Talking to Laurence Stevenson today reminded me that I really need to keep this blog up.  My readership of two is counting on me.

Talking to someone else today reminded me of my favourite words.  Here’s a list of some off the top of my head:

1. Decimate

I was reminded of this one today when someone misused it.  “The department was decimated,” she said.  She might well have been right, but was it really reduced by a tenth?

2. Chomping

Another misused word.  People use it when they really mean “champing.”  As in  “He was really champing at the bit.”

3. Fireplace

It’s such a silly word, really.  “Where do you want this log?”  “Oh I dunno… why don’t you put it in the, uh, fire, um, place.  You know, the place with the fire.”

4. Limanouse

When I was a kid reading Ritchie Rich comics, I never looked closely enough at the word “limousine.”  I always read it as “limanouse.”  I still think that limanouse ought to be a word.  No idea what it should mean, though.

5. Jus de pamplamouse

Just love the sound of that word.  Love the juice, too.

6. Cart a puce

That one too.  I heard it once working on a French radio show.  I’ve never heard it since, though, and any French person I’ve asked about it denies that it’s actually a word.  I think it’s supposed to mean banking card, or the like.

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