Moist, crepuscular pulchritude.
Fulminate, verisimilitude, Biden...
There is an old joke about Europeans discussing which nation had the most beautiful language. The Frenchman mentioned the word “papillion” for “butterfly”. The Spaniard claimed that whatever word the Spanish use for “butterfly” was better (my memory fails me on Spanish right now).
The German said, “What about Schmetterling??”
Mamma, why do these words sound so nasty?
I’ve always found “niggardly” to be one of those words.
pulchritudinous
The word I thought of when I read the title. What an odd word.
Great post. Thanks.
I would guess you’re a fan of Richard Lederer’s radio shows, books etc.
on the English language ?
An example....
Answers repose at the end of this column.
1. Can you anagram the letters in new door to make one word?
2. What word, when you add a syllable to it, becomes shorter?
3. Which is correct: 9 and 7 is 15 or 9 and 7 are 15?
4. Pronounce out loud the word formed by each of the following letter series: M-A-C-D-O-N-A-L-D, M-A-C-B-E-T-H, M-A-C-H-I-N-E-R-Y.
5. Pronounce out loud the words formed by each of the following letter series: B-O-A-S-T, C-O-A-S-T, R-O-A-S-T. Now, what do you put in a toaster?
6. How many mistakes can you find in this sentence?: “Their are five mistaiks in this sentance.”
7. Name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday or Sunday.
8. Pronounce out loud the words formed by each of the following letter series: B-O-A-S-T, C-O-A-S-T, R-O-A-S-T. Now, what do you put in a toaster?
9. Susan’s mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child’s name?
10. A clerk at the butcher shop is 5 feet 10 inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
11. Read the following sentence slowly and just once, counting the number of F’s:
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT
OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
How many F’s did you find?
12. My name is Stan, and I have five sisters. Each of my sisters has one brother. How many children did my parents have?
13. If a peacock and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half, How many eggs will three peacocks lay in three days?
14. A cowboy had 15 cows. All but nine died. How many cows did he have left?
15. Who can jump higher than a house?
Answers
one word 2. short 3. The answer is 16. 4. The last word is pronounced masheenery, not MacHinery. 5. bread 6. Four. There are only three errors in the sentence, so the word five becomes the fourth mistake. 7. yesterday, today and tomorrow 8. bread 9. Susan 10. meat 11. Five. Most people get only three. 12. Six — five girls and one boy 13. None. Peacocks don’t lay eggs. Peahens do. 14. nine. 15. Anyone can. A house can’t jump.
Fecund
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“Navin, do you know why a woman of such pulchritude is married to a man like me?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu0ONkXd7xU
I’ve always liked the word “piano”. Which in German, I believe, is “klunkenplinken”.
For later
A German officer, Friedrich Steinbrecher, wrote of a Great War battle “Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word.”