Apropos of absolutely nothing 24

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1. 

   Corey McKrill Posted 10:03 am
   25 Oct 2006

   A pity ...... because biscuits are better moist than dry.
   
   Grist's InterActivist ... creating a one-of-a-kind portrait of on-the-ground activism.

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2. 

   jjwfmme Posted 10:08 am
   25 Oct 2006

   Robust and Coif...

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3. 

   TariffDude Posted 10:50 am
   25 Oct 2006

   Shine, bladder

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4. 

   appell Posted 11:54 am
   25 Oct 2006

   bisquitsIt's stupidity like this that makes this blog hardly worth reading. I know you think you're being cool, David, but in fact you're being quite the asshole. Why?
   
   

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5. 

   caniscandida Posted 1:11 pm
   25 Oct 2006

   it changes all the time(And, yipes!, beware the troll.)
   I have often self-consciously asked myself what I might answer James Lipton, if ever I was his interviewee, and he put me through that French guy's questionnaire, including the questions, "What is your favorite word?," and "What is your least favorite word?"
   Right now, my favorite word is "Pteranodon."  And my least favorite word is "initialize."  With "finalize" a close second.
   
   Chickens are our cousins!
   
   So are other sensitive animals!
   
   Enough is enough!
   
   No more factory farms!

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6. 

   KathyF Posted 5:43 pm
   25 Oct 2006

   I hate all misspelled wordsespecially when I misspell them.
   I like the word Serendipity. I hate the word Slacks.

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7. 

   sustainablogger Posted 10:06 pm
   25 Oct 2006

   "Apotheosis"; "Task" as a verbWith "actionable" a close second on least favorite...
   
   sustainablog: Blogging a greener world
   
   
   
   http://sustainablog.blogspot.com

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8. 

   willa Posted 11:51 pm
   25 Oct 2006

   Can't think of a favorite at the moment......but my least favorite?  "Their" when what the writer/speaker means is "his or her".  Yes, it's a damn shame that the English language has no gender-neutral third person singular one can use to refer to people, but it doesn't. That said, I don't know of a language that does have one, so.
   Of course, we also need a second person plural, but for some reason I have no problem with "y'all" in that slot.  Maybe it's because it actually means what it claims to mean, whereas "their" for "his" actually warps the sense of the sentence because it has a meaning of its own?  "Y'all", while not a real word, is nevertheless 100% clear in intent, and fills a needed slot.  (But it's not my favorite word, although I do like it.)
   Hey, you say "You have OCD" like it's a bad thing! :)
   My other least-fave:  "None are...."  Collective nouns take singular verbs, folks.  Blame this particular obsession on my mother, from whom I inherited it...

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9. 

   kmp Posted 12:29 am
   26 Oct 2006

   My very favoritein any language is "pamplemousse" (grapefruit in French).  At least, so far.  "Yoboseyo" is a close second; an all-purpose greeting (hello, excuse me, etc.) in Korean.
   My favorite in English is hard to pin down;  I'm quite fond of "curmudgeon" and the related "curmudgeonly."  Like KathyF, I despise the word "slacks."
   I also share Willa's irritation with poor grammar.  Nails on a chalkboard, people.
   My vote for most useful word in any language is the F-bomb.  Universally understood, a noun, a verb, a declarative.  Vulgar, yes.  Yet often effective and such a satisfying word to say.

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10. 

    willa Posted 12:35 am
    26 Oct 2006

    profanity still make anyone giggle?You know how when you were a kid you'd say a four-letter word and then giggle helplessly?
    Anyone still find that they can regress to that point pretty quickly?  No, okay, must just be me. :)
    Kaela, you made me snicker, which is why I mention this, of course.
    I think I want to reconsider:  In addition to being the most useful word, the F-word might just be my favorite.  It's not pretty or elegant or anything, but it has a certain enduring quality that others just lack...

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11. 

    Biodiversivist Posted 12:40 am
    26 Oct 2006

    Exacerbate your hubrisI read a book once where the author used the word hubris about sixty times. I counted it everytime I ran into it. Never liked the word since.
    
    In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com

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12. 

    kmp Posted 12:52 am
    26 Oct 2006

    You onlyhave to work on a drug for erectile dysfunction to realize that we are all still 13 years old.
    A bunch of highly-paid, highly-trained MDs and PhD's sitting around a table, snickering at the word "penis."
    It's kind of endearing, in a way.

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13. 

    caniscandida Posted 1:24 am
    26 Oct 2006

    the maturity of male scientistsFrankly, Kaela, from what I have perceived over the years about the remarks and attitudes of your male colleagues, you have got to be really strong to hang in there.
    Willa is spot-on, regarding the abuse of "their."  And yes, it would be useful to distinguish singular from plural "you."  Urban northeasterner that I am, I nevertheless prefer "y'all" to "youse."  "You guys" has not quite reached a level of acceptability, IMHO.
    On "fuck" (let us call a spade a spade): Right, James Lipton (FYI, I am talking about the "Inside the Actors' Workshop" show), in the course of giving the Bernard Pivot questionnaire, asks, "What is your favorite curse word?"  And I would not know what to answer.  Sure, "fuck" is fine.  But it is too common.  I would prefer something like "Fiche-moi la paix!," but that would be rather affected.
    
