More words

Try this, it's hard and it shouldn't be. I got 43 and the ones I missed are so damned obvious. Obviously.

I like words, I like finding the right one, discovering new ones, and I like words that just fit, or that sound good. I like breaking words down into components and trying to work out why that word means what it does. Reading something where the author doesn't just use the same old boring words and uses unusual words, or mixes up words cleverly, always impresses me. I mix my prefixes and suffixes wildly, which probably makes me look like an illiterate fool, but I do protest that I know the right words, I just sometimes prefer the wrong one.

"I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way" Mark Twain

Favourite words:

Scamp/scamper. A scamp is exactly that, a scamp. There isn't any better way to describe it, it suggests you are naughty but in a very nice and slightly indulgent way. And to scamper exactly describes what is being done; if you are scampering, you are not running or crawling or skipping or sliding or anything else, you are scampering.

Kursk. If you are Scottish and you say this, it sounds exactly Russian. English newsreaders that say "Kehsk" should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Catholic. Just because the Catholic church couldn't be less catholic if it tried. Perfect irony.

Pfeffernusse. All German and pfeffernussey.

Champignon. This just sounds nice, but using it as my name has dwindled its appeal a little.

Actually, most of the French language is pretty, "Pour bonne sante, ne fumer pas" is infinitely nicer than "Smoking kills". We should call potatoes "apples of the earth" as well, it's sort of poetic.

Oh apples of the earth, I enboil you.


Procrastination: this is me (not) writing about Transport Policy. Tomorrow I shall mostly be writing about Transport Policy.