My Favorite Word » Z

Zmrzlina

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:54:06 +0000

Well, first, because of the way it is spelled. How can you not love a word that starts with five consonants? I met Zmrzlina in Prague (Praha) in 1972. It is a frozen Italian dessert sold from carts in New Town. Delicious. It is pronounced just like it is spelled.
Lee

Zeugma

admin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:28:26 +0000

My favorite word is zeugma because it’s a nice-looking word, and because of the wordplay involved. I work with several writers who try unknowingly to use examples of zeugma (”She stole my heart and my money”) but fail at it. It’s a tough thing to master.

Sophie

Zygote

admin — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:54:38 +0000

When I had my nephews stay with me when they were small, they suffered from ADD, or Ain’t Dad Disease. To discipline them instead of spankings, I made them copy from the dictionary. I opened the dictionary up to Zygote, and told him to start copying. Over 15 years later, he still remembers this word. What a great word, it sounds so sci-fi, yet is so simple.

Rick

Zymurgy

admin — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:08:51 +0000

Basically this is the word for the art/science of beer-making. Not only is it in that respect an eminently useful and practical thing, it also stands out because of its zy initial letters and gy ending, which is rather uncommon in English but frequent in French.

Tony A. Emond

Zebra

admin — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 04:18:47 +0000

I always liked the word just the way it sounds. Zeb-ra. It’s just a small, cute, fast word.

Dory