Words I like...

'Words' are things/objects regardless of whether they're conceived of as meaning something (in which case they truly are words) or meaning nothing (in which case they are, arguably, not words--I know that it is possible to imagine and invent sound sequences that sound like words but don't have a meaning associated with them, but I don't think 'words' without meaning fall under the concept of a 'word'.

Do you mean this, that 'words' without a meaning associated with them are weird? Or that words if considered irrespective of a meaning that may be associated with them are weird/the people who do this are engaged in a weird activity?

It sounds as if you mean the latter. Naturally, it is often very important to 'know' words irrespective of their meaning--it's what children who acquire language for the first time do primarily for a long time before they begin to understand conceptual associations. I also think that liking words for their mere sound (or perhaps thinking that the respective sounds ought to be associated with different meanings) is perfectly sane, even as a grown-up, obviously only as long as you don't give up enjoying language and words for their meaning at the same time.

As for this thread, somewhat unsurprisingly, it'll be a mixture of enjoying both sounds and meanings, sometimes their exact combination, to different degrees, and for different reasons. I don't think that there is an either-or at all.

I mean that the reification of language as divorced from its 'meaning', no matter how contested that idea might be, is a sort of fetishism. And I don't agree that words are always 'things', at all – I think words are only 'things' in one sense: the material fact of the marks on the page, as pure sign. A 'word' needs to be a compound of sign and signified to work as a signifier. So in what sense is a verbal utterance without an abstract referent a 'word' at all? Of course this is all complicated. It's a sign of how thrilling my Friday nights are that I'm discussing semibloodyotics, frankly. You're a lapsed linguist, BMMF? Interesting.

I'm looking for a word that has a meaning similar to cavalcade. Something that describes a kind of comedy procession, but I can't find it anywhere. Can't even remember what it begins with.
I've UTFS honest, can anyone help me?

I'm looking for a word that has a meaning similar to cavalcade. Something that describes a kind of comedy procession, but I can't find it anywhere. Can't even remember what it begins with.
I've UTFS honest, can anyone help me?

'Charivari'...

promenade.
carnival.

I mean that the reification of language as divorced from its 'meaning', no matter how contested that idea might be, is a sort of fetishism. And I don't agree that words are always 'things', at all – I think words are only 'things' in one sense: the material fact of the marks on the page, as pure sign. A 'word' needs to be a compound of sign and signified to work as a signifier. So in what sense is a verbal utterance without an abstract referent a 'word' at all? Of course this is all complicated. It's a sign of how thrilling my Friday nights are that I'm discussing semibloodyotics, frankly. You're a lapsed linguist, BMMF? Interesting.

Phew, Barthes before bedtime, heavyweight stuff ;-)

Just ignore me, that's the spirit.

Felch; it conveys, almost onomatopoieacally, the lush beauty of the act.

I'd agree with plurabelle that the thread is ambiguous and without much merit if we're not given people's reasons for their lexical proclivities. I explained my fondness for 'aubergine', but then you'd expect that, as I'm a linguist, albeit a casual/lapsed/sad excuse for one these days.

.

Er, beat you to it BMMF. My making a point through crude humour and then having that point missed is becoming a theme :)

well, technically you beat me to it but just noting that, in my own drivelling way, I made the same point.

100 posts, in your face, bitch.

Is 'beating me to it' more random crude humour?

It would be cutting satire, ironic allusion. It's lost on some people.

Slab!

jamboree

rorocromobogory.

drat

alfalfa

punto

crease

chamois

tramampoline.

werd

'Invent'. Shows itself up to be a favourite again and again.

Add it to your inventory*.

*I'm appalled that I even conceived of that Schick-Pun, or "Schun", let alone typed it into digital posterity.

BMMF in venting of pun self-denial shocker. :)

Slab!

fine word.

Svelte

recrudescence

quinquagenery

From a Geoffrey Wheatcroft column in yesterday's Guardian.

regurgitation.

Brick ...for some unknown reason

crinkle-crankle

Apparently its a type of wall.

Refulgence

parachutist
i just like saying it

tramampoline.

TRAMPAMPOLINE!

Phlogiston. Having come across it agian in that elements doc on BBC4 a while back i couldn't stop saying it over for a week or so afterwards. Phlogiston. I named a quiz after it, tried to re-name a band after it, shoehorned it into emails and conversations just so I could say it again. Phlogiston.

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory[/ame]

Phlogiston.

crenel