MelodyWatson.com

Having just read the word "ghastly" and felt a wave of pleasure, I started thinking about how magnificent "mere" words are. It's fascinating how a single word can conjure a memory, sensation, mood...

How about some more? In no particular order, and most certainly incomplete, here is a list of words that, at this moment, make me feel all cozy just to hear them. Note: not necessarily for their meanings. For example, I certainly don't want to feel ghastly. But the word itself - hearing it spoken, recalling the fascinating accents I've heard use it, amusing myself at the memory of the exaggerated way people sometimes stretch it out when they say it... yea, I do enjoy this word!

To continue:

• amuck. Or amok. I'm told they're both correct. One time I heard a 12 year old boy, running through a yard with flocks of other children running behind him, call out "I am running amuck!" Cracked me up...
• translucent
• discombobulated
• Neanderthal
• spanikopita
• rapport
• curmudgeon
• extraneous
• succulent
• circumlocutious
• articulate
• wonky
• bodacious
• effervescent
• epiphany
• nostalgia
• tertiary
• aesthetic
• serendipity
• butternut

Better stop there. I have work to do. Ah but wasn't that fun?!

Oh. And if you were looking for something a little more, er, highbrow, here you are: from the LA Times.

What about you? Do you have a favorite word? Care to share??? I'd love it if you did...it'd surely make my list much better!