Photo credit: Public Domain Pictures
I love words. I keep a list of my favorites, the ones that draw a mental picture that involves taste and feel as much as sight and sound. Here are my top ten:
- abecedirian–means what it says–a beginner.Rudimentary. The abc’s.
- bandog–a large and fierce chained dog. This one’s appealing mostly because I love dogs.
- caliginous–murky, dark. Say it aloud. It sounds good.
- carabinieri–Italian national police force. This has a strength, a foreign power that I’ll probably never get to use because my characters aren’t going to Italy. I might have to plot a trip.
- cobble, as in ‘cobble together’. Can’t you just see that 1700’s cobbler tap-tapping at your plan, creating a beautiful mental quilt from scraps of disparate ideas
- confluence–a flowing together a coming together of people. ‘A confluence of events’. Comes after you’ve cobbled for a while.
- concatenation–interlinked series. MS Excel users know this word. It’s how you cobble together clues and discover a confluence of events. I love problem solving in quirky original ways.
- dappled–mottled, spotted. A dappled meadow, or horse. I see the dancing spots of brilliant color
- deus ex machina–a powerful image of an unexpected problem-solver. I’ll get it into my writing eventually. So far, it’s sounded contrived.
- doppelganger–Alter ego. I know in my writer’s soul I can turn this ghostly double into a problem-solver.
You have to admit, these are cogent and pithy words. Let me know how you use them.
More?
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
worddreams.wordpress.com 
Pingback: I love Words | WordDreams...
Pingback: Seven More Favorite Geek Words | WordDreams...
Pingback: Ten Favorite Geek Words–Part I | WordDreams...
Pingback: Eight Favorite Words–Part III | WordDreams...
Pingback: Beautiful Words | WordDreams...
Pingback: Eight Favorite Words–Part III | Jacqui Murray's WordDreams...
Pingback: Ten Favorite Words–Part II | Jacqui Murray's WordDreams...
Such a fun article. I also collect words, and I’ll be adding some of these. I love that you promote dramatic words – nickels work the slots most of the time but when you need a big coin, only a silver dollar will do.
LikeLike
You are so colorful! Like your picture. I used to try to fit the words into my stories and the writing class I took hated that. They have to arrive in a story, without the intent of a destination. But I miss my words.
LikeLike
I love ‘confluence’ – it just rolls beautifully off the tongue. I remember when I watched the series The Singing Detective – he said his favorite word was ‘elbow’ because of the effect it has on the shape of the mouth when you say it! 😀
LikeLike
That’s a new take. I’m saying the word, feeling my mouth form it–I think I agree with him.
‘Singing Detective’–haven’t heard of that one. I love detective series. Is it Australian?
LikeLike
It’s British, Jacqui – and was around in the late 1980s. It’s about a writer who has psoriatic arthritis and while he is in hospital he has all these crazy fantasies about his book. I really enjoyed the series, it was very clever 😀
LikeLike
That’s what I have. I’ll have to search it out.
LikeLike
Always opportunity to learn. First 2 and 9 I have definitely not heard of earlier. Thanks.
LikeLike
I love the thought of a big burly bandog. I think it’s close enough to its meaning readers get it. And ‘deux ex machina’–it can inspsire entire scenes.
What are your favorite words, Ankur?
LikeLike
Difficult question. Let’s see…
One is “schedule”. Not because of its meaning but for its sound. Used to pronouncing it as “sheydule”, the British way, I took to the American pronounciation of “skeydule” when I came across it.
Another one is “valetudinarian”. I have never used it but really like the sound of it. It refers to a person of infirm health, especially one very concerned about it.
LikeLike
I defintely like ‘valetudinarian’. I will have to find a reason to use that. It’s like the word ‘heteroskedasticity’. All the parts give away the meaning which makes it fun.
LikeLike