Apr
17
Panache
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Another lovely French word with no true English equivalent. I
came across this in high school when my French class studied Cyrano de Bergerac, a play. Panache is a sort of flamboyant style, or flair. It also happens to be a giant plume that one would wear on a hat (think: Three Musketeers hat).
It also just begs to be yelled out loud, but perhaps that’s just me.
Brittany
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Mar
8
Philtrum
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The philtrum is the vertical midline groove in the upper lip that runs from the top of the lip to the nose. According to the Talmud, (Niddah 30b), and other sources, God sends an angel to each womb just before a baby is born, when the angel touches it between the upper lip and the nose and whispers, “Shh…don’t tell what you know.”
Mike Jones
Central Texas
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Mar
8
Porcelain
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The word conveys images of Arabic merchants trading in India and stuffy British ladies sipping tea in their overly lavish tea rooms. It reminds me of Asia and purity, and fits nicely into any poem.
Jordan
California
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Mar
2
It’s the longest word in the English dictionary. It also happens to be a lung disease caused by inhalation of the silica dust formed in volcanoes. You’d think they would have come up with something simpler, right?
George
Frederick, MD
[note: word broken to avoid formatting problems]
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Mar
1
Peduncle
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By far the best word in brain anatomy; even more fun to say than hippocampus, amygdala, or putamen.
Levent
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Mar
1
Posturing
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When driving to work one morning, I was listening to NPR and they were talking about the potential candidates “posturing” to run for office. I was approaching my exit, and I noticed the cars “posturing” to exit with me. That word comes to mind almost everyday when I near that exit.
Kathy
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Mar
1
Portfolio
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You can’t think about what this actually is when you’re saying it … just think about the word! It reminds me of Shakespeare for some reason … like Prospero, except more Italian-sounding.
Hannah
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Feb
29
Pulse
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I love the dual descriptive quality of it. Pulse can be a physical pounding of blood against skin or the “beat” of the city. It’s beautiful.
Leslie
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Feb
29
Persnickety
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Fussy about small details, related to fastidious and pedantic. Don’t be so persnickety.
Tracey
Gold Coast, Queensland
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Feb
29
Poppycock
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Always stops people when they’re full of it. More effective when you emphasize the last syllable. Besides, it’s a very funny word in itself.
George Bailey
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