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Great Words for Everyday Use

Paul Fookes

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posted 3 years ago

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We're into July with all the busyness of fruit ripening, heat waves happening, and new skills a-learning. Jay Angler here with a hodge-podge of useful threads (is hodge-podge still a word, or did I just date myself horribly?)

Saw this in Jay's email today and thought great word. Most people get it without looking in the dictionary or needing to turn the concept into a sentence to explain themselves. Yep, in my lexicon is still a great word albeit hyphenated. My go to words are detritus meaning debris, accumulations and litter, in general untidiness by way of junk that us blokes ( insert me) collect over a lifetime, and synergistic which is where the amount achieved by a group is greater than each individual could achieve on their own. One hours gardening by 6 people achieves more than 1 person gardening for 6 hours - synergy

Some of these words are handed down through families over generations and so form part of the normal conversation.
And then there are the OMG, you have gotta be jokin' words such as phenomenological, meta-paradigm and otorhynolarangologist.

What are your go to words that are great and what are your OMG words that absolutely prove the user is obviously a [insert own profanity here]

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Never retire every one thinks you have more time to help them - We have never been so busy

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Marie Abell

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Location: Chilean Patagonia

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A word that my husband has taught to our 7- and 3-year-old is "obtuse". They use it about us and each other, pretty funny stuff.

I am a big vocabulary person, product of long years of isolation with precious little but books to occupy me. However, despite the more intellectual words I've learned and loved over the years, my true favorites are words like "shebang" "thingamajig" "doodad" "fiddle-faddle" "caterwaulin'" n such.

Some of the all-time bests for me are the scientific names of my favorite micro-life--saccharomyces cerevisae (beer yeast) has the most musical ring to it. Leuconostoc mesenteroides, thought it may not create the most beautiful ferments, has the nicest rhythmic feel when spoken. I had an idea once upon a time to write a choral piece based on the names of these microorganisms that interplay so dynamically with our food. Maybe someday when miniature people don't need me for everything all the time...

"... And being swept along is not enough." R.M. Rilke

Paul Fookes

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Location: Gulgong, NSW, Australia (Cold Zone 9B, Hot Zone 6) UTC +10

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Your husband would never use obtuse about you. He probably says you are acute [LOL]

Failure is a stepping stone to success. Failing is not quitting - Stopping trying is
Never retire every one thinks you have more time to help them - We have never been so busy

Michael Helmersson

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Location: Geraldton, Ontario -Zone 1b

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Marie Abell wrote:my true favorites are words like "shebang" "thingamajig" "doodad" "fiddle-faddle" "caterwaulin'" n such.

I haven't watched The Simpsons for at least ten years, but I routinely hear Kent Brockman's voice asking "Poppycock or Argle-Bargle?" whenever I encounter something absurd.

"Caterwaul" is one of my favourites, too.

“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.”
― Voltaire

Trace Oswald

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I'm a fan of "conundrum".

There aren't many words I dislike, but I cringe when words are used incorrectly. Writing "loose" when the person means "lose", as in "I always loose my car keys". Using "literally" incorrectly immediately makes me think less of anything a person has to say after that. I'm struggling to overcome that one. I have enough of these that I'm more comfortable spending time with my dogs than conversing with humans.

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Paul Fookes

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Location: Gulgong, NSW, Australia (Cold Zone 9B, Hot Zone 6) UTC +10

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I am hearing you Trace, I was taught that if you misplace something,you lose the "o". My really big one is people who say "pacifically" when they mean specifically or "aks" instead of ask.
The bloke across the road was always looking for his hooranger!

Failure is a stepping stone to success. Failing is not quitting - Stopping trying is
Never retire every one thinks you have more time to help them - We have never been so busy

Trace Oswald

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There is one word that I hate. It's hard for me to even type it. "Moist" *shudder* That word gags me.

I don't understand "hooranger".

A build too cool to miss:Mike's GreenhouseA great example:Joseph's Garden
All the soil info you'll ever need:
Redhawk's excellent soil-building series

Paul Fookes

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Location: Gulgong, NSW, Australia (Cold Zone 9B, Hot Zone 6) UTC +10

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Trace Oswald wrote:I don't understand "hooranger".

It is just what he called everything: "fetch me the hooranger from off the bench". So one had to know what he was doing to give context to what the hooranger might be. It could be a spanner or fencing pliers or anything else.

Failure is a stepping stone to success. Failing is not quitting - Stopping trying is
Never retire every one thinks you have more time to help them - We have never been so busy

John Weiland

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Location: RRV of da Nort, USA

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Marie Abell wrote:............. my true favorites are words like "shebang" "thingamajig" "doodad" "fiddle-faddle" "caterwaulin'" n such.

