After last week’s You Tell Me in which we discussed our favorite words, reader John Ochwat had the good sense to suggest this week’s topic. And it’s even better:
What’s your least favorite word?
Mine is proctor.
Take it away, word gurus!
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My, my Erik…
Yours was the 201st comment, and was all by itself on its own “separate (web) page of bitterness,” so I had to hop in here and second your comments about the value placed on creativity in – well, capitalist systems? But communist systems, any system, doesn’t really value it either…well, that’s not true, capitalism does value creativity, to a certain extent, in certain ways…someone was talking about Prince’s early success, and was saying for artists, there is a phase they go through, where they are synchronized with the zeitgeist (something like that) – when what they are doing creatively meshes “perfectly” with the culture at large…I mean, the Beatles are a product of a capitalist system…you do think the Beatles were creative, don’t you…? But, hey, take it from me, someone who has creativity coming out of her…ahem…ears…it’s rough. It feels rough, on a day to day basis. Then I read the news, and realize I sit atop the pointy pinnacle of success, leisure, privilege, etc, and that’s why it feels like a pain in the ass on a daily ongoing basis.
***
**Warning: Pronoun equity alert**
I actually hate the overuse of bitch, and the underuse of bastard…bastard is a perfectly fine word applied to men (heck, apply it to women, just to even up how much bitch is overused!) Really, if you think about it, when you pronounce bastard, you’re kind of saying “turd” too – bas-turd – so it’s like two insults for the price of one. I think pronouncing bastard the French way is good too (I think you leave the “s” out).
Erik: In my opinion, for what it’s worth – you’ve got the “it” factor. Keep digging (writing), polishing, struggling. Bitterness is a good sign in the talented. It burns away a lot of the crap and pleasantries, bullshit and niceness. Sylvia Plath: “Dame Kindness is so nice/Dame Kindness glides about the house.”
Banish Dame Kindness!
Are we alone here? Good. Now I can say what I really think!
Seriously:
Economic systems? You know, I’ve met a lot of Russians lately (part of my novel research, sadly). They are good and wonderful people to the person, and they learned how to innovate their lives out of a horrible situation. Creativity is valued by them. They needed it to live.
I don’t care about economic systems. They can all be stifling in their own ways. What counts is in the hearts of people, and I have to tell ya we don’t got it.
Why? I could drone on for many paragraphs (and you know I could) but the simple truth is that the White Middle class, born out of ingenuity, has become very staid and stale. The guys with the 8th grade education who won WWII sent as many of their kids to college as possible – and once they had their share of the pie they appear to have latched up from holding onto it too hard.
In short, the USofA is in the process of getting its ass kicked by people much hungrier than we are (in places like Brasil and India) and we got nuthin’. That’s economics for ya, but it’s also art and music and poetry and … culture, ah culture.
I’ll stop now. I really could go on all day. It’s sad that I can’t get my compulsive giggle and waving of arms into this because I’m a lot more fun in person. Oh well. Call me a bitter old man and that’s good enough for me.
Still, I can’t say I’ve ever rooted against a people who got the asskicking they richly deserved. the USofA included.
(the Charles Dutroit / Montreal version of Saint-Saens 3rd Symp/4th Movement is on … it just fits somehow!)
Pooch. These days, it seems that word is used in reference to the protruding fat folds of the stomach.
That’s foul, despicable, and worthy of prison time.
Thanks for the musical tip Erik – Moussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain is good too (haven’t heard Saint Sean yet so don’t know if it’s similar, but it sounds like it might be).
I just looked up Saint Sean – Danse Macabre – wikipedia says it was based on a poem:
“The composition is based upon a poem by Henri Cazalis, on an old French superstition:
Zig, zig, zig, Death in a cadence,
Striking with his heel a tomb,
Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,
Zig, zig, zig, on his violin.
The winter wind blows and the night is dark;
Moans are heard in the linden trees.
Through the gloom, white skeletons pass,
Running and leaping in their shrouds.
Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking,
The bones of the dancers are heard to crack—
But hist! of a sudden they quit the round,
They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.”
Also pooch for abdominal fat – I think it’s a corruption of “paunch,” or mispronounced. Of course panzcki is Polish for a super fattening pre-Lent donut, pronounced “poonch-ki” (as far as I can tell).
