December Daily: favorite words

[resonant]

jjhunter, "What are five words you like or find especially meaningful + 1 word you despise? Why?"

1. Just tonight I was talking to the spouse about how much I like the word 'vile.' It's so exaggerated that it can pretty much always bring out the humor in a situation to me -- if my ex-boss was awful, I can just go on complaining, but if she was vile, I have to laugh. (The context of this conversation was the spouse having heard a radio interview with the songwriter who wrote "Poke Sallet Annie," which I remembered as having a line that went "a vile, mean, straight-razor-totin' woman," but the official lyrics tell me that there was no such line, and also that it's actually "Poke Salad," which is just wrong.)

2. I'm very fond of using 'focus' in a metaphorical way for what you do when you edit a sentence, or do anything else that brings a thing closer to fully expressing what you want it to express. I once had a boss who used 'hone' that way -- it's interesting that her metaphor was kinetic and mine is visual.

3 and 4. Anyone who talks to me for any length of time will tell you how much I overuse 'evidently' and 'actually.'

5. The verb 'wrap' isn't particularly lovely when said out loud, but for some reason I associate it with love and comfort so strongly that its connotation is almost religious to me (except that I use it a lot in sex scenes, too, so it can't be too religious).


And I work in a giant corporation, so at the moment the word I especially despise is 'ask' as a noun. Like: "I know it's a big ask, but this is important." Was there a problem with the word 'request'?





20 -- terminally_underwhelmed, "do you have fandom/character/relationship "types" that you find all your fannish energy going towards? Like, Gryffinpuff/Slytherclaw (and more simply hot/cold) relationships grab me, and so do characters that are both super popular and super ooc in fanworks.'
21 -- flamingsword, How much weight do you give to criticism in fic comments, and do you feel that it is a healthy amount?
22 -- mekare, What would Ben Fraser do in 2018?
23 -- marina, "What was the last book you read that wasn't fanfic and that you intensely loved, and why."
24 -- wychwood, "Something about SGA! What's the one fic you're sorry you never wrote? What was your favourite episode? Do you still love John/Rodney? How gay WAS John Sheppard? Where in Atlantis would you live if you could pick any room you liked? Pick one or a topic of your choice."
25 -- isabellerecs, "What was your most favorite Christmas present that you ever received as a kid?" and/or "What Christmas present had you wanted badly but never received as a kid?"
26 --runpunkrun, I'd be interested to hear about your experience with the CPAP machine.
27 --destina, "how has your relationship to fandom changed over the years? By which I mean not just participation in it, but your level of tolerance/interest for the cyclical things about it, the way old arguments never really stop or die, etc, but also the ways fandom changes and new ways of doing fandom evolve. (And old ways evolve out, and terms evolve, etc.)"
28 -- kass, "What do you like best about where you live?"
29 --
30 -- china_shop, "Your favourite book you read this year."
31 -- wolfshark, "what is your favorite story to reread of your own stuff? what was your favorite story to write?"
17 -- ride_4ever, "rec two due South fanworks: a favorite that you created and a favorite that someone else created. (Anything! Triggers and squicks not a concern for me.)"
18 -- kass, "What have you read recently that you've enjoyed?
19 -- jjhunter, "What are five words you like or find especially meaningful + 1 word you despise? Why?"
20 -- terminally_underwhelmed, "do you have fandom/character/relationship "types" that you find all your fannish energy going towards? Like, Gryffinpuff/Slytherclaw (and more simply hot/cold) relationships grab me, and so do characters that are both super popular and super ooc in fanworks.'
21 --
22 -- mekare, What would Ben Fraser do in 2018?
23 -- marina, "What was the last book you read that wasn't fanfic and that you intensely loved, and why."
24 -- wychwood, "Something about SGA! What's the one fic you're sorry you never wrote? What was your favourite episode? Do you still love John/Rodney? How gay WAS John Sheppard? Where in Atlantis would you live if you could pick any room you liked? Pick one or a topic of your choice."
25 -- isabellerecs, "What was your most favorite Christmas present that you ever received as a kid?" and/or "What Christmas present had you wanted badly but never received as a kid?"
26 --
27 --destina, "how has your relationship to fandom changed over the years? By which I mean not just participation in it, but your level of tolerance/interest for the cyclical things about it, the way old arguments never really stop or die, etc, but also the ways fandom changes and new ways of doing fandom evolve. (And old ways evolve out, and terms evolve, etc.)"
28 -- kass, "What do you like best about where you live?"
29 --
30 -- china_shop, "Your favourite book you read this year."
31 -- wolfshark, "what is your favorite story to reread of your own stuff? what was your favorite story to write?"

Comments

[lunabee34]

I don't like ask used that way either.

[jjhunter]

'Ask' used in that fashion feels like axe.

Your reflections on 'vile' made me laugh, and 'wrap' very thoughtful - reminds me of when I once described woolen scarfs as sheep dreams.

I too am someone more likely to use 'hone' than 'focus'; I hadn't realized that about myself before.

Re: 3 and 4 - heh. :D

Thank you for sharing this; I really enjoyed this post!

[conuly]

And I work in a giant corporation, so at the moment the word I especially despise is 'ask' as a noun. Like: "I know it's a big ask, but this is important." Was there a problem with the word 'request'?

This is a stealth effort to promote Anglish. Step one: Gradually replace foreign words with native - I mean, "inborn" - ones. Step two: ??? Step three: PROFIT WEALTH!

Despite what you've heard, not all Anglish fans are neo-Nazis. Some of them are just language nerds. I'm not entirely certain the two groups interact well at all.

[resonant]

No, I can't imagine that they do, but it might be fun to watch.

[isis]

I hate 'ask' used like that, too, which alas seems really pervasive due to Tumblr having an 'ask box' (so things in it are no longer questions, but asks, ick.)

[resonant]

Well, when you say that, it occurs to me that it doesn't bother me at all when someone says, "Comment me if you want to participate."

I think the difference is that when we do that we know we're indulging in fandom jargon, whereas people who are making PowerPoint decks that use 'ask' as a noun think they're not using specialized language.

[anelith]

"Vile" is such an excellent word. Unfortunately we seem to have many occasions to use it these days.

[nyctanthes]

I use "actually" a great deal. I only became aware of it when my older kid learned to speak, and I wondered why a two year old kept saying "Actually, mommy..."

[grammarwoman]

Ask I can tolerate, but grow as in "grow our business" will never fail to set my teeth on edge, NYARGH.

[flamingsword]

but for some reason I associate it with love and comfort so strongly that its connotation is almost religious to me (except that I use it a lot in sex scenes, too, so it can't be too religious).

I take it sexuality is divorced from your religion?

[jesse_the_k]

And if so, why?

[resonant]

It is. I don't think it should be, but instinctively I keep them separated.

[saraht]

But what if it's a big lift?