Words We Don't Like

These are the bad words that just plain tick us off.  Bad word!  No biscuit!
Anyways - Unless you're the kind of person whose necktie goes only to your sternum, the word is "anyway."
Co-mingle - huh? Isn't mingling good enough?
Realtor... realtor, NOT real-a-tor!
Whole nother- as in "that's a whole nother story".  It's whole other.
"Turn left where the old Shell station used to be", uh- huh.
Untimely death - What would be a timely death?
Cent - as in your change is 50 cent. Always people from the south. Anything more than one penny is cents. Try it with me hayseeds, " Your change is 50 cents".
Axe instead of "ask."  "He axed me a question."  Makes you sound like an illiterate moron.
Value-added as in "we offer value-added service" - what the heck does that mean?!?
Kitney - as in the Kitney Foundation - the word is kiDney.
Womens and mens - these two words are already plural or does this mean lots and lots of mens and womens?
Excape when it should be escape
No-brainer - salesmen use this word?  I tend to think it reflects on the user.  I never buy or stock their product.  I like to think that I own a brain, so I'll leave the "no-brainer" decisions to the anencephalics.
'Nuff said -- usually uttered with a smug and knowing flare of the nostrils usually when enough hasn't been said to support the person's point. The phrase (and its accompanying gesture) are just bluster.
Albeit - You've got to be a 'George Will', anal type of schmuck to have this word roll off your tongue in a sentence.
Gal - 'nuff said
Proactive - the opposite of inactive is active. This, to my ear, is like saying "two twins."
"I could care less" when what the speaker really means is "I couldn't care less."
Per se
Nucular - It sounds like the person doesn't know how to read. How can you accidently say Nucular?? IT'S NUCLEAR NU-CLEAR. GOT IT??!!
Suck - As in "It really sucks". If something sucks, does it actually create a negative pressure in it's mouth, causing the high pressure air to push it into the low pressure? People who use this too much really must have the brains of a trout.  If something sucks, what does this thing suck? What do people mean when they say "You Suck"?  Is this an offer?  Or maybe a command?  Perhaps a threat?
Lite and nite - what's so hard about "light" and "night"?
Forward planning - like there is such a thing as backward planning...
Ramp up - still more corporate lingo. Entirely lacking in real meaning unless you are recovering a boat from the water onto a trailer or somesuch.
Amature - the word is amateur
Senseless murder - used by news reporters, much worse than a "sensible murder"
Call-waiting - A call that isn't waiting at all.  It is insisting that you answer it now before it's too late. Should be entitled "Call impatient".
Their - There - Thier - They're - Their (should be there) were three horses. The three horses broke thier (meaning their) harnesses. Second most misused word on the net ... maybe even ahead of the misused it's.
Paradigm - Gag, puke, yuk. We have beaten this dog with a stick. It's dead. Stop using it. Now.
Lame - This is one of the lamest words around. Lame, lame, lame.  Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  Lame.
Worm or worse than that, wormy. ICK!
Nother "I'll have nother one.."
Myself "John and myself are going to the store." What ever happened to "I" or "me"??
24/7 - more buzz words

Words We Like

Words that feel good in your mouth or sound like what they mean. These are the words we love.
Here are a couple of new ones suggested by Melysa, a very zoftig young lady: pedantic and ennui (you HAVE to say the last one correctly to get the full impact, an WE)and of course, both are French.
Here are some good ones suggested by a reader:  chiaroscuro (the treatment of light and shade in a painting, drawing, etc. to produce the illusion of depth), and susurration which is sort of onomatopoetic!
Plication - The act or process of folding or state of being folded. Or simply a fold itself. As found in pliable pliers amplify multiply complicate implicit explicit replica duplicate explicate implicate duplicate application supplicate multiply.
Zephyr - comes from the Greek word zephyros, the west wind.
How about pussyfooting and fiddlefarting? As in "Quit......."
Ubiquitous - means omnipresent.
Did you know that fiasco has two meanings? Most of us know that it can mean "a complete failure; esp., an ambitious project that ends as a ridiculous failure" but it also is "a bottle; esp., a long-necked wine bottle with a rounded lower portion covered in woven straw".
Serendipity - my favorite word, sounds like what it means
Gigabyte - just say it - you'll understand.
Epiphany - what you achieve when your brain goes, "Duh!"
Jungle
Penultimate - a good word when used correctly
Nooner - Need I say more?
Crapulous - Perfect word!  Perfect sound! -- For how you feel the morning after
Feckless - Meaning feeble or ineffective.  Sometimes confused with the the word freckles - ancient Swedish word meaning REALLY feeble or ineffective??
Nonchalant - just a casual kind of word
Hoi polloi - so very common, those people over there, let's snub them.
Argh.....good cartoon word, it even hurts to speak it.
Luscious - very pleasant to smell or taste; appealing to the senses
Zoftig or zaftig...all I can say is look this one up in the dictionary, you will begin using it!!!
Gibbous - the shape of the moon when it's more than half-full but less than full, used with waxing and waning, two more good words
Egregious - means remarkably bad, outstanding for undesirable qualities
Atrocious - once used by a nun to describe my handwriting
Egbert - we know what we mean when we call someone "Egbert" but did you know that it comes from the Old English meaning "bright sword"?
Poinsettia - did you know that the red parts are actually the leaves of this plant and the little yellow things at the top are the flowers? NOT PON-set-uh, NOT POIN-set-ya, but poin-SET-uh
Byzantine - I could explain what it means, but it's too complicated.
Caterwaul - a harsh cry or angry quarrel
Onomatopoeia - happy-poetic word. You can skip it and sing it. It reminds me of another word I like that is a place name - Ontonagon.
"Jewheat?".."no. jew?" - are we hungry or are we discussing religions?
Vermiculite - the stuff found in potting soil. "Vermiculite. Vermiculite. Vermiculite."
Despicable - as when Daffy says "you'rrre despicable" - perfect description of some people.
Vulpine - denotes a foxlike quality such as looking sleek or predatory.
Chewy - go ahead and say it! Doesn't it sound so beautiful, so heavenly, so sweet, so....CHEWY!
Fulsome - sounds like a compliment but means offensive to good taste, excessive, gross, disgusting, repulsive, insincerely lavish
Bombastic - fabulous word. Denotes something that makes great and immediate impression. Great fun to say.
Mellifluous - rolls right off the tongue
Pulchritude - because it doesn't seem to match its definition
Fetid - doesn't that word just stink?
Decadent - great word (sometimes assumed to mean the tenth time you bumped the car)


Email your words and I'll add them to the list: chumley@home.msen.com

Last Revised: 8/2/2000 10:55 p.m. (pl)
URL: http://home.msen.com/~chumley/words.html