Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Words


This week's topic at Top Ten Tuesday (brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish) is all about words. Any reader should have a good appreciation for words and a lot of us have certain words that we just love.

Most of my list is just words that I like to say or look at...and, of course, the list my be totally different tomorrow.


1. Malinger: to pretend to be ill or otherwise incapacitated in order to escape duty or work. (I'm not a fan of malingerers...just the word.)


2. Kaleidoscope: anything that constantly changes, as in color and pattern. (I love how it makes me think of the changing colors just with its sounds.)


3. Curmudgeon: a surly, ill-mannered, bad-tempered person; cantankerous fellow. (Some of my best friends are curmudgeons...in the best sense of the word. I also like cantankerous.)


4. Myriad: originally ten thousand; any indefinitely large number. (I wish had more opportunities to fling this one around in every day speech...)


5. Shimmering: shining with an unsteady light; glimmering.


6. Pachyderm: any of the large, thick-skinned, hoofed animals, as the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus. (I like this word much better than elephant. I'm not sure I can explain why.)


7. Timpani: a set of kettledrums of different pitches played by one performer in an orchestra. (The word makes me think of the different pitches.)


8. Ineffable: too overwhelming to be expressed; too awesome or sacred to be spoken. (I'm with Ash over at The English Major's Junk Food on this one; I love this word. It has such an ineffable effect on me....)


9. Felicity: happiness or bliss; a quality or knack of appropriate and pleasing expression in writing, speaking, painting, etc. (I'm still working on that second definition.)

10. Galumph: to march or bound along in a self-satisfied manner. (How can I not love a word coined by Lewis Carroll?)


8 comments:

Tony D said...

I didn't list any of those...but those are some nice ones. I especially like curmudgeon and felicity.

Jen said...

Kaleidoscope! That's an amazing word. I did not know what pachyderm meant until I read this post!

Julie said...

I'm enjoying the way the words on your list sound as I read through them. You have a Kaleidoscope of words here and it seems that I like pachyderms too! Who knew? My thoughts are shimmering with more ineffable words that seem insufficient for me to write. Mostly, reading and learning from your blog helps bring the felicity out of me! Great list! :)

Bev Hankins said...

Julie...great response to my response!

Jamie said...

Love malinger! Good picks!

Kelly said...

Myriad is a great word. I wish I could use curmudgeon more often!

Betty: Reflections with Coffee said...

I like felicity!

Anonymous said...

Great list! I did not know what a pachyderm was until now!