Today’s word was suggested by a friend for its superb pronunciation.
Thralldom
Thr-awl-dom; noun; serving or enslaved.
Rolling the “r” on this word makes it very satisfying to say. They also use it in the US TV adaptation of the Game of Thrones novel series when talking about their enslaved salt wives, and everyone loves a salt wife in thrall.
Filed under Word of the week
Pecksniffian
Pek-sni-fee-un; adjective; affecting one’s moral principles or benevolence.
This wonderfully theatrical word originates from Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit, after the character Seth Pecksniff. I don’t think it serves quite as well in conversation as it does written down; it’s the kind of word you read and can only enjoy after double checking in your head that you really understand its meaning and context. Pausing for this long in conversation would be at least a little awkward.
Filed under Word of the week
This week’s word isn’t particularly uncommon, but it’s one I love the sound of.
Superfluous
Soo-per-floo-us; adjective; excessive and unecessary.
I think I like the sound of this word for the emphasis on the “per” bit, because when you say “super” you emphasise the “soo” bit, and that reminds me of soup. Not that I don’t like soup, but it’s not really super. And it’s fun to say “floo-us”.
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Today I asked the editor at my work placement what her favourite word is.
Verisimilitude
Ver-ih-sih-mih-lih-tyood; noun; the appearance of truth.
Sometimes you just like a word and have no explanation why, but I like this word because it has many syllables. I think having too many syllables is why some words go out of use, people are too lazy to say all of it. Just look at how “t”‘s have been dropped across the English language. Thank goodness for words like verisimilitude.
Filed under Word of the week
This week’s word is the complete antithesis of this website:
Adoxography
Ad-oks-oh-gr-fee; noun; Detailed and in-depth writing on an unimportant topic.
This word has much potential for everyday use; just look through newspapers after an uneventful week. Because pages need to be filled, all sorts of rubbish gets thrown in. Some might say that a lot of what is studied in school is adoxography.
So there we have it: Adoxography, a very useful word for the modern world.
Filed under Word of the week
A post on time! I’ve found a neat little site, Wordnik, that lists pretty much every word ever and allows you to make lists of your favourite words. The downside is that there are a lot of American spellings, and I’m pretty sure a few made-up words have gotten in. But I found this today:
Perihelion
Per-ruh-heel-yee-un; noun; The shortest distance from the sun a planet or comet has in orbit to it.
There’s not a lot of room for everyday use (unless your work involves talking about space and planets of course, in which case you probably use it anyway. Sorry.) but it’s got a great sound, especially if you can roll your R’s. Perrrrrrrihelion. Lovely.
Filed under Word of the week
Firstly, my sincerest apologies for this delayed post. I’ve been getting myself all psyched for my placement at Life Media Group, and as such have been forgetting to check the site as regularly as I should. But enough of my personal ramblings.
BBC Radio 4 broadcast a show on Thursday about “The Meaning of Liff”, a book by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. It lists words, usually place names, for things most people (especially in Britain) experience and have no words for. It’s a very humourous little book, and finding this word reminded of it:
Facetiae
Fah-see-shee; noun; witty writings or remarks.
It’s a nice short word, is useful, and includes that lovely “tiae” spelling.
Filed under Word of the week
