(no subject)

My new favorite word: abligurition.  A word which specifically describes the phenomenon of dining out in NY!  I am enraptured.

Also, as friend J. points out, it would be a fantastic name for a self-aware hipster-fusion-type restaurant.

The other day, friend J. asked me how I was doing: I replied that I was copacetic.  What the hell is that, when it's at home, he asked?  Well.  Well ... what was the difference between copacetic and well?  And that brought us into a nice discussion of connotative vs. denotative words, and specificity in context (I seriously doubt that anyone will ever order a copacetically-done steak, but if they do, please make sure that they do it in my presence, as I could use a bit of humor), and the value of having multiple terms for referencing what is more or less the same thing.

When I was in the 7th grade, my guidance counselor said that I was arrogant, pompous, and aloof, and that I should be set within a circle of the individuals who most disliked me so that they could explain to me the error of my ways.  This has always struck me as being the 7th grade guidance counselor equivalent of trying to reinstitute stoning as a means of social correction, albeit in a slightly more figurative manner - I'm sure we all remember the children's rhyme.  (And, hell, the concept stuck with me well enough that the other night, I dreamt that I was at a dinner party composed of the same.  But given that the incident that prompted his suggestion had involved me throwing someone over a desk when they tried to twist my arm, and that the dream ended when I got a phone call in the middle of giving a character in the dream a black eye ... I wonder how effective his little experiment might have been.  Or how much property damage it might have resulted in.)   But the only one of his criticisms that stung a little was pompous: the other two were as much points of pride as they were anything else.  But being verbose, wordy, eloquent, facile, fluent ... that had always also been one of my points of pride, so to have it taken down a notch with "pompous" stung.  Even grandiloquent would have been better.  But, then again, given that he wasn't a very bright man, pompous may have been the only word encompassing the concept with which he was familiar, and, given his animosity to the concept of justifiable pride in speech as in behavior, it's unsurprising that he went with the most prejorative option.

Words are power: words are beauty; words are the coin of experience that can never be spent, but which continually replenish themselves the more they are used, like a magic pouch from Fairy which will never stop producing gold.

Even when, or perhaps especially when, they are incredibly specific words which inspire voracious readers to heights that abliguritionists like Caligula can only dream of.

So, what are your favorite new words?  Or old ones, for that matter?

(no subject)

My new favorite word: abligurition.  A word which specifically describes the phenomenon of dining out in NY!  I am enraptured.

Also, as friend J. points out, it would be a fantastic name for a self-aware hipster-fusion-type restaurant.

The other day, friend J. asked me how I was doing: I replied that I was copacetic.  What the hell is that, when it's at home, he asked?  Well.  Well ... what was the difference between copacetic and well?  And that brought us into a nice discussion of connotative vs. denotative words, and specificity in context (I seriously doubt that anyone will ever order a copacetically-done steak, but if they do, please make sure that they do it in my presence, as I could use a bit of humor), and the value of having multiple terms for referencing what is more or less the same thing.

When I was in the 7th grade, my guidance counselor said that I was arrogant, pompous, and aloof, and that I should be set within a circle of the individuals who most disliked me so that they could explain to me the error of my ways.  This has always struck me as being the 7th grade guidance counselor equivalent of trying to reinstitute stoning as a means of social correction, albeit in a slightly more figurative manner - I'm sure we all remember the children's rhyme.  (And, hell, the concept stuck with me well enough that the other night, I dreamt that I was at a dinner party composed of the same.  But given that the incident that prompted his suggestion had involved me throwing someone over a desk when they tried to twist my arm, and that the dream ended when I got a phone call in the middle of giving a character in the dream a black eye ... I wonder how effective his little experiment might have been.  Or how much property damage it might have resulted in.)   But the only one of his criticisms that stung a little was pompous: the other two were as much points of pride as they were anything else.  But being verbose, wordy, eloquent, facile, fluent ... that had always also been one of my points of pride, so to have it taken down a notch with "pompous" stung.  Even grandiloquent would have been better.  But, then again, given that he wasn't a very bright man, pompous may have been the only word encompassing the concept with which he was familiar, and, given his animosity to the concept of justifiable pride in speech as in behavior, it's unsurprising that he went with the most prejorative option.

Words are power: words are beauty; words are the coin of experience that can never be spent, but which continually replenish themselves the more they are used, like a magic pouch from Fairy which will never stop producing gold.

Even when, or perhaps especially when, they are incredibly specific words which inspire voracious readers to heights that abliguritionists like Caligula can only dream of.

So, what are your favorite new words?  Or old ones, for that matter?