Monday, February 21, 2011

Top Eight Words That Are Fun to Say

Some words just roll off the tongue so perfectly that you'll want to say them over and over again, or three times fast.  Such words can be real stinkers for me because I won't remember what they actually mean.  However, some sound like what they describe in a quasi-onomatopoeia sort of way.  In any case, enrich your vocabulary with these gems and impress your friends.

  1. lugubrious (adj.)- sounding or looking sad and dismal, lug-oo-bree-us.  Maybe Eeyore wouldn't be so lugubrious if he got a better architect for his house.  
  2. kerfuffle (n.)- a commotion or fuss, esp. one caused by conflicting views.  This budget problem in Wisconsin is causing quite a kerfuffle.  I guess there wasn't enough cheese to go around.
  3. aplomb (n.)- self-confidence or assurance, esp. when in a demanding situation.  Harry snagged the golden snitch with aplomb.
  4. corpulent (adj.)- fat.  I know an acting warm-up that contains the line "four corpulent porpoises," but who wants to think about fat dolphins?
  5. blasé (adj.)-unimpressed or indifferent to something because one has experienced or seen it so often before.  Hipsters are blasé about everything.
  6. brouhaha (n.)- a noisy and overexcited critical response, display of interest, or trail of publicity.  What's all this brouhaha about the Justin Bieber movie?  Oh, never mind.  It's just among pre-teens.  Or at least it should be.
  7. rutabaga (n.)- a large, round, yellow-fleshed root that is eaten as a vegetable.  Drop the Twinkie you corpulent slob; have a rutabaga.
  8. *pamplemousse- yeah, yeah it's French for grapefruit, and it shouldn't count, but it is so fun to say!
All definitions taken from the New Oxford American Dictionary.

1 comment:

  1. Jordan, I am a friend of your mom's, not a stalker. Your list puts me in mind of one of my favorite words: limaceous (of or pertaining to a slug, sluglike). In my medicine residency we used it to refer to, um, certain corpulent, lugubrious individuals who displayed an excessively blase attitude toward mobilization for hospital discharge. (Don't judge me, ask your mom).

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