:: Top Ten Friday ::

Although I normally shy away from such lists, lack of inspiration has prevailed today. So here are some of my favourite words, in no particular order, with an apposite link for each:

  • plinth
  • spangle
  • ambergris
  • splurge
  • porphyry
  • blackguard
  • isinglass
  • palimpsest
  • nonchalant
  • fortuitous

Looking back at this list, I found it intriguing to consider what properties placed these words so high in my esteem. I whittled down the potential explanations to 3:
- Appearance: this tends to mean unusual combinations of letters. The choice of font may effect the appearance, but more important is the choice of case. Generally, the presence of ascenders and descenders makes lower case the preferable format in which to show off a fine looking word. According to this criterion, "bookkeeper" (3 consecutive doubled letters) and "Rousseauian" (5 consecutive vowels) almost made the cut.
- Pronunciation: self explanatory really. In the fuzziest sense, some words are simply lovely to say, or their pronunciation defies the laws of phonetics. Had I cheated and used Russian words, vzglyad ("a glance") and mgla ("haze") would have made the list because of their apparently baffling consonant clusters.
- Meaning: at one level this might concern the dictionary definition of a word. But most of all, it is the intricate web of literary, verbal and personal references which informs my taste in this respect.

So, gentle reader, what are your favourite words, and why? Suggestions welcome via the commenty link thing.

A few odds and ends to round off this post on the day when many flocked to John Peel's funeral. I hadn't realised that Peel was the Observer's pop critic during the 80s - some of his finest moments are recorded here. I wonder what he would have made of CocoRosie, the Grauniad's latest featured act.

It's nearly time to head off to my more interesting job after which I'll probably go out and need to use this to piece together my story come the morning. Whilst we're on the subject of Shakespeare, it's nice to know the RSC's on the mend, but I bemoan the effect that involvement in MSND has had on my emails. After including the line "a greater pile of wank I never saw" in an email to a friend, I penned the following ditty on the vicissitudes of iambic pentameter:

Pentameter informs my every word;
I cannot write without this rhythm now.
Iambic bollocks flutters from my tongue -
with every rhyme I ought to take a bow.
The bane of actors who perform the Bard
Is this contorted and affected speech,
Subconsciously pervading interaction
With unsuspecting friends and hangers on.
So fight we must, to free us from this trap
Of verbal niceties and rhythmic charm:
Let's do our best to syncopate our words
Thus: Stop, now, or I'll shoot...