Sometimes I'm taunted by the blank page when thought and word escape me. I'm reduced to the Scrabble player who, after studying the tiles for minutes measured in centuries, euphorically celebrates an eight-point, three-letter word.
I cain't get no…sa-tis-fac-tion in that.
Then there are the times when I have a muse that could rustle legions to glory and make the ancients weep and propel whispers to roar; but I'm not allowed to write about it, typically out of respect for those closest to me who don't share my same verbal-exhibitionism.
Paradoxical the Lord would infuse my DNA into three little bodies who clearly are my children based on temperament and favor, yet leave out that gene, and betroth me to a man who prefers privacy. Ah, the humanity…!
In other words, cloaked in veil and buried beneath a pile of Southern vagaries, my heart is imploding from the weight of story I'm not able to share…mother aches and circumstances of others that could provide material for an entire series of books–trade or fiction.
Make that trade and fiction.
Anyways…because I can't write what I reallyREALLY want to, I'll share a few of my favorite words just for the fun of it:
- luscious…doesn't that just roll off your tongue and compel you to thoughts of decadence or deliciousness or both?
- scrumptious…why does that word make me happy? I use it sparingly because I don't want to dilute its umph.
- imbroglio…sweet mercy, I've used this often in the past and only recently discovered I've been pronouncing it wrong. The "g" is silent. Oh, how the proud do fall when "airs" are deflated.
- obsidian…I prefer to use it in unexpected places
Of course, there are zillions more, but I don't wanna hog 'em all. Do you have favorite words? Please…share!! They might join my ever-growing list of treasured word-gems!
**Bonus points if anyone can make a coherent sentence out of my four favorites listed!**
My daughter and I will randomly burst into “Truly Scrumptious” from “Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang” while together at home. Usually during a loving/ticklefest or a “NO, I LOVE YOU MORE” argument.
My step-daughter has used a word she swears she made up, that you MUST be southern to get, and that I love – “purtyfull”. She’s a hoot, too!
“One would think making luscious Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes would have the possibility of turning into an imbroglio, but it turned out to be quite easy, and as I turned them onto the dessert plates, I marveled at their sheen and color which was reminscent of obsidian; after the first bite I discovered they were absolutely scrumptious!”
Well, that is a RUN-ON sentance if I ever saw one, and I’m not even certain I used imbroglio correctly, LOL. But there you have it!
oh i have several favorite words but i can’t think of a single one right now. would love to hear your story though.
I understand completely about having an issue pressing on your heart but being unable to speak of it online. We went through something similar late last year and it affected our every move for months. But I have to applaud your sense of decency in the matter – a true friend/coworker/relative is one who can keep one’s mouth shut at the right times! LOL. I would have dearly, dearly loved to pour out my heart and soul onto my blog but it wasn’t (all) my story to tell, at least not in so public a forum as a blog.
Words – love them and hate them. As a recovering writing student I more or less slept with a thesaurus under my pillow and even now I catch myself tied in knots over some weird grammatical rule I can’t see the point of. Most times, I don’t check my grammar on purpose. It’s a freeing turn-around, LOL.
I’m not even going to attempt your sentence challenge (brain…not…working…still…ingesting…caffeine) but I will say that for 16+ years, I thought ‘macabre’ was pronounced ‘mack-ah-burr’.
I have blocked the memory of the fateful day that I realised I’d been saying it wrong, but I do believe it was reading aloud to an ADVANCED ENGLISH LIT CLASS.
Discombobulated. Probably because it is the constant state of my brain.
And you are on your own for a sentence. I’m too discombobulated to come up with one right now.
The light of the moon reflected on the obsidian lake, dancing and teasing as if you could scoop the luscious lemon-creme slice right up with your hand and indulge in it’s unique and scrumptous flavor, did little to distract her from her current imbroglio (as she had long ago lost both her oars in a foolish move and had been drifting aimlessly ever since.)
I never can pass up a challege. 😉
Oh, how I feel your writer-in-chains pain! Speaking for myself, there is always the greatest amount of tension around sharing what we’re going through with my teens. In fact, I sometimes wonder if my readers realize I even HAVE teenagers in my house! At some point their story becomes their own, and it’s not mine to tell anymore. BUT, sometimes our stories are so intertwined that I feel compelled to share, and I have – just a bit. I think my husband is quietly disapproving of it, but it is what it is.
Oh my goodness! Is the step daughter 11 or 12? My daughter and her friend say ‘purtyfull’ all the time! lol That’s just too funny!
Hi Robin,
I came to visit your Fun Monday post, but I see that you have moved beyond that. Some of your readers have composed delightful thoughts with your four words. I rather like the words myriad and burgeoning. Ebullient is a word that I mispronounced for years.
You are an artist at composing lovely metaphorical images like ” when I have a muse that could rustle legions to glory and make the ancients weep and propel whispers to roar.” and “Paradoxical the Lord would infuse my DNA into three little bodies who clearly are my children based on temperament and favor, yet leave out that gene, and betroth me to a man who prefers privacy.”
I didn’t blog for a week after vacation because I was too chained up from the events and emotions.
I don’t really have a favorite word right now. Probably because I’m not thinking straight due to lack of sleep (almost 6 months olds will do that to you).
kerfuffled. One of those made up word, but oh, it’s fun to say!
Kerfuffle is an Anne of Green Gables word! (yell-clap)
“A fool uttereth all his mind: but the wise keep it in until afterwards.” Proverbs 29:11 (KJV because that version best fits the subject today–but it’s really supposed to be about anger and temper–so just pretend! 🙂 )
I’m not sure when “afterwards” is (lol)====> we’ll leave that up to the “interpreter.” 😉
My favorite word to use is beautimous. It’s not real though–My BFF and I have been saying it 4-ever and I’ve seen it used a time or two in the land of El Bloggo/Internetsville.
If I had to pick a real word–languish (another AofGG word) and I’ve always liked the word obsequious because I had to spell it once in a spelling contest–(and I guessed rightly) it’s not exactly definitive of me . . . although I’m tryin’ ! 😉
Oh I have so many favorite words…but what comes to mind is what my favorites were in middle school. I remember them because my best friend thought it was weird that anybody *liked* certain words above others. She would say this phrase to me just to make me laugh; it contains all my pre-teen favorite words: A BATCH of CRISP CHUNKS. Crisp was my favorite of the favorites 🙂
Robin – I thought you’d get a giggle from this, or at least I hope so. 😉
This morning while the girls were doing some workpages, my husband somehow started a contest with my nine year old, trying to find words that she couldn’t sound out and read. He picked up a book and picked out hard word after hard word but he couldn’t stump her.
He even went so far as to write: “telefinepathicalinestifer” on a piece of paper. (Which he admitted he’d made up.)
Finally I said, “I bet I can stump her!” So I wrote down….. your four words! She got them all except for imbroglio – but really who can blame her? It’s not like it follows the rules. 😉