Girdle!

me: have you read about the new suits?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2008-06-26-swimming-suit-technology_N.htm

Kathryn: ya i've heard pretty amazing

its not based on the material like sharkskin was

its based on being a girdle

me: girdle!

Kathryn: blog post!!

Monosyllables

Just for the irony.

Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: a word of one syllable

TRIPLICATE

you don't like the word triplicate = you don't like puppies

FLUMMOXED

If I moved to America and enrolled at an ESL class and saw this word, I would probably give up, pack up, and head right on back to the homeland.

GUAM

And the winner for best name of a U.S. state and/or territory is...drumroll please...GUAM. Yes, there was a contest, Guam won. Congratulations Guam! We salute you Chamorros!

Guam (Chamorro: Guåhan), officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the Western Pacific Ocean and is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. It is one of five U.S. territories with established civilian government.[1] The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agana). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.

Also, having nothing to do with Guam, just because it made me laugh all day yesterday - http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html

Hat tip: AY, circa 2000.

cracker

A cracker can be delicious, or it can be disgusting. It is most definitely "mood food" - meaning that you have to be in the mood to eat crackers. Webster defines cracker as, "a dry thin crispy baked bread product that may be leavened or unleavened," (Webster must have been a Jew - who else would put "unleavened" in their definition?).

Cracker can also be used as a disparaging term to describe white people. Sort of like the way I feel when I go to Marvin (or Local 14, in cubicle slang). You know what I'm talking about, because its happened to you if you've been there. The bouncer (who mind you, is wearing a beret and a 3 year-old vest from J Crew with a polo shirt...an urban hipster, if you will) eyes me up and down and scans my ID like he's going to make me one of those identity theft victims from the Capital One ads, while I await his "approval" for entry to the domain of $7 Belgain beers and weak cocktails, without even the ability to wear flip flops on the roof deck. This guy is most definitely thinking, "look at this effing cracker...".

So, any of you crackers want to go hang on the rooftop at Marvin after work?

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia (occasionally spelled onomateopoeia or onomatopœia, from Greek ονοματοποιία) is a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, suggesting its source object, such as "click," "clang," "buzz," or animal noises such as "oink", "flap", "slurp", or "meow".

Some onomatopeoia's themselves derserve their rightful place on this here list, but they'll just have to wait their turn. Take a number "fizz" and "quack".

Side note - "Moist" is NOT an onomatpoeia no matter how many times Business might try to tell you it is. Don't believe her falacies.

YURT

"Yurt" is a great word, not only because it is fun to say, but also because it completely erases the need to say "circular tent," which is TWO words and no where near as interesting. Much like Erica.

WORD

cornucopia

You can't tell me your ears don't perk up a little bit when you hear this word. Just hearing it in a sentence, much like i did on some rag tag morning show on at 6:45 a.m. this morning, makes me feel better about what lies ahead in my day.

Saying, "I have a cornucopia of stuff going on today at the office," sounds a whole heckuva lot better than saying, "I have a busy day"...try it for yourself, a cornucopia of times (ok, well maybe that was a stretch...).

The cornucopia is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th Century BC, also referred to as Horn of Plenty. Or it can simply be, "an abundance" of anything.

amoeba

An amoeba is an amazing entity. Its also really fun to say "amoeba" out loud. You can also use it as in a derogotory manner when talking about people who annoy you every day. An amoeba is essentially a dolt or a dimwit (he who is not dynamic).

An amoeba's physical composition also spawns several other good words...chiefly, vacuole. Sometimes its not necessarily a word's meaning so much as it is how a word makes you feel when you say it outloud. Go ahead, say "vacuole" out loud at your desk. I promise you'll be in a better mood for about 5 seconds. Vacuole.

Now, if only that damn amoeba would stop floating around my office so I could actually get some work done.

amoeba > vacuole > skulk

amoeba [(uh-mee-buh)]
An animal composed of only one cell that has no fixed shape. It is the best known of the single-celled animals, or protozoa.

SKULK

The linguistic equivalent of zero. It's neither a good word, nor is it a bad word. Use this word as a reference point against which all other words are judged. All other words are either better or worse than "skulk." You will never see a word on here worse than skulk, this much we promise you.

SUPERFLUOUS

I'll tell you what I'm doing. I want to buy eight hot dogs and eight hot dog buns to go with them. But no one sells eight hot dog buns. They only sell twelve hot dog buns. So I end up paying for four buns I don't need. So I am removing the superfluous buns. Yeah. And you want to know why? Because some big-shot over at the wiener company got together with some big-shot over at the bun company and decided to rip off the American public. Because they think the American public is a bunch of trusting nit-wits who will pay for everything they don't need rather than make a stink. Well they're not ripping of this nitwit anymore because I'm not paying for one more thing I don't need. George Banks is saying NO!

PANACHE

Soothsayer

Soothsayer: A soothsayer is a person who claims to speak sooth: specifically one who predicts the future based upon personal, political, spiritual, mental or religious beliefs rather than scientific facts.

It's a word. Webster told me so.

PAPAL

Paaayypuhlll

shutup@wewerebusydoingotherthings.com

hmm sooo we'll just pretend this blog started today, not 13 months ago when we gained motivation during lunch one day, and lost it 30 minutes later... so here it goes.

Good words are all around us.  How do you know if a word is a "good word"?  You just DO.  Or rather WE do.  You might think a word is good, but unless you see it here, just consider it "under consideration."  As far as you know, these are the only good words.  Yeah.