Toretha was telling me about her delighted discovery of the word "defenestration" today. That is indeed one of the all time coolest words in English. I was trying to think of some others. The only one I could think of that comes close is "horripilated". Then I realized jatraqueros MUST know more. So how about it? Is "defenestration" the coolest word in the English language? Or are there other candidates?
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
I always liked the word defenstration myself. And what it means makes me laugh.
**Ela**
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
I'm going to defenestrate you!!!
I hope you don't horripilate easily.
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
Cool as in meaning or cool as in how it rolls off the tongue? Or a delightful melange of the two?
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I wrote a song once called "Don't Defenestrate My Love" after a dare to use the word defenestrate in a song.
If you bribe me sufficiently, I might even sing it.
Posted by asQmh (Member # 4590) on :
Tetrapyloctomy. It's my all-time favorite word.
I love Umberto Eco. *happy sigh*
Q.
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Both or either! Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Oh Q! Tetrapyloctomy is wonderful! <laughs>
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
Tetrapyloctomy didn't have a definition on www.dictionary.com, what does it mean? Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
I found it here. Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
From there I stumbled on "floccinauccinihilipilification". Not sure if this is a real word or what.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Defenestration. *sighs happily* Listen to it trippingly roll off your tongue. Hum she threw them out the window, the window, the window as you slowly repeat it.
It's one of my very favorite words.
Antidisestablishmentarianism is nice, too.
[ November 20, 2003, 11:45 PM: Message edited by: rivka ]
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
You are all wrong. The number one word is BOOLEAN!!
Boolean!
BOOLEAN!!!
Just ask myr, she will agree with me.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
I've always been fond of tintinnabulation, thanks to Poe.
Posted by Feyd Baron (Member # 1407) on :
denude
Enough said.
Feyd Baron, DoC
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
My favourite's Triantiwontigongolope.
quote: "There's a very funny insect that you do not often spy, And it isn't quite a spider, and it isn't quite a fly; It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee, But nothing like a wooly grub that climbs upon a tree. Its name is quite a hard one, but you'll learn it soon, I hope. So try: Tri- Tri-anti-wonti- Triantiwontigongolope .. "
So it isn't a real word - it's still fun to say!
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
I was defenestrated twice.
Hehehe...heya window, wanna kill all humans?
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Not my favorite, but I like sympathomimetic. Albuteral, my asthma med, is a synthetic sympathomimetic drug, meaning it is man-made chemical that mimics or simulates sympathetic nervous system neurotransmitters, specifically beta2-adrenergics. http://www.kpemsc.org/pharm/albuter.html
I'll dig up a cool math or physics word tomorrow.
Posted by Feyd Baron (Member # 1407) on :
I've also been partial to "Phenomenological", particularly after I had to practice saying it for five minutes before a presentation.
Feyd Baron, DoC
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Oh, I forgot "eschatological". I dunno why I like it so much. Posted by Tzadik (Member # 5825) on :
Defenestration is without doubt a very cool word
Now, if you have to really experience "defenestration", get it in your blood - you have to come to Prague. We have long and rich history of defenestrating around here. Want me to arrange your private defenestration experience?
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
I like "ephiphenomenon", "mimetic", "numinous" and "sesquepedelian".
Yeah, I'm a poseur.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
"Sacagawea" is a favorite tasty word among second graders.
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
Supercalifragilicexpialidocius ? In French, I love "torticoli"
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
Aphetize. Definitely aphetize. A grand word.
Jen
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Oh "deliquescent" is another great one. I think Amira taught me that one, maybe on some earlier incarnation of this very thread. Posted by Peter (Member # 4373) on :
the only cool word in english i can think of now is philologist. i think thats how you spell it. but a cool word in spanish is equipaja. com to think of it, a lot of foreign words sound funny
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
Prestidigitation.
For some reason, it sounds like something you shouldn't be doing. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
There are lots of Aztec words that roll off the tongue well--Tezcatlipoca (the image of the god of the smoking mirror is just incredibly cool, too), Tlaloc, etc. And of course, the coolest name for a volcano that I've ever heard is Popocatepetl. Mayan sounds pretty cool too; I don't know any Mayan words off the top of my head, but I had an ESL student once whose first language was Mayan, and I loved to hear him use it.
