preferred the Ken Dodd version, which was something like 'discumnockerated'.

It's got a certain persiflage (or something) hasn't it?

[judith]

Judith, I'm still reeling from your use of 'fair scunnered'. Well done!

Thank you, Gordon. Your examples made it easy, particularly when it comes to the prepositions. I'm waiting for the opportunity to tell someone, "there's no need to get into a carfuffle about it."

[Des]

Pulchritudinous. Thanks Jonathan.

[Des]

Stipend (as in 'is that a stipend in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me' etc).

Thanks again Jonathan.

[kas]

Mildew.

Such a lovely sounding word, isn't it. But when it comes in a sentence such as "the mildew patches on the walls of the room", the effect is quite another.

I have recently, finally, started reading Vikas Swarup's 'Q and A', and that sentence cropped up in it last night.

[judith]

moneywart

conversely, an unattractive word for a lovely plant

[Des]

We have lots of plants ending in 'wort' here in Europe. 'wort' at the end of a plant name usually meant it was believed to have some kind of therapeutic qualities, as in Woundwort, but not sure how Ragwort and Figwort are so named!

Enchanters Nightshade is a favourite plant name, but moths also have wonderful names, often given by Victorian nature-loving curates - favourites include Mocha, Brindled Beauty and Old Lady!

[judith]

Oh, thanks Des, but I know about 'wort' and medicinal qualities - though it is decidedly English rather than American - it's the idea of 'money' together with 'warts' I find humorous nowadays - or the idea of warts and greedy money.

We don't have names for our moths like those you've mentioned. Offhand, I can only think of Luna Moth, Tigereye Moth. Speaking of moths or rather butterflies and plants, I always liked this word - papilionaceous (plants with flowers that have parts shaped like butterflies)

[judith]

leeks