Jan
13
Weltschmerz
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Weltschmerz is one of those great German words (Schadenfreude is another) that is more than the sum of its parts, those parts in this case being “world” and “pain.”
Strictly speaking, only those people who can imagine a better world can actually suffer because of its current imperfection. And so, in any searing moment of Weltschmerz, there must always be lurking a counterintuitive optimism, as we compare what is with what someday needs to be.
Weltschmerz. If we suffer it, it is likely we will work to dispel it.
Owen Youngman
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Jan
13
Because it has that deep first syllable, that exquisite twist in the middle, and then it rhymes with “poise.” (I also love the stone it stands for, but as is often the case with me, I may love the stone because I love the word, at least as much as the other way around. For example, I can’t tell if I really love drinking Shiraz, or tasting the word.)
Annie Gottlieb
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Jan
13
Grog
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Grog (as in a pirate’s beverage). When you say it, your throat catches at the end and you feel like a grunting pirate whose throat is sore from swallowing too much salt water and is about to chug a large tankard of ginger beer and rum (what I imagine true grog to be). It is succinct, for those swashbucklers who are too busy sword fighting or raising the Jolly Roger to engage in multisyllaby, but is nevertheless nice and illustrative.
Beatrice
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Jan
13
Curmudgeon
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I love the word curmudgeon because i love how it sounds when you pronounce it and because I know, for sure, that when i get old, I’ll be a curmudgeonly lady. In fact, I’m a curmudgeonly twenty-something girl right now. i think it describes me very accurately. I love it.
Carmen Duarte
Chile
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Jan
13
Theorbo
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‘Cos it’s a cool-sounding word for a cool musical instrument.
David
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Jan
13
Tungolwittigan
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Compound of 2 Old English words: tungol (star) and wittigan (priests). I think it’s much more “romantic” sounding than the Latinate astronomer.
Anne
Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom
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