Favorite word and/or form of punctuation?

JoNightshade · May 13, 2007

Just curious... this is kind of a double-topic post.

1) Do you have a favorite word? What is it and why?

2) How about a form of punctuation? Do you find yourself using one device all the time? Is it cluttering up your work?

My favorite word is archetype. I love the sound and I love the concept of something so basic that it runs throughout the collective consciousness of humanity. It is followed secondly by archipelago, which I also love because you can say it many different ways depending on how you emphasize it. It is also special because on a trip to Boston in high school (I am from CA), I visited the amazing Boston Public Library and because I wanted to actually look something up, I looked up the pronunciation of archipelago.

As for punctuation, I love the semi-colon-- but dashes have to be my absolute favorite. I use them ALL THE TIME-- I have to edit them out so my dialogue isn't peppered with them. (I am using them moderately incorrectly here-- but you get my point.) I love them because I love having characters cut themselves off or have other people cut them off mid-sentence.

Will Lavender · May 13, 2007

Word: "strange." Not sure why. I love weirdness, happenstance, bizarre occurences in fiction. And "strange" is a better word than "odd," "weird," and even "bizarre."

Punctuation mark: the dash. No question.

Shady Lane · May 13, 2007

Ahh, this is a great thread.

My favorite word is epiphany. I love the sound and the meaning, of course. In general, though, I like any words that start with s-t-r. It's a nice sound.

Commas are my favorite punctuation mark. I know all the rules and enjoy breaking them as I please. I do, however, have a soft spot for semis.

scarletpeaches · May 13, 2007

I am rather fond of the interrobang, but have yet to have occasion in my own writing to use it.

Devil Ledbetter · May 13, 2007

My favorite word: braunschweiger.

Favorite puntuation: semi-colon.

Will Lavender · May 13, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I am rather fond of the interrobang, but have yet to have occasion in my own writing to use it.

"Interrobang" is one you could use for both categories here.

Great word, great punctuation mark. Potentially.

Shady Lane · May 13, 2007

All right, clue me in. What's an interrobang?

JoNightshade · May 13, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I am rather fond of the interrobang, but have yet to have occasion in my own writing to use it.

Can you believe I had to go look this up on dictionary.com?! Why don't type-face-makers know I could use this constantly?!

Just kidding. Personally I think it's a horrendous invention.

OverTheHills&FarAway · May 13, 2007

Dash dash dash--did I mention the dash? I use it all the time--though I know I shouldn't--in the place of commas and parentheses and colons and semicolons and. . . .

I like ellipses too. . . .

And predicament. Possibly crotch--always have--but definitely predicament and definitely and crotch.

And scopolamine.

JoNightshade · May 13, 2007

Oh, favorite medical word: sarcoidosis.

scully931 · May 13, 2007

I have comma issues.

My favorite word is genuflect, but I have yet to work it into anything I've written. The commas are stopping me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :e2faint:

OverTheHills&FarAway · May 13, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Oh, favorite medical word: sarcoidosis.

Looked that up, and granulomatous isn't so bad either. . . .

Melanie Lane · May 13, 2007

Fav word: Ominous.

Fav Punctuation: - that little thingy. - - - - - - So much fun!

Anthony Ravenscroft · May 13, 2007

Oh, there's plenty of words:

antipathy
hexathorpe
contumelious
prawn
ratatouille
borborigmy
subdural hematoma
sclera

I don't get to use them much, but if I did they probably wouldn't be half so poetic.

Pike · May 13, 2007

I've been hooked on the word seepage for many years now. It's a word that can bring shivers to some and looks of absolute bewilderment to others. I throw into a conversation at least once a day.

As for punctuation, I think I'm getting into the em-dash, though I can't explain why.

Pike

Willowmound · May 14, 2007

JoNightshade said:
1) Do you have a favorite word? What is it and why?

Lackadaisical.

I love what it means, and I love how it sounds. It's sounds made-up, somehow. I think it's the 'lack-'. And daisies? The word is perfect. Lazy, indolent, slow and lingering. Like me, when I get to have it my way

ETA: Fine, I'll do the punctuation one too.

