I happened upon this list while looking up the word gallivanting on a dictionary site. Here are People's Top Ten Favorite Words according to www.Merriam.Webster.com. Like all Top Ten lists, there is room for argument, but there is one word on the list that I have a particular fondness for!
1. Defenestration: Dismissal, usually swift expulsion.
2. Flibbertigibbet: A silly flightly person.
3. Kerfuffle: Disturbance, fuss.
4. Persnickety: Fussy about small details, fastidious.
5. Callipygian: Having shapely buttocks.(huh?)
6. Serendipity: Luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for. (my favorite)
7. Mellifluous: Having a smotth rich flow.
8. Discombobulated: Upset, confused.
9. Palimpsest: Something with diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface.
10. Sesquipedalian: Long (like this list!), characterized by the use of long words.
Favorite Words: Discombobulated clear winner
I heard from a lot of readers who sent along their favorite words most of which are different from the ones listed in the last issue. That's what is so great about words: It doesn't matter. There are plenty for everyone.
Not sure why a word becomes a favorite, but it is fascinating.
The one word that received the most entries from readers -- and was also listed on the Merriam Webster list -- was discombobulated, a word I use a lot too. Not sure what is so interesting about it, but it's a winner.
Other words submitted by readers include:
- mayhem
- caddywampus
- outrageous
- impervious
- serendipitous
- rectify
- esteemed
- superfluous
- encompassing
- Chevrolet
- rural
- sequins
- chowderhead
- languages
- serendipity
- iridescent
- incandescent and luminous and ominous
- razzmatazz
- sheep
- Boot
- Peapod
- Polliwog (also it's alternate, Tadpole)
- Egregious
- pumpkin
- cattywampus
- keister
- languid
- piquant
- calliope
- loyalty
- love, a nice one to finish on.....
(One reader wrote to say that she thought defenestration was her favorite word, but thought it wouldn't appear in too many lists because of its limited use. But there it was -- number one on the Merriam Webster list. That had to feel good.