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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 20, 2008 22:39:48 GMT
I am personally very fascinated by words, and I love collecting them.  Does anyone have particular loved or hated words? Or ones that seem perfect for describing a certain circumstance or object? Some of my favorites are words that end in 'escence', like opalescence, phosphorescence, iridescence... And I'm very fond of circumambulation, which I used here in a poem once. There are so many, though... |
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Post by tannis on Feb 21, 2008 12:43:51 GMT
Words
by Anne Sexton, 1975
Be careful of words,
even the miraculous ones.
For the miraculous we do our best,
sometimes they swarm like insects
and leave not a sting but a kiss.
They can be as good as fingers.
They can be as trusty as the rock
you stick your bottom on.
But they can be both daisies and bruises.
Yet I am in love with words.
They are doves falling out of the ceiling.
They are six holy oranges sitting in my lap.
They are the trees, the legs of summer,
and the sun, its passionate face.
Yet often they fail me.
I have so much I want to say,
so many stories, images, proverbs, etc.
But the words aren't good enough,
the wrong ones kiss me.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
but with the wings of a wren.
But I try to take care
and be gentle to them.
Words and eggs must be handled with care.
Once broken they are impossible
things to repair.
Said The Poet To The Analyst
by Anne Sexton, 1960
My business is words. Words are like labels,
or coins, or better, like swarming bees.
I confess I am only broken by the sources of things;
as if words were counted like dead bees in the attic,
unbuckled from their yellow eyes and their dry wings.
I must always forget how one word is able to pick
out another, to manner another, until I have got
something I might have said...
but did not.
Your business is watching my words. But I
admit nothing. I work with my best, for instance,
when I can write my praise for a nickel machine,
that one night in Nevada: telling how the magic jackpot
came clacking three bells out, over the lucky screen.
But if you should say this is something it is not,
then I grow weak, remembering how my hands felt funny
and ridiculous and crowded with all
the believing money.
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 21, 2008 19:26:06 GMT
I really like the poems, Tannis, especially the first one. |
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Post by Al Truest on Feb 21, 2008 19:26:15 GMT
^ I like these, Tannis.  |
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 22, 2008 0:46:35 GMT
Sesquipedalian: given to using long words, or (of a word) containing many syllables. It fits its definition, doesn't it? 
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 22, 2008 15:42:16 GMT
Also, its's a very simple word, but 'solace' has always struck me as quite a beautiful one.
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 24, 2008 1:24:43 GMT
I had forgotten that. It was used to describe Kate's ample pulchritude as I now recall. ;D Quoted here for the use of the word pulchritude. I thought I was the only one in the universe who used that word!  At least from the looks people give me.  |
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Post by Al Truest on Feb 24, 2008 17:55:26 GMT
I had forgotten that. It was used to describe Kate's ample pulchritude as I now recall. ;D ... I thought I was the only one in the universe who used that word! At least from the looks people give me. I get those looks on occasion. I often let a polysyllabic word out without being aware of the reaction it may get. 'tis best to know your audience.  |
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Post by Al Truest on Feb 24, 2008 18:08:28 GMT
Words I like, but won't use in uncertain settings:
Specificity
Voluminous
Obsequious
Incongruent
Loquacious
Bombastic
Lapidary
Taciturn
Verisimilitude
Vicissitudes
Insipid
Rubrics
Words I like for their imagery:
Nocturnal
Ephemeral
Ethereal
Ether
Vicarious
Visceral
Sooth
Shimmy
Shimmer
Glint
Glow
Radiant
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 24, 2008 18:08:54 GMT
LOL, it is. It's nice to know I'm not alone. |
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 24, 2008 18:24:15 GMT
I love voluminous, lapidary, verisimilitude, and ephemeral. And taciturn- there's a lyric in Joanna Newsom song that includes 'taciturn'- "And the loves we hold and the loves we spurned will never grow cold only taciturn." Isn't that great? She uses some incredible words, actually... hydrocephalitic, diluvian, ululate... |
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 28, 2008 0:04:29 GMT
www.freerice.com/index.phpHas anyone ever heard of this site? It's interesting, and quite hard. Al, lapidary was one of the words I got.
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Post by Al Truest on Feb 28, 2008 2:18:40 GMT
www.freerice.com/index.phpHas anyone ever heard of this site? It's interesting, and quite hard. Al, lapidary was one of the words I got. ^ No but I liked it. I was a level 38 and donated a lot of rice. I missed 2 out of 40 or so. |
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 28, 2008 2:20:14 GMT
I got to 46. And I think around 3000 grains of rice. Got a lot of words wrong, though... |
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Feb 29, 2008 3:11:53 GMT
SolitudinousEvanescentDiaphanousQuintessenceDaedalianSymphoniousNuminousSpicaciousTesselationElixirousMagniloquentZenithPrismaticTremulousLissomSylvanCalligraphyA couple from my voluminous collection...
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Does anyone have particular loved or hated words? Or ones that seem perfect for describing a certain circumstance or object? 