It's the full stop. Period. I like it. People should use it more.

southernwriter · May 14, 2007

I can't pick just one word! Here's a list of words I love:

euphoric
Renaissance
Akashic
karma
deja vu
mesmerize
billow
renegade
rain
peony
violet
indigo
resplendence
India
Phuket
Bora Bora
Machu Picchu
Angkor Wat
aubergine
luminous
evanescence
cruet
vial
perfumery
ebony
ivory
mahogany
sterling
sanctuary
rouge
fresco
porcelain
tart
iridescence
chatelaine
pagoda
celestial
grace
chrysalis
sanguine
tincture
lambent
scintillating
ephemeral
demitasse
chalice

-- I overuse dashes. --

Namatu · May 14, 2007

Dude. Short little word, can mean so many things depending on how you say it.

I'm also fond of obfuscation, somnolence, halcyon, daisy... Basically, any word that looks interesting, sounds lyrical, and tastes good on the lips.

Punctuation: The period.

ShapeSphere · May 14, 2007

1) unnerve, vivacious, voluptuous
EDIT: (Their sound and meaning).
2) Full stop (period). Maybe my sentences are too short.

janetbellinger · May 14, 2007

favourite word - enraptured. Reason - who doesn't want to be enraptured?

favourite punctuation - probably the dash because it is easiest to make.

sunna · May 14, 2007

I like synchrony. I don't find occasion to use it very often, though.
Dashes would probably be my favorite, too.

Julie Worth · May 14, 2007

The em-dash, probably because it’s fast and sweet. For me, punctuation is mostly associated with eating:

dash -- a toothpick
em-dash -- honey, warm breezes, roller coasters
semicolon -- chives, paprika, rosemary; a fork
period -- pepper kernels
comma -- salt, sometimes flyspecks (in literary work)
exclamation marks -- birthday candles
asterisks -- sparklers
question marks -- meat hooks, backscratchers, dirty old men
interrobang -- stuff you don’t want to eat
ellipses -- hypoglycemia
colon -- a fence with bellowing cows on one side, or zombies
double quote marks -- a sneeze
single quote marks -- distant coughing
parentheses -- quinine, olives in a jar, babies in a jar, starfish
italics -- lace
bold -- pewter plates
paragraph break -- mandarin oranges, swimming in a lake during summer
section break -- white napkins
chapter break -- the clinking of china

herdon · May 14, 2007

Serendipity is my favorite word. In fact, one of my favorite quotes is from Heinlen: "Serendipity is just another word for smart."

Punctuation... I used to be into ellipses pretty bad as a kid but I finally got over it. Now, the period is my favorite punctuation. Nothing says you just finished a sentence like a period. And every finished sentence brings me a bit closer to finishing whatever I am working on.

As for semi-colons, personally, I hate them. Oh I know all the rules for them and occassionally use them, but I'm all about having a big dislike of them. I wish I could muster up the same dislike for ellipses and dashes. I think its good to dislike certain punctuation that way you only use them when you need them.

Siddow · May 14, 2007

Not my favorites, but if you judged by how often I use them, they would seem to be:

So and
;

Is the word 'so' ever neccesary? I don't think so. Or I think not! or maybe just a simple 'no' would suffice here. Sigh.

Will Lavender · May 14, 2007

Siddow said:
Not my favorites, but if you judged by how often I use them, they would seem to be:

So and
;

Is the word 'so' ever neccesary? I don't think so. Or I think not! or maybe just a simple 'no' would suffice here. Sigh.

I bet I used "so" 85,000 times in my book. And the book is only 80,000 words long.

Favorite word and/or form of punctuation?

has finally arrived

Everything is what it seems.

my name is hannah

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Everything is what it seems.

my name is hannah

has finally arrived

McNifico

has finally arrived

So you're suggesting what? Bigfoot?

McNifico

Scribble, scribble, scribble

Chivalry ain't dead

Lightly salted

Born Under a Bad Star

Lost in mental space.

Hello, Hooray

What? I have a title?

What's up?

I'm super! Thanks for asking

Everything is what it seems.