Eclectic.
You do not sound cool. You do not sound smart. You sound like you’re trying too hard and have no idea who you actually are and what you actually like.
Daddy – Please, if you’re over 5, call the man “Dad” or “Father,” unless he’s dead, then call him “Dearly Departed”
Grout
paradigm.
I don’t really have a least favourite word – but I do have a least favourite ‘term’.
turned round
Used in context, it annoys me: “so I turned round to him and said.” “He said this and so I turned round and said.”
I have this image in my head of the world’s population spinning round and round as they talk to each other that eventually we’ll knock the planet off its axis! Maybe that’s what’s causing global warming…
May I add something about the C-word that’s run afoul of so many posters?
It’s one of Chaucer’s favorites and appears frequently in the original Middle English editions of The Canterbury Tales as “queynt,” which is sometimes politely interpreted as “haunches.” Yes, we’re not likely to find the C form in Modern English editions!
ubiquitious, well, because it is ubiquitious…
Cataracts? Which I wish I had after reading Wanda B. Ontheshelves comments. Sort of caught me by surprise.
A note for Wanda B. Ontheshelves: Danse Macabre is a variation on the Gregorian chant Dies Irae. Saint-Saens “quotes” it, in the major mode, in his Carnival of the Animals.
And speaking of Saint-Saens and animals:
Erik, wasn’t the fourth movement of the Saint-Saens Third used in the soundtrack for Babe?
“If I had words to make a day for you …”
Yes, Babe was based on that main theme from Symp3/4m. I still cry when I hear it.
With your ref to the quote in “Carnival”, I can see I’ve found another Saint-Saens fan. He’s also the first person to write a filmscore (can’t remember the film). Very neat guy, a lot of fun.
Ah well, there’s not much use to being an ancient music head other than banter like this, but I’ve enjoyed it!
Erik, the movie was The Assassination of the Duc de Guise, a silent film produced in 1908. Hmmm…I wonder if anyone will put it on DVD with the Saint-Saens score…
Wow, Maris, you're a true fan. I bow to you!
>bow<
There are so many Impressionists who were simply interesting people and a lot of fun. Carefully creating a feeling in music is an idea that's still with us today, even if it's practiced with so much less art. Ah, well.
I've never see the movie or heard the score, but I love a man who can take on a challenge. Wasn't it Berlioz who issues the challenged to orchestrate for organ (obviously not aware that Handel had done it)? We don't have challenges like that anymore.
smear, as in pap smear
Erik, Thank you! Now that we’re delightfully off-topic, I do believe it was Berlioz who issued that challenge. He definitely included the organ in his Te Deum. (Is it in the Requiem, too? Erg…off to do some research…which I may or may not include in the abyss of fun-but-useless information called my blog. 🙂 )
My least favorite is a tie, which I think is allowable in this context because both words basically mean the same thing. So it’s not like I can just substitute one for the other – I don’t like either!
They are: Pamphlet and Brochure.
I don’t like the way they sound, I don’t like the mouth-feel of either one, and I can’t stand that there isn’t a third, more palatable alternative to describe a small folded booklet-ish thing.
I absolutely HATE the word “chinos”.
Bailout. Congress has just written a blank check that will cost the American public a minimum of $300 billion dollars.
People bitched about Cheney’s relationship with Halliburton an the no bid contracts awarded to that company (as well they should have).
But they should also look at Paulson’s background in investment banking and speak out about that as well.
How about sesquipedalian? Meaning, using long words.
It’s one of those words you can never really use. But so glad I got the chance to use it here.
poot
Surprisingly… takes all the surprise out of it.
Also the p-word used to describe female anatomy. I cringe.
"gams"
UGLY. it reminds me of a sleazy drug addict ogling some poor bystander.
phrase: "fell into conversation"
thats using a dollar when a penny would do. a much simpler way is: "began to talk".
My least favorite word is dumb. How disgusting that a person can say it to his fellowmates. I try to find new words at favoritewords.com and it is very useful to give inspiration of favorite words. I expect it will be more popular as more people use it.
I Know A Word Thats Worse Than Moist. The Word Is Soppy Moist Sounds Bad But Soppy Makes Me Cringe Every Time I hear It. Also They Are Synonyms.