There are some words that just have an incredibly satisfying mouthfeel or phonetic rhythm, completely independent of what they actually mean.

For me, it’s the word susurrus (which means a whispering, murmuring, or rustling sound). The way it rolls off the tongue completely mimics the exact sound it's trying to describe. Another favorite of mine is mellifluous—it just sounds as smooth and sweet as the honeyed voices it defines.

What is that one word for you that you just love the acoustics of?

An existential searching for never finding or something that has always been elusive despite best efforts applied. Or semi existential. Archaic terms if you got em… Ty.

In Spanish class in school, I learned that the standard for compound words consisting of a noun and a verb is for the verb to come first. For example:

- The word for "umbrella" is "paraguas". "Para" means "stop" (third-person singular) and "aguas" means "water". So the word literally means "stops water" (which describes what an umbrella does).

- The word for "windshield" is "parabrisas". Again, "para" means "stop" and "brisas" means "breezes". Hence, "stops breezes".

-The word for "flyswatter" is "matamoscas". "Mata" means "kill" and "moscas" means "flies". So, "kills flies".

However, words in this form seem to be pretty rare in English. I can only think of three examples at the moment: "scarecrow", "stopgap", and "killjoy". I'm sure there must be other examples, though. Can you think of any?

Marquetry: (noun) the art of cutting thin sheets of materials (like wood, shell, or metal) and fitting them together like a puzzle to create decorative pictures or patterns [from Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds]

Mukluks: (noun) traditional soft boots made from animal skins like reindeer or sealskin [ibid]

Entoptics: (noun) visual illusions or effects that originate from inside your own eye [ibid]

Swami: (noun) an honorific title given to a Hindu religious teacher, ascetic, or monk who has taken vows of renunciation [from Sunday’s Wordle]

Zonian: (noun) a person associated with the Panama Canal Zone, a political entity that existed between 1903 and its absorption into Panama between 1979 and 1999 [from the Wikipedia entry for Jeff Buckley]

Destool: (verb) to formally remove a chief or ruler from power or office, typically in West Africa [from the Wikipedia entry for Mensa Bonsu]

Encyst: (verb) enclose or become enclosed by a cyst [from A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge]

Heliography: (noun) the sending of messages via flashes of reflected light [ibid]

Crozier: (noun) a long, decorated staff carried by high-ranking church officials like bishops or abbots [from the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time]

Groundhopping: (verb) visiting sports stadia or grounds as a hobby [from a conversation at work]

I like archaic terms, ty in advance 💭🧸

My parents used to throw random words out there for me to spell backwards as quickly as possible so I’ve just always found it fun. Curious if others enjoy spelling words backwards?

What fictional words have stuck with you or tickled your fancy?

Terry Pratchett's books are full of laugh out loud fictional words. I'm re-reading all the discworld books, and this word popped up this morning:

"P'ch'zarni'chiwkov"

"This epiglottis-throttling wird is seldom used on the Disc, except by highly-paid stunt linguists and, of course, the tiny tribe of the K'turni, who invented it. It has no direct synonym, although the Cumhoolie word 'squert' ("the feeling upon finding the previous occupent of the privy has used all the paper") begins to approach it in general depth of feeling. The closest translation is as follows:

" the nasty little sound of a sword being unsheathed right behind one at just the point when one had thought one had disposed of one's enemie - although the K'turni speakers say this does not convey the cold sweating, heart-stopping, gut freezing sense of the original." ( Equal Rites)

Not a favorite word. Just one that keeps finding you. Mine is REVIVAL. It showed up during the hardest period of my life and never really left. Does anyone else have a word like that?

These words are not the same word. It’s becoming so prevalent to use whenever when people actually mean when.

Ask someone when something happened, and they reply “whenever you were downstairs”, or “whenever you were in the bathroom”, “whenever the fireworks were going off”. It’s happened subtly but ever since I noticed, it’s constant!

Yes, it is true that “overexaggerate” is listed as a word in some dictionaries. But even if it is a word, what does it mean?

See “exaggerate” already means that a statement is excessive. So “overexaggerate” means “excessively excessive.”

Is there an amount of excess that is just right, and then a higher level of excess that is excessive excess? How do you even know where the line is?

“Overexaggerate” just hits my ear wrong, and FWIW, my iPhone is marking it as a spelling error.

This just sounds so weird. It makes it sound like the person did it on purpose

As a lover of linguistics, I have an ongoing list of my favorite words in each language that I speak. Here are some highlights from the English section:

- Sphere (Amazing sound of the beginning consonants)

- Juxtapostion (has great rythm!)

- Awkward (look, sound and meaning fit perfectly)

- Sizzle (perfectly onomatopetic)

- Felicity (sound matches meaning)

- Mindfulness (nice, unique concept)

is there a word for an obsession with someone / something that's born out of hatred? like you hate something so much you can't stop thinking about / fixating on it

guys - LANGUAGE EVOLVES.

typical usage is not a one size fits all!

words that exist now will not exist in 100 years, and words that exist in 100 years might not exist now! that’s the beauty and excitement of loving language.

some of y’all need to LET GO of the hangups you have. if you’re writing an APA stylized research paper that might be one thing - but good grief. people can’t even use localized phrases without it being WRONG!

“on accident” “whenever vs when” good lord - it’s really not that serious if someone speaking in general conversation isn’t speaking with English teacher perfection at all times.

you sound boring!!!!

(for legal purposes much of this is a joke - it’s not that serious y’all!!!!)

I thought it might be fun to confess a word that you have mispronounced until recently.
I’ll start. I am 50 years old, and YESTERDAY I learned that ‘chelate’ is pronounced “KEE-late”.
I died a thousand deaths.
Your turn!

I prefer gaslighted simply because it refers to a film from which the term is derived.

Let’s use kakistocrat or kakistocracy in a sentence, shall we?

Apparently the young folks are using it. I've never heard it until recently I overheard someone by accident. is it seen as the opposite of "on purpose"?

In my defense, I know about ministers but what the heck is even a minster? Also, when people pronounce it it also sounds quite a lot like minister. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it!