Deja Vu Blogfest

Found out about this linkup through Tiana Smith (who I recently found out about through Patricia C. Wrede), but I'm afraid I'm breaking the rules. I know, I know. Gasp, shock, horror.

See, since I haven't participated before, I don't want to pick a favorite post from the last year, I just want to pick a favorite post. And I felt like doing a

That's... Not Normal

You might be a linguistics nerd if you ever find yourself thinking any variation on the following:

"I should teach Gracie Spanish. She's working so hard on her voiced bilabial fricatives, and I don't have the heart to tell her we don't use those in English."

Pieces

Pieces

I saw pieces of my mother
in my home the other day.
I tried to put them back together,
but they wouldn't fit --
not the same way.

I saw pieces of my mother
and I tried to talk with them.
One conversed quite nicely,
but from others --
just a blank stare.

I found pieces of my mother,
and pieces,
and pieces.
No matter where I looked for her,
the whole just wasn't there.


I said something about pieces of her in a facebook conversation about my mother's dementia, and that inspired this poem. I'm not sure it's an accurate representation of my feelings, it's just the poem that came to me. Sorry if that's a cop-out.

An alternate first stanza that might reflect the truth a little better would be something like,

"I saw pieces of my mother
in my home the other day.
I didn't try to reassemble them --
knew they wouldn't fit --
wish I'd tried, all the same."

But I don't like the sound of that as much. The rhythm isn't quite right.

The rhymes and words are so simple, it seems a little odd in light of my last post on rhythm and rhyme. Odd in light of the fact that it's the sounds of the words that drove my writing, more than the feelings. It seems sort of like something a child would write. Like I would have written, as a child. Perhaps it's okay, a good juxtaposition with the subject matter? What do you think? I think it seems to work, in fact I'm growing quite fond and proud of it, but I'm biased. I can never see my own writing very clearly, with the same eyes that read everything else. Or at the most, it seems to take years of not looking at it.

This one appeared almost wholly formed in my mind at 1:30 in the morning about a month ago. I hate to say things like that, it contributes to an idea that writing is all about inspiration, rather than time and work. It's work, for a number of reasons. Enjoyable work that I can't keep myself from doing, but I also need to sit down at my desk and commit myself to get anywhere. As Philip Pullman says when asked where he gets his ideas from, “I don’