You forgot "hurley-burley"..... ;-) As a plant pathology afficianado, I've always liked the names of plant diseases like "Coconut Cadang Cadang viroid" or "Potato Mop-Top Virus". Just think if, for the common cold, instead of calling it Human Rhinovirus C it instead was named "Human snotty goober virus"..... LOL

Trace Oswald wrote:There is one word that I hate. It's hard for me to even type it. "Moist" *shudder* That word gags me.

I like to pair the word 'moist' with 'slacks' to yield 'moist slacks'........ double-shudder! :-)

“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”― Albert Einstein

Marie Abell

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Paul Fookes wrote:Your husband would never use obtuse about you. He probably says you are acute [LOL]

I'll take that as a compliment, Paul! Hehe

Michael Helmersson wrote: I haven't watched The Simpsons for at least ten years, but I routinely hear Kent Brockman's voice asking "Poppycock or Argle-Bargle?" whenever I encounter something absurd.

Isn't it funny the voices that play back in our heads when things happen in life--in moments when I am frustrated by something mechanical, I always hear my mom saying, "you just gotta fiddle with the doohickey!"

Trace Oswald wrote:There aren't many words I dislike, but I cringe when words are used incorrectly. Writing "loose" when the person means "lose", as in "I always loose my car keys". Using "literally" incorrectly immediately makes me think less of anything a person has to say after that. I'm struggling to overcome that one. I have enough of these that I'm more comfortable spending time with my dogs than conversing with humans.

I'm with you, Trace! As I said to my brother the other day:
"You can "err" on the side of caution, but you cannot "air on the side of caution" (unless Caution is a football team and you are tasked with bringing oxygen to a wounded athlete who plays for them). Also. Sometimes we are "in the throes" of a project or perhaps even of an emotion, not "in the throws" of it (unless, again, we return to sports). And when your fat thighs rub together, that is chafe. Chaff is what comes off when wheat grains rub together. Thank you, this has been a public service announcement for people who have never paid attention to anything."
Yes, I amuse myself, and to be clear my brother is a brilliant person who doesn't speak often enough to butcher language like that.

"... And being swept along is not enough." R.M. Rilke

T Melville

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posted 3 years ago

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All perfectly cromulent words.

My wife is neither obtuse nor acute. She's always right.

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Anne Miller

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Every time this thread pops up I think of ...

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Paul Fookes

gardener

Posts: 2115

Location: Gulgong, NSW, Australia (Cold Zone 9B, Hot Zone 6) UTC +10

1005

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While there are some great words for every day use there are some that are just so wrong on many levels:
Words such as you and sheep are both singular and plural so don't need an "s" added after them. yous two and flock of sheeps are not in the lexicon.

English is such a difficult language at the best of times but add in English (UK), English (USA) and spelling is in the realm of OMG.
I have a moderator to my criticism though, if some one is speaking English poorly and with an accent, they probably speak another language which I can't do

Failure is a stepping stone to success. Failing is not quitting - Stopping trying is
Never retire every one thinks you have more time to help them - We have never been so busy

Paul Fookes

gardener

Posts: 2115

Location: Gulgong, NSW, Australia (Cold Zone 9B, Hot Zone 6) UTC +10

1005

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In our kitchen utensil draw, we have a tool called a "kitch-a-ma-jig which was my mother's so it very old. A bit like a thing-a-ma-jig, it does everything. It strains, drains, whips, mixes, stirs, egg slide, flipper and turner, and is a spoon holder for other utilities.
It is a must have in any homesteader kitchen

Kitch-a-ma-jig.jpg

Kitch-a-ma-jig The all in one kitchen utensil.

Failure is a stepping stone to success. Failing is not quitting - Stopping trying is
Never retire every one thinks you have more time to help them - We have never been so busy

Paul Fookes

gardener

Posts: 2115

Location: Gulgong, NSW, Australia (Cold Zone 9B, Hot Zone 6) UTC +10

1005

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Mike Barkley used the word "Fractal" and of course one must look it up to find out what it means if they [read me] don't already know.
So what I have learned is that a fractal (in nature) is a repeating pattern or design. So in Mike's context, Fractal pollinators are those who repeat the effort of contributing, helping and reporting to keep permies.com as an exemplar of what a trustworthy information source looks like while ever endeavouring to improve it as the way to make our bit of the planet better and by extension providing an example to others to improve their bit of the planet.
So in my case,fractal detritus is that pattern of clutter which radiates out from where ever I happen to be working

Complex-ity-Theory-applied-to-society-cite-onarki.no.jpg

Permies as a Fractal Organism level 10 radiating out to One

Failure is a stepping stone to success. Failing is not quitting - Stopping trying is
Never retire every one thinks you have more time to help them - We have never been so busy

Joe Biben

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Location: Heathesville VA

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