What is your favorite word in the English language?

@Ravenwood,

My favorite word is "serendipity." It's just a fancy way of saying finding something good by accident. Like stumbling upon a hidden gem when you least expect it. It reminds me to stay open to life's surprises and unexpected joys.

1 Reply

@elizabethwilliams707,

It reminds me of The Green Death.

0 Replies

I have two favorite words...and I doubt I could ever favor one over the other.

They are: Detour and opera. (Granted that opera actually is an adopted word rather than a native English word.)

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

They are: Detour and opera. (Granted that opera actually is an adopted word rather than a native English word.)

Detour is borrowed, too, from the French détour .

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Frank Apisa wrote:
They are: Detour and opera. (Granted that opera actually is an adopted word rather than a native English word.)

Detour is borrowed, too, from the French détour .

Yeah, most English words are borrowed...mostly from the German.

But Opera is actually an Italian word...the plural of opus.

We use it to mean a play mostly sung.

1 Reply

@Ravenwood,

My favourite word would be the ever versatile ****.

0 Replies

Onomatopoeia

It has too many vowels. It points at a myriad of sounds that can only be insufficiently represented by words, and it demonstrates the limit of language to communicate the experience of sounds.

For instance, it's almost impossible to write the sound of laughter. Ha ha and ho ho don't even come close to representing the experience of laughing.

1 Reply

@coluber2001,

coluber2001 wrote:

Onomatopoeia

That's ginormous.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Ouroborus: it's sometimes spelled uroborus, and nobody can agree on the stressed syllable.

It's just a circle a snake makes, but it's implications reach far beyond language, as it transcends itself.

It represents the resolution of interdependent opposites. Because it's a snake, a powerful feminine symbol of nature, I think it represents the resolution of mind (male) and nature.

https://ktismatics.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ouroboros.jpg

2 Replies

@coluber2001,

In the episode of Red Dwarf entitled Ouroboros Lister says that he was found as a baby in a basket in a pub with the note saying "Our Rob or Ross."

"My parents couldn't even decide what my name was."

0 Replies

@coluber2001,

Quote:

I think it represents the resolution of mind (male) and nature.

To me, it represents the eternal oscillating cycle of our universe, from when all the universal material which was at rest within the last surviving Black Hole, where that material had been ripped to pieces and reconverted to its quantum of photons and being crushed back into the singularity of our origin until its increasing weight becomes too great and rips the fabric of space, allowing that singularity to spatially separate and expand outward turning the Black Hole inside out like a rubber ball in the resurrection of the earlier world that had swallowed its own tail.

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

Yeah, most English words are borrowed...mostly from the German.

I dunno.

You're right that English is a mongrel/frankenstein language made up of bits and bobs of other languages, but at its root are Anglo Saxon and Norse.

Those languages are Germanic, but they're not German.

I'm not disagreeing as such, just pondering.

Btw, my son is a polyglot, speaks umpteen languages.

When we went to Copenhagen he was surprised it was his English that helped more than any other language.

(I just pretended they were all Geordies, and attuned my ear accordingly, I got the odd phrase here and there.)

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Frank Apisa wrote:

Yeah, most English words are borrowed...mostly from the German.

I dunno.

You're right that English is a mongrel/frankenstein language made up of bits and bobs of other languages, but at its root are Anglo Saxon and Norse.

Those languages are Germanic, but they're not German.

Since your post...I did look some stuff up. Latin, French, and German seem to be the main source.

English seems to be the most popular world-wide...but does not have the largest vocabulary.

I'm not disagreeing as such, just pondering.

Btw, my son is a polyglot, speaks umpteen languages.

When we went to Copenhagen he was surprised it was his English that helped more than any other language.

(I just pretended they were all Geordies, and attuned my ear accordingly, I got the odd phrase here and there.)

I may be wrong on that item, Izzy.

I had read that we got most of our language from German and did not bother to do more research before I posted that comment.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Well, there certainly enough English/German cognates to support the idea. Too bad they feel like they have to combine two or more words to make a new one.

What is your favorite word in the English language?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know