# What's your favourite English words **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2011, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850 "2011-07-13T09:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/1 "2011-07-13T09:20:36Z")
My three favourite words of today are: “insidious,” “lush” and “sultry.” I sentence with all three in would really kick ass. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/2 "2011-07-13T11:52:34Z")
‘What’ and ‘are’. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/3 "2011-07-13T11:56:17Z")
Blancbec, alluvial, inchoate and cumbrous (the nicer version of cumbersome). ---
**Author:** ![Melysnl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Melysnl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melysnl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/4 "2011-07-13T14:28:02Z")
My favorite is an Updike word-- uxorious. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/5 "2011-07-13T14:41:25Z")
… and yes. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/6 "2011-07-13T14:41:48Z")
Number One on my list: _chockablock_. Possible runners-up: _glean, botch, torpid, mook, caterwaul, opulent_. An archaic word I wish I could use more freely: _lest_. The Brits have some good ones I wish would take hold over here: _gobsmacked, gormless, stroppy_. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/7 "2011-07-13T14:50:12Z")
windowsill diaphanous ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/8 "2011-07-13T16:33:42Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Blancbec Not really either English or a word. First of all, it is normally hyphenated, “_blanc-bec_;”\* secondly, it is a loan from French that is only _very_ rarely used by English speakers. Is “_hors d’oeuvres_” considered to be English now, or “_voilà_”? I am sure those, and many other French expressions, get used a hell of a lot more by English speakers than “_blanc-bec_” does. \*The OED list just _one_ example of its use as a single word, by Joseph Conrad, whose native language was, of course, Polish. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/9 "2011-07-13T16:43:34Z")
My favorite new word is “bling.” It simply sounds like what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/10 "2011-07-13T17:08:33Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Not really either English or a word. First of all, it is normally hyphenated, “_blanc-bec_;”\* secondly, it is a loan from French that is only _very_ rarely used by English speakers. Is “_hors d’oeuvres_” considered to be English now, or “_voilà_”? I am sure those, and many other French expressions, get used a hell of a lot more by English speakers than “_blanc-bec_” does. > > \*The OED list just _one_ example of its use as a single word, by Joseph Conrad, whose native language was, of course, Polish. Hors d’oeuvres and voila are both English words, yes. You can verify by looking either word up in any decent English dictionary. > [@njtt](#): > > \*The OED list just one example of its use as a single word, by Joseph Conrad, whose native language was, of course, Polish. I can find at least three other references to the word used in English from a quick search online (I’m not putting that much effort into it because, to be honest, I really cannot be bothered) including another without the hyphen, independent of the Conrad usage. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/11 "2011-07-13T17:19:45Z")
I love the sound of [Cairn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/12 "2011-07-13T19:44:05Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > My three favourite words of today are: “insidious,” “lush” and “sultry.” I sentence with all three in would really kick ass. It was a hot and sultry day, while I lay upon my lush green lawn formulating my insidious plan to take over the world. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/13 "2011-07-13T20:01:15Z")
Fallopian. It was a hot and sultry day, while I lay upon my lush green lawn formulating my insidious plan to take over my fallopians. ---
**Author:** ![BowlOfDucks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BowlOfDucks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BowlOfDucks)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/14 "2011-07-13T20:02:55Z")
**Blob** Such a fun word to say. Give it a go 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/15 "2011-07-13T20:05:06Z")
A tinny word like “insidious” doesn’t belong in the same sentence with wonderfully woody words like “sultry” and “lush”. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/16 "2011-07-13T20:49:22Z")
lugubrious moon shibboleth (ok, that one’s a loaner, but it’s a fun-sounding word for an interesting concept) [dikdik](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dik-dik) ---
**Author:** ![Kalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/df705f/32.png) [@Kalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalypso)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/17 "2011-07-13T21:18:36Z")
kumquat It makes me giggle when I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/18 "2011-07-13T21:33:21Z")
The sexy but sultry lush was peering at me with an intoxicatingly insidious smile. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/19 "2011-07-14T01:33:33Z")
Scrumping. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850/20 "2011-07-14T19:58:28Z")
I’m a big fan of good old “hence.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-english-words/588850.md?page=2)