QotD: Five Good Words
What are five words you really like?
Submitted by purplesque.
yes (adv.)
Around the world, "yes" or its equivalent frequently tops surveys as the most beautiful word in a given language; for you, too, is it the only word that you really want to hear?
motherboard (n.)
Recently I consecrated three crazy days to the formatting of a new hard drive made in Thailand; while time erodes all such disks, I know I can trust my motherboard.
impedimenta (n. pl.)
Impedimenta, or baggage that physically impedes progress, is the favorite word and favorite encumbrance of Parisians with mad breakin' skillz in the French film "Kings and Queen." (Lively French and incoherent U.S. trailer, via YouTube, both featuring clips of the breakdancing sequence; directed by Arnaud Desplechin.)
The elevation of hair washing began in India with the Sanskrit name of a plant whose oils were used to massage the scalp; from there, the word morphed into the Hindi "champu" to refer to the kneading of the scalp, and gradually re-encompassed the name of the product used to perform the act.
The category of uncanny does not comprehend all strange or unfamiliar things; rather, only those entities that appear obscure, inaccessible and potentially nefarious are uncanny. ("The Uncanny" is one of Freud's niftier essays and it is online in English translation at this site.)
Many good words share, with "impedimenta," quaintly evident Latin or Greek roots: bellicose, peripeteia, imbricate, hortatory, autotelism.
Comments
I must protest "shampoo"--it's almost offensively onomatopoeic, not to mention the fact that it echoes two separately undesirable words. Do you use it only as a noun, or also as a verb? Whenever I get my haircut I determine my answer as "yes" or "no" based on how the stylist asks the question: "Do you want your hair washed?" vs. "Do you want a shampoo?"