From my blog

My most loved and hated words

  • Tom Albrighton
  • Fun

Do I need an intro after a title like that? Read ’em and weep – then ridicule my choices and/or justify your own in the comments.

Loved

  1. Umbel. Evoking a mellow chime, it is in fact a part of a plant
  2. Architrave. Sounds like an archaic trove, or perhaps a quiet architect’s grave. Actually part of a door- or window-frame
  3. Dusk. Just a time of day, but it always sounds magical
  4. Nobble. Great-sounding, and an indispensable concept too
  5. Egg. What else could you call it?
  6. Tranquil. Surely the nicest word containing Q
  7. Concord. Now the aeroplane’s been retired, we can use this word in its real sense a bit more
  8. Instil. Just for the sound
  9. Ozalid. Sounds like an exotic lizard; actually an old form of printer’s proof
  10. Theodolite. Similar appeal to ‘architrave’. Sounds like a lamp powered by religion, but is in fact a device for surveying building sites.

Architraves - arguably not as exciting as they sound

Hated

  1. Creamy. The sound, meaning and ‘mouthfeel’ of this word are all utterly revolting. See also ‘moist’
  2. Babe. Demeaning to the describer and the describee, regardless of context
  3. Slathered. Disgusting, yet beloved of those who write food descriptions, e.g. ‘slathered in a creamy dressing’. See also ‘drizzled’ and ‘enrobed’
  4. Onus. Just means ‘obligation’, but it doesn’t sound like something you’d want placed on you, does it?
  5. Penalise. See ‘Onus’. At university we would fall about at the exam-paper admonition ‘You may be penalised for excessive length’
  6. Platter. Conjuring images of rank 70s pub food while, appropriately, evoking ‘plump’ and ‘fatter’. I don’t like ‘supper’ much either
  7. Chagrin. We have so many nice-sounding words for wry sadness and melancholic regret. Why use one that includes the syllable ‘shag’?
  8. Mull and moot. No, don’t mull it over – no matter how moot it is. Just consider it. I don’t want to think about warm wine or Wings
  9. Revamp. Rework or redesign it instead, then none of us will have a mental image of Peter Cushing when you mention it
  10. Pantile. Just for sounding like underwear when it’s not. See also ‘vestibule’, ‘brasserie’.

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Comments (4)

  2. Like it Tom!

    Theodolite Perfectis.

    Words eh?

    ‘Serendipity’? Makes me want to be physically sick. I recall a blazing row I had with an ex-girlfriend over my hostility towards it.

    ‘Tart’ on the other hand – gorgeous. Almost as delicious today as Strauss, Cook and Trott.

    Blisses.

    Martin

  3. qualm is another good Q word.
    Moist vile (see also gusset)
    Architrave ruined the minute you have building work done when it morphs into arky-trive. Ditto cornice.
    Happy with supper, especially when someone else has cooked it.
    My 12 year old sucks words dry. Whether workaday or obscure he will say it over and over until he has taken all from it that he can. Love it.

  4. Great post, Tom. Here’s my most loved:

    1. container – My favourite word, hands down. Three syllables as three groups of three letters typifies structural purity – and it’s typographically gorgeous, especially when written lowercase. Also, it perfectly encapsulates how I view language: words are vessels of meaning.

    2. if – Cause and effect, pregnant with future possibilities.

    3. okra – It’s best batter-fried or pickled, just love the way it sounds. Brits call it ladyfingers, which is a creepy name for a vegetable, if you ask me.

    4. disenfranchised – Any word that begins with ‘dis’ is gonna be powerful. Personally prefer the past participle-as-modifier construction. Can be shortened to ‘dissed’.

    5. nonet – An obscure musical term, referring to a grouping of nine players and the composition written for them. Love it.

    6. slur – So many different connotations, both good and bad. Also another musical term.

    7. palimpsest – Writing can be destructive, and paper must be recycled.

    8. purview – A pretentious word that reminds me of a beloved colleague who insisted on confusing people with it during business meetings. Try it sometime.

    9. Luddite – How I choose to describe myself.

    10. cellar door – Technically this is two words, but a compound noun nonetheless. Regardless, it beautifully represents the concept of phonaesthetics. Thank you Edgar Allan Poe and JRR Tolkien.

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