English Defenestrate (the act of throwing someone out of a window), because the brain picture that's associated with the word amuses me greatly fun fact I once accidentally confused 'defenestrate' with 'defecate' in conversation and boy howdy was that awkward because it happened at the dinner table German Herrgottkreuzverdammterdonnerwetternochmal, because it is a ridiculously long swear word that I'm not 100% sure is a real word because I cannot find the book in which I read it (although I remember it was a linguistics book written by a polyglot, so maybe it is?). It jsut really rolls off the tongue nicely when you're mad, especially if you say it with gritted teeth. American Sign Language Bullshit and understand (the sign for stand, but turned upside-down so that you stand under) because visual puns/dirty humor
Hah! Bullshit is one of my favourite sign-language words (it's even the same in ESL!) because it's just so simple and elegant XD Also defenestrate is another awesome one that is fun to say. You have very good taste in words @Boots :)
undulate is a good one, and cataclysmic and of course, the worst word in the english language is colonel, because wtf. the spelling is neat, but the pronunciation is a betrayal
"fuck it" is a phrase but in certain moods I pronounce it with the speed of "bucket" only without that initial b-pop, just easing in on the fuh and bursting a little with KI all fucKItfucKItfucKItfucKItfucKItfucKItfucKItfucKIt and apparently in bursts of eight, i muttered it outloud until it felt smoothed out.
One of my favorite Brazilian authors, who writes comedy, has an entire little humorous chronicle on having read the word "defenestrate" as a child and not knowing what it meant, and always forgetting to look it up - and how he kept imagining it might be some sort of scandalous secret act that grownups did, and sleazy men would approach women on the streets and whisper "milady, do you defenestrate?" and get smacked with purses, but oh, certainly some women defenestrated... in private... And then he finally looked it up in the dictionary and was even more fascinated. Why was there a specific word for that? Was it a popular crime for a while? Had there been a wave of defenestrations all over Europe in the early 19th century? Was it acknowledging some kind of primal, animalistic human instinct, a deep desire that we all secretly harbor to throw somebody out of the window? "Darling," says a man to his innocent bride on their honeymoon, "I have to tell you something. I'm... I'm a defenestrator." She smiles. "Oh love, I'm willing to try anything with you!" A man lies motionless and full of broken bones on the sidewalk, surrounded by ambulances and police and concerned passersby. "I've been defenestrated!" he splutters out. "Poor thing," says one of the scandalized passersby, "and on top of that somebody threw him out a window!"
I'm actually gonna translate the entire chronicle because it deals with lots of delicious words (and he has other chronicles with similar wordplay): DEFENESTRAÇÃO, by Luis Fernando Verissimo (translated by Léo Monteiro) Some words have the wrong meaning. A Fallacy, for example, shoud be something vaguely vegetable. People should cultivate different varieties of fallacy. The Amazonian fallacy. The mysterious Black fallacy. Hermeneuts should be members of a sect of hermetic vagabonds. Wherever they arrived, everything would get more complicated. "The Hermeneuts are coming!" "Yikes, now you know nobody's gonna understand anything..." The hermeneuts would occupy the town and paralyze all productive activities with their enigmas and ambiguous phrases. Once they left they'd leave the population prostrate with confusion. It would take weeks until things recovered their obvious meaning. Before that, everything would seem to have hidden implications. "Hello..." "What do you actually mean by that?" Caper should be some kind of mechanical part: "We're gonna have to change the caper. And the vector's all worn out too." Plumbeous should be the noise a thing makes when it hits water. But no word fascinated me as much as Defenestration At first, it was the charm of ignorance. I didn't know what it meant, never remembered to look it up in a dictionary and came up with all sorts of theories. Defenestrating ought to be some exotic act practiced by few people. It even sounded a bit forbidding. Cads on the sidewalk probably whispered in women's ears: "Do you defenestrate?" The answer would be a slap to the face. But some... Oh, some did defenestrate. It could also be something to ward against pests and vermin. People would maybe have their homes defenestrated. There would therefore be professional defenestrators. Or maybe it was one of those obscure bits of legalese that closed off formal documents? "Given the nature of the accord, we hereby concede defenestration..." It was a word that was full of conotations. I probably even used it once or twice, like: "That guy over there is a defenestrate" By which I meant that the person was, how should I say? Defenestrated. Even if it was wrong, it was the exact word. One day I finally looked it up in the dictionary. And here's the big ol' Oxford which won't let me lie. "Defenestration" derives from the French word defenestration. Noun. The act of throwing something or someone out of a window. The act of throwing something or someone out of a window! My ignorance was over, but not my fascination. Such an act can only have a name for itself and a place in the dictionaries for a very strong reason. After all, there's no specific word for throwing somebody out the door or down the stairs. Why, then, defenestration? Maybe it was a French habit which fell out of fashion. A vice like smoking or drug use, suppressed in time. "Les defenestrations. Zey should be forbidden." "Yes, monsieur le ministre." "Zey are a national scandal. Ezpecially now with ze new buldings." "Yes, monsieur le ministre." "With buildings that had three, four floors, it was admissible. Even fun. But after that it is a crime. All windows from ze fourth floor upwards should have a sign: interdit de defenestrer. Transgressors will be fined. Repeat offenders will be incarcerated." In the Bastille, Marquis de Sade must have had contact with notable defenestreurs. And the compulsion, even if it is suppressed, might persist in man, as it persists in his language. The world may be full of closeted defenestrators. "I just have this strange desire to throw something or someone out of a window, doctor..." "Hmmmm. The impulsus defenestrex which Freud described. Something to do with your mother. Nothing to worry about," says the therapist, slowly stepping away from the window. Who among us has never felt the compulsion to throw something or someone out a window? The whole of modern architecture, with its outer walls of shatterproof glass with no openings, might be an unconscious reaction to this human want, never fully tamed. In a honeymoon suite on the 17th floor... "Honey..." "Hmmm?" "There's something I gotta tell you..." "What is it, love?" "I'm a defenestrator." The bride, innocently, walks towards the bed: "I'm willing to try anything with you, babe. Anything!" A crowd surrounds a man who just fell onto the sidewalk. Between moans of pain, he points up and mutters: "I've been defenestrated..." Somebody says: "Poor guy. And on top of that they threw him out the window!" Right now, I'm having the strange compulsion of tearing the paper out of the typewriter and defenestrating this text. If it's ever published it's because I resisted.
I found the word glossolalia yesterday, torn on it. cool definition and spelling, but it doesn't sound very good, especially in comparison to xenolalia, which is all-around fantastic
Susurrus is a lovely word and I'm forever grateful to the Wee Free Men for introducing me to what I consider to be one of the best onomatopoeia there is. Edit: I just remembered the word widdershins!! It's such a fun word to say - considerably moreso than 'counterclockwise'.
I have mixed feelings about snowbroth, because on one hand A+ word, but on the other hand it makes slush sound much nicer than it actually is.
I really like the word "sibilant" and also sibilant words in general (susurrus is a perfect word A++ so evocative) Obsequious is really satisfying to say for some reason?
I've got a word I kind of like but kind of dislike: "gnomon". In CADCAM work it's the visual representation of the intersection of the axis'.
Farraige. It's just. A perfect word for ocean. Lir is also a good word for sea. Irish is good at sea words.
Today's Neko Atsume password is zephyr. Zoonosis is very fun to say for such a serious thing. (Diseases that can pass from animals to people. )
