# Favourite word or word combination. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189 "2007-08-20T00:19:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/1 "2007-08-20T00:19:27Z")
I seem to relish the chance to use the word that means to humanise something that’s not human - anthropomorphisation. And I particularly love the specific form - “Anthropomorphic Personification” ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/2 "2007-08-20T00:25:25Z")
I like “Eschew obfuscation”, though it’s lost its irony for me since both have passed into my everyday vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/3 "2007-08-20T00:35:06Z")
Cellar door. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/4 "2007-08-20T00:39:17Z")
Fell swoop. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/5 "2007-08-20T01:05:05Z")
Reckless incendiary anecdote. (Thanks, **mangetout**.) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/6 "2007-08-20T01:55:35Z")
Mangetout. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/7 "2007-08-20T03:03:16Z")
Lately it’s pulchritude. ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/8 "2007-08-20T03:39:38Z")
Similar to the OP’s choice: anthropocentrism, which describes the common fallacy of seeing life, the Universe and everything mainly as it relates to humans. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/9 "2007-08-20T05:51:05Z")
I actually keep a list lol. My love affair with cool words and phrases started in High School when I received the book “Superior Person’s Book of Words”, which contained definitions and sometimes origins for various obscure, interesting, or high fallutin words such as “sequipedalian”. I then proceeded to write a [poem](http://www.memesmith.com/poems/sesquipedalian.html) for English class almost entirely made up of those and other obscure or academic words which had the very long and confusing title: “A SESQUIPEDALIAN SCIOLISTIC PARISOLOGY AND CHARIENTISM, ET HOC GENUS OMNE, WRITTEN DURING AN AFFLATUS, FOR MY KINSFOLKS’ NOSOPOETIC MUNDUNGUS” You can click the link above to experience the fullness of my teenage smart-assery. Other words and phrases that appeal to me (I’m amused by how many spell check isn’t recognizing as I type…), some for the sound of the word, some for the meaning: sesquipedalian (of course!) onomatopoeia tensegrity bromance Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, but ontology recapitulates phenomenology amativeness quotient chelonian sensorium archaeopteryx holon hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. autokinetikon ekpyrosis apotheosis apocolocyntosis chiaroscuro metapoiesis qualia pareidolia orichalcum zzxjoanw antikythera mechanism eschatology zuvuya charolastras twinsest dithyramb farrago serendipity colophon manifold abiogenesis manifold ecotopia sphenic umami bezoar elegia schwa atavar palimpsest echalon glottochronology grand guignol humunculi various words found [here](http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Alison/lexophilia/coolwords/index.html) supersymmetric exotica orrery parellel dementia sun dogs zendik ecolibrium capoeira entheogentsia intentional community synesthesia defenestrate akroposthion demiurgic ectropy oneirotic paronomastic prosopoeic quididity syllepsis vespertine serif fires ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/10 "2007-08-20T06:31:11Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Favourite word or word cominbation. [/QUOTE] My new favourite is “cominbation”. Before that: euphony, resonance, evocative, sussurance, zaftig. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/11 "2007-08-20T06:43:22Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] My new favourite is “cominbation”. Before that: euphony, resonance, evocative, sussurance, zaftig. [/QUOTE] I got tired of “zaftig” after reading one too many personal ads. There are no fat women looking for love – they’re either zaftig or Rubenesque. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/12 "2007-08-20T07:11:10Z")
I’m quite fond of “dipthong” and “lugubrious.” ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/13 "2007-08-20T12:16:52Z")
Imminentizing the Eschaton has been a favorite for a while now. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/14 "2007-08-20T18:20:27Z")
That’s weird. It doesn’t _look_ mispelled, but it is, spectacularly, mispelled. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/15 "2007-08-20T18:26:58Z")
Velleity ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/16 "2007-08-20T18:39:52Z")
Adolescent Non-compliance ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/17 "2007-08-20T18:46:20Z")
Flamingo pajamas ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/18 "2007-08-20T18:53:20Z")
“Inveterate duck hater.” ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/19 "2007-08-20T19:28:49Z")
coprophageous acucephaloid ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189/20 "2007-08-20T19:33:46Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] And I particularly love the specific form - “Anthropomorphic Personification” [/QUOTE] In related news, my current favorite is “Charismatic Megafauna”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-word-or-word-combination/416189.md?page=2)