I never get to say ‘diaphanous.’ This is perhaps unsurprising, but it’s a perfectly good word that I never get to use. The word just rolls off the tongue, sort of like licking silk (which I don’t recommend).
NOTE: Diaphanous would be a really great name for an Elf. Or a Roman. A Roman-Elf?
It just seems like a shame, y’know? There are all these neat words in the English language that you just never hear. They’re either too specific, too obscure, or simply too hard to say.
‘Defenestration’ is another one. It is both specific and obscure, though relatively easy to say (rhymes with some other word that I can’t think of right now).
How about ‘morion?’ No, not ‘moron,’ ‘morion.’ You could, I guess, call someone a morion, but it would be both strange and nonsensical (and would thus score double points).
Here are a few more of my favorite, rarely used words:
Ossuary
Jugulate
Awl
Missive
Unguent
Rune
Prestidigitation
Septuagenarian
Orifice
Phantasmagoria
Salacious
So, your homework, should you choose to accept it, is to use one word this week that you never use. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just unusual and pleasing to your ear. I will try my best to work ‘diaphanous’ into a conversation, but I work mostly with men of the smelly, stout variety, so diaphanous might not be a good thing.
Cheers,
-Jason
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10 comments:
Curiously enough, "awl" shows up quite frequently in crossword puzzles. Perhaps its not the same as saying it, but at least its there, dangling in front of the eyes of scores of crossword enthusiasts. Mind you, these are exactly the sort of folk who say "diaphanous" at every opportunity anyway.
funnily enough, Defenestration has come up in a sentence before.
we were doing logic, so we were looking up latin words and meanings.
it showed up somewhere and the following happened:
me:"heh Defenestration, thats so cool"
girl:"what! did you just say deep penetration?!"
my friend:"nah that would be infenestration, oh yeah watching me some infenestration when i get home.."
girl:"argh your both sickos"
I used the word "buttmunch" today, and it was quite fun. The numerous "Wtf?" looks make it even better.
I used to do crosswords all the time in high school. I think 'awl' works 'cause it's just an ususual, three letter word.
Wow, an actual, legitimate use of 'defenestration!'
Wasn't 'buttmunch' Beavis and Butthead's favorite word? Haven't heard that one in a looong time :)
'Prestidigitation' actually shows up pretty commonly among my friends.
Of course, we also meet for D&D every week, and it's possibly the best spell in the game :)
-- Gemma
Is that 4.0? Just curious, as I still play AD&D (yes, I'm old).
Gwar har har! I actually knew a good amount of words on that list and was quite proud of myself.
You throw it out that window, it's not the boss of you.
^___________^
:)
I think your list is somewhat wrong, I must admit.
Really, when I read it, I went "Hey, I use that" four times. I may be weird, but seriously, awl, rune,
prestidigitation and orifice at least are a common occurence, apart from the third one I'd say I hear at least one of them daily. That might be me having weird aquintances and hanging around the wrong forums though, but still.
Well, Silver, I think your friends/co-workers must be better read than my friends/co-workers, as no one ever uses those terms around me :)
I did pull off 'sophistry' today, so I was fairly pleased with myself. Then I had to explain what it meant.
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