For some reason, ever since last night, I've been kind of infatuated with the word thaumaturge. Somehow it never seemed like an especially interesting word until yesterday, but now I can't get it out of my head. Go figure.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
zyzzyva: any of several species of tropical american weevles.
This is the last word the the American Heritage dictionary.
My first reaction on finding this word, was "wow that would be worth so many points in scrabble.", which was followed shortly by the sad realization that it could never be used in a real game because scrabble has only one Z.
Posted by asQmh (Member # 4590) on :
Deuteronomistic is a another good one. Mostly 'cause I have to say it slowly to get all syllables in.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
I remember being in about 7th grade, riding home on the school bus. A kid on the bus had just learned the word antidisestablishmentarianism, which he insisted was *ahem* THE LONGEST WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. I told him he was full of crap, and the only proof he would accept was a longer word, which I was at that point unable to produce. That very evening I was reading some Asimov short stories and one of them contained the word counterelectroencephalography, which out-letters the former word by one. HA. In your face, pseudo-intellectual seventh grader.
It's been a favourite of mine ever since.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I've always liked "arugula." If you say it loud and draw out the "oooo" sound in the middle you sound like a foghorn.
A-rOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-gulah!
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yeah, "arugula" is a great one. I've always liked "rubidium" too--it's fun to stretch the first syllable out, and then say the next three really quickly, almost as a single explosive sound. Ruuuuuuuuuu-bidium. Lots of fun.
Posted by asQmh (Member # 4590) on :
Oh geez. Truly these are my people. I thought I was the only one who'd describe saying "Ruuuuuuu-bidium" as "fun."
^_~
Q.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
The British pronunciation of "aluminium" is really fun too.
In The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K Leguin uses a phrase that I've always liked, and that sticks in my mind. It's "Barsoomian syllable". I just love to say that one.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yep, we're big dorks. I wouldn't be any other way.
Posted by David Bowles (Member # 1021) on :
:nudges his faithful beta readers and grins:
Posted by Megachirops (Member # 4325) on :
David, did you get my recent e-mails to you?
(My own service is out at the moment, so I don't know if you've replied or not.)
Posted by Megachirops (Member # 4325) on :
quote:My first reaction on finding this word, was "wow that would be worth so many points in scrabble.", which was followed shortly by the sad realization that it could never be used in a real game because scrabble has only one Z.
*cough*blanktiles*cough*
Posted by Megachirops (Member # 4325) on :
Of course, they don't add to your score . . . but it could be played!
Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
You guys are amazing. I just got so many strange looks for laughing in the library! They're just lucky I was only sounding out the words in my head...
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
Of course I thought of the blanks, but it kind of ruins the point if you don't get the points for all three z's.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
My favorite element name
Protactinium
It rolls of the tongue so nicely.
I also love the word discombobulate. Too bad we don't use "combobulate" as well.
Example phrase use in conversation:
Q: How did Susan's presentation go? A: Great, she is totally combobulated.
[ November 21, 2003, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: The Rabbit ]
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
No reason we couldn't start! I actually don't like the sound of "discombobulate", but I like "combobulate" quite a bit.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 619) on :
I've always been fond of the word "googleplex" myself, because it sounds like some silly, made-up word, and because it sounds like a theater with way, way, way, WAY too many screens.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Boggle has always seemed like word that fits what it describes perfectly.
[ November 21, 2003, 03:02 PM: Message edited by: Sopwith ]
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Andrew, I *love* googolplex as a description of a too-many screened theater. I'm going to be using that one, just to warn you.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
hufflepuff.
You have to love Hufflepuff.
Posted by :Locke (Member # 2255) on :
quote: "We'll have to see," Belbo said. He rummaged in his drawer and took out some sheets of paper. "Potio-section ..." He looked at me, saw my bewilderment. "Potio-section, as everybody knows, of course, is the art of slicing soup. No, no," he said to Diotallevi. "It's not a department, it's a subject, like Mechanical Avunculogratulation or Pylocatabasis. They all fall under the category of Tetrapyloctomy."
"What's tetra...?" I asked.
"The art of splitting a hair four ways. This is the department of useless techniques. Mechanical Avunculogratulation, for example, is how to build machines for greeting uncles. We're not sure, though, if Pylocatabasis belongs, since it's the art of being saved by a hair. Somehow that doesn't seem completely uselss."
Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 619) on :
Be my guest, Noeman.
Just be aware of how many screens you're talking about. Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
Hey, when did you start reading Eco? I never knew! And why haven't you been on AIM?
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Noemon! Dude! I have never forgotten that phrase either! But it's Barsoomian bisyllable! JorJor for George Orr. Apparently the people on Barsoom (I never read Edgar Rice Burroughs myself, but I'm guessing) are all called JarJar and BingBing and so on.
The alliteration of that phrase is so great! Barsoomian bisyllable. Truly, Q, these are, as you say, my people!
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
Naw. the coolest word in the english language is "evanescence". Really, it is.
Too bad "super-cali-fragile-istic-expi-ali-doshus" isn't in the dictionary. Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
Faulkner seemed to be quite fond of the word "effluvium" esp. in its plural form of "effluvia." I love Faulkner, but because of that, I've never been tempted to use the word in my own writing -- he kind of ruined it for me cause otherwise it's a cool word.
----- zyzzyva is also the name of a West coast literary/arts journal. But The Rabbit probably already knew that.
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
How could I forget about googolplex? I completely fell in love with both googol and googolplex when I first heard them in high school. Which explains why I was tickled pink when Google first came around, though I was also a bit annoyed that they spelled it wrong.
And yeah, a googolplex of movie theaters boggles the mind! That'd be, like, a theater for every molecule in the universe. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I asked my history teacher what defenestrated meant, because it was in a history article I was reading, and he gave the dictionary. It wasn't in there, I asked him, and turned out he didn't know.
It is a cool word.
Adding a pro to antidisestablishmentarianism makes it an even better word (and very confusing- you are for the people who fight against people who fight against the establishment.)
"Hello, I'm proantidisestablishmentarianism. Are you?"
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Sternutation. Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
Dear Friend, I am a former genral in the Canadian Armed forces, eh, who has escaped the recent conflicts with two hundreds million dollars (Cdn) and twelve Skyhawk helicopters--I am at present sitting in one, the other eleven have been stored in Newfundland--the bombs are falling now. I need a secured bank account in a developed nation in which to deposit this money (and some safety-deposit boxes for the Skyhawks). If you will only--wjhat is that smoke coming out of the turret?--if you will, dear friend, only respond with your persoanl account number I will condider sharing 1% (Cdn) of this koney with you. That is.......200 dollars (Cdn), for only your secured bank account number (and the safety-deposit boxes)--is that oil pressure gauge correct?--then fix it you fool!, eh. I eagerly await your prompt response--Mayday! Genral Lance "Contiki" Bay
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
Posted by asQmh (Member # 4590) on :
I also like pulchritudinous. It's such an ugly word for pretty.
Q.
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
The Defenestration of Prauge was probably the greatest moment in European history. Its just so hilarious.
My favorite word right now though is isogloss. I just love saying that word. Isogloss.
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
Then there's "intermestic" although I'm pretty confident that the guy who invented the term pulled it out of his hat.
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Looks like Speed votes for "quadrilogy".
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Priapism--best medication side effect ever. My doc thought it amusing that I knew what it meant. Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
This is a funny thread. Tons of vocab fun!! I like Transubstantiationalist myself, but that's because when I say it with my fake speech impediment it sounds hilarious.
One of my favorite words though has to be puissant. An old friend commented on his discovery of it a long while back and we both got really good at using it in sentences. Then, I found it in Return of the King in a conversation between Faramir and Eowyn. I was very very pleased to say the least!!
Posted by Jill (Member # 3376) on :
Tintinnabulation. Great meaning, and fun to say.
And for longest word-- Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. We learned it in the fifth grade. If I remember correctly, it is a disease in which the ultra-microscopic silicon dust of a volcano gets in the lungs.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
I have another friend that can say that really long word on command Jill. I'm SURE it's the same word and it's funny that he's not the only one in the world that has it memorized to impress his friends. *goes off to memorize the word*
Posted by Jill (Member # 3376) on :
Narnia- Good luck! (it's pronounced pretty much the way it's spelled, and if you memorize the meaning the rest will come quickly)
And I forgot humuhumunukunukuapuaa, the coolest Hawaiian fish (also pronounced the way it is spelled).
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