Dying Words

[Ali]

It seems to me that the best words are ones I never have an excuse to use. To save the Oxford dictionary from collapsing into "Hw 2 txt" by 2020 I suggest we fortify a collection of rarely used but excellent words. My recommendations are:

1. Paraphernalia

2. Smithereens

3. Cockles

4. Leviathan

5. Humbug

Anyone else have favourite words on the brink of extinction?

[mumbles to self]I hope this thread is considered silly rather than stupid...[/mumbles to self]

[Darth Mandarb]

The entire English language (at least in the States) is slowly but surely being butchered.

Some of my favorite words include (but are not limited to):

Adalpated
Boolean
Hypothesis
Latitudinal
Strumpet

if there are any comments on my spelling please direct them to the brick wall over there ->

[Sam.]

fandabbydosey
Gaunt
fanstastical
juxtaposition

english is fun!

[MrColossal]

Mos' def'!

Also,



Look it up

[AGA]

'Fandabbydosey' isn't a real word, is it, Zooty?

[Nacho]

Parafernalia es very common is Spanish. ^_^

[Flippy_D]

Mysogonistic
Effeminant
Catalyst
Nifty
Sentinal
Anachronistic
Entropy
Hadoken
Incredulous
Cannabalistic
Semi-demi-hemi-quaver

[AGA]

Effeminant isn't even a word, and I would hardly say 'effeminate' isn't used often... (unless the 400 hits on Google I suspect are misspelled, as opposed to the 194,000 hits for 'effeminate', are actually correct...)

And I dunno what kind of people you know, or what books you read, but I'd say at least half of the words posted so far in this thread are used every day.

[Andail]

You seem to mix words that once were common but now are dying, with words that are simply very technical and specialised.

Half of Flippy's words are probably just as common today as one generation ago.

[Squinky]

I use the word paraphernalia almost every day....And until they legalise all illegal drugs I'm sure it will be used into perpetuity...

[Flippy_D]

I never said they were rare, I just like them.

And I figured that someone was gonna come down on me because I wasn't being 1337 enough. Boo hoo. What's the point of making a communal topic if you then criticise the participants.

[AGA]

Because the topic is "dying words", NOT 'words you like'.

[Flippy_D]

AGA, you wanna find fault in people all your lives? What a good way to make friends. All you ever do is criticise, I suggest you find a new hobby.

And 'dying words' is not the same as 'rare words'. And even then, this isn't 'rare words', this is 'rarely-used' words. I don't hear any of the words I listed used frequently by many people I know. And let me guess, you're going to now say that the people I know must be fucking stupid, eh?

[Andail]

Flippy, I didn't come onto you because you weren't leet enough. I don't know what you mean by that, even.

I just pointed out that there's a distinction between dying words and uncommon words. Just for the sake of respecting the topic. I don't really care, personally. Write any words you want.

[Flippy_D]

Meh. I didn't mind what you said at all. It's fine.

[AGA]

So even though Andail said EXACTLY the same thing as me, I'm the one who's finding fault with any- and everything, and Andail's doing nothing wrong?

[Flippy_D]

He didn't say the same thing as you, you do it constantly, and you're incredibly rude and obnoxious whereas he wisely employs some tact.

In fact, I was EXPECTING you to reply in that fashion to me. You seem to delight in it.

I shan't bother taking this particular conversation any further, it's just spam now.

[jrl2222]

I have always liked:
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

It really is a word check here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

[DragonRose]

Flippy: AGA mentioned your spelling of one word.  The rest of the post was directed at everyone.  He is not coming down on you in particular.  If you expect to see some behaviour, you'll probably see it whether it's intended or not.

HOWEVER, this is off topic. So I continue

remonstrate
quixotic
haberdashery
superfluous
mercurial
foreasmuch
bamboozle
abashed

[Esseb]

You're all a bunch of no good sesquipedalianists.