ALOTT5MA FRIDAY GRAMMAR RODEO: In which The Atlantic reports on Portland (OR) advertising director Ted McCagg's bracket-based quest to determine the best English language word ever, and from a Final Four including kerfuffle, hornswoggle, and gherkin arrives at ... diphthong.
(Best words eliminated during the Final 32, IMHO: scalawag, tchotchke, lollygag, isthmus, and nougat.)
Words cannot express how much I love that "lollygag" is in the mix. God, I love that word and use it almost every day for people on the train, lollygagging down the escalator and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope you tell them what they are: lollygaggers.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope you tell them what that makes them: lollygaggers.
ReplyDeleteIt would be more interesting to consider the worst words in the English language. We all know where Watts would stand (PANTIES!). My vote would be for "smegma".
ReplyDeleteMoist!
ReplyDeleteLarry!
ReplyDeletePhlegm. (The word looks and sounds like what it is.)
ReplyDeleteI beg your pardon - "panties" merely makes the list. SIGNAGE tops them all, with UTILIZE in second place. I mean, as long as X-rated words aren't in the mix.
ReplyDeleteI must disagree with the inclusion of 'isthmus' on the list. Hard to spell, hard to pronounce, boring definition, and too often used by smartypants-wannabees who think it's a fancy word for 'peninsula.'
ReplyDeleteBut then, I feel much the same way about 'diphthong,' so this obviously isn't my year for the brackets.
Oooh, I've a fondness for "Lackadaisical," another also-ran.
ReplyDelete<span>I beg your pardon - "panties" merely makes the list. SIGNAGE tops them all, with UTILIZE in second place. I mean, as long as X-rated words aren't in the mix.</span>
ReplyDeleteThe thing about "panties" is that I don't really have a suitable replacement - "Knickers" is pretentious as I'm not from the UK. "Underwear" doesn't imply the femininity. "Drawers" is fine, but I'm not a 98-year-old. I sometimes do say "underwears" like the landlord in "While You Were Sleeping" but that's an inside joke.
"Signage" has the perfectly respectable "signs" to take its place and I defy you to tell me an instance where "utlilize" is required over "use".
I'm also a big fan of LOLLYGAG's cousin: PIDDLE AROUND and its UK cousin: FAFF ABOUT. But that's the beauty of LOLLYGAG - it does in one word what requires two otherwise.
ReplyDeleteUTILIZE. Every single time I see that word it makes me stop reading and wonder why they didn't say "use."
ReplyDeleteCanoodle wuz robbed.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how "ragamuffin" didn't even make the bracket.
ReplyDeleteI almost feel an Isaac-length essay coming on about what constitutes "best" - is it how it sounds, is it what it means, is it how sound and meaning seem to correlate, is it a uniqueness of construction, is it a matter merely of personal taste, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of the East bracket, in general. I mean, rapscallion, nincompoop, lollygag, and fuck, all in one bracket? I'm team East.
ReplyDeleteMy boss uses utilize all the time, and it drives me crazy! Come to think of it, I'm not fond of many -ize words: incentivize, monetize, etc. But the misuse of utilize (to make practical or effective use of) is one of my biggest pet peeves.
ReplyDeleteMy boss uses utilize all the time, and it drives me crazy! Come to think of it, I'm not fond of many -ize words: incentivize, monetize, etc. But the misuse of utilize (to make practical or effective use of) is one of my biggest pet peeves.
ReplyDeleteI don't see 'egregious' in there, either. And you can't tell me that 'betwixt' losing to 'eke' in the first round wasn't an egregious case of poor officiating.
ReplyDelete