    Chickens are our cousins!
    
    So are other sensitive animals!
    
    Enough is enough!
    
    No more factory farms!

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14. 

    Roz Cummins Posted 2:56 am
    26 Oct 2006

    the name "Tadalafil"...I keep seeing ads for an ED drug called Tadalafil. Is it supposed to be a take on "Ta Da!" If so, that's pretty funny. Ta Da!

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15. 

    willa Posted 3:14 am
    26 Oct 2006

    The best bad words...are in Spanish, IMNSHO. :)
    of course, hahaha, penis! But just try getting one of them to say the word "vagina" out loud...I didn't love the Vagina Monologues, but Eve Ensler did at least make people say it, which was good.
    That said, the word itself does nothin' for me.

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16. 

    bookerly Posted 4:03 am
    26 Oct 2006

    Gender Neutral
    
      Chinese uses gender neutral pro-nouns.  Ta means the same was our he/she.  So, Chinese students have a terrible time learning to use he and she, and they often confuse them.
      I have no such objection to the use of their in place of he/she.  I recall the time when people first began attacking gender usage in language as part of the discussion about gender and society.
      There was a novel written in a gender neutral manner, you were supposed to guess the gender of the two main characters before the ending.  It was called "The Cook and The Carpenter" by June Arnold.
    http://www.nyupress.org/books/Cook_and_the_Carpenter-prod...
      Hmmm, modern cursewords?  Republican?  We should be careful that "American" doesn't become one.
    patrick

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17. 

    mihan Posted 4:04 am
    26 Oct 2006

    too many to pickMy fave would be found among the following:
    penultimate
    
    lurid
    
    fortnight
    I share the dislike for poor spelling in general. Since I am a teacher, I get these all the time:
    they're/their
    
    "posative"
    
    and so on... sigh.
    For Most Useful Word, I'm going to have to go with "dude." And I'm not even from the west coast. "Fuck" is useful too, but easy to overdo.

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18. 

    Chippehogwa Posted 5:05 am
    26 Oct 2006

    Least favRight now least fav = appell.  Usually it is how "W" says Nuclear, but just now I've had a change of heart.  Sometimes its nouveux faux hatewords like Islamofacism...
    Favs of late would have to be Optimism, Impeach, wikipedia, and who can live without yadda yadda yadda.

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19. 

    pat joseph Posted 5:14 am
    26 Oct 2006

    word upjack kerouac once described a rock as 'moogrus.' always liked that.
    not too fond of 'meme' and 'trope'

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20. 

    pat joseph Posted 5:18 am
    26 Oct 2006

    oh yeah, almost forgotblog is a very unfortunate word. blogosphere is even worse. but i think we're stuck with 'em

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21. 

    willa Posted 7:18 am
    26 Oct 2006

    blogYeah, blog really is an odious word.  Here to stay, for now, but icky nonetheless.  I like both meme and trope, though.  I haven't figured out how to successfully get across the idea of either one to those unfamiliar with the concepts, though, which no doubt reflects mostly on my mad explanatory skillz.
    Mihan,
    
    I like all of yours!  As far as pure misspellings of otherwise perfectly acceptable words, things like "alot" for "a lot" (but rarely when what was intended was "allot", oddly enough...) really bug me.  
    Oh, and my fiance's boss said fused two perfectly good words into one bad one the other day (spoken, not written, so I'll have to guess at spelling):  "sillopsism"?  I'm actually not sure whether he meant "syllogism" or "solipsism", but in any case I refrained from comment. :)
    "Irregardless" is an unfavorite unword.

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22. 

    mihan Posted 3:56 am
    27 Oct 2006

    Irregardless!Oh! I forgot that one! I had a friend who said that all the time. It drove me nuts, which only caused him to use it more frequently. I wonder if he's stopped using it since he became a lawyer.
    Other (spoken) pet peeves include needless repetition:
    "four a.m. in the morning"
    
    "ATM machine"
    And the irritating habit of calling a "/" a "backslash." "" is a "backslash."

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23. 

    atreyger Posted 5:15 am
    27 Oct 2006

    can someone confirm?'FUCK' = 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' written on foreheads of rapists, etc. in stocks
    
    'SHIT' = 'Ship High In Transit' on bags of manure shipped in ships, since otherwise may explode when wet
    Somehow I have a gut feeling that may be way off...

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24. 

    pbearden47 Posted 4:23 am
    30 Oct 2006

    WordsI'd say that epiphany is my favorite word, and morass my least favorite.  I had to think about that for a long time.
    
    Aunt Phyllis

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