Don't defenestrate top 10 winning words
This sounds an awful like trying to get Americans to agree on what woman they'd like to wake up next to: everyone has their own preferences, but it sure can be fun arguing your point.
They cascade off the tongue, these words; perhaps that's why we love them.
Most are polysyllabic and mellifluous — though online voters for the Merriam-Webster Inc. top 10 favorite words did not include those two.
The company, which, from its home in Springfield, Mass., has published dictionaries under its imprint since 1847, sought this year to list the utterances America loves best.
I've got my issues with this list, but here are America's Top 10 favorite words:
1. defenestration
2. serendipity
3. onomatopoeia
4. discombobulate
5. plethora
6. callipygian
7. juxtapose
8. persnickety
9. kerfuffle
10. flibbertigibbet
Looking at the list, I'm struck by the fact that most of the words that most Americans never actually use. Rather than continue what is a highly subjective argument, I thought I'd offer my own Top 10 favorite words:
1. pansexual
2. recidivism
3. oligarchy
4. overcaffeinated
5. hyperglandular
6. pustule
7. birdie
8. pizza
9. hockey
10. conflagration
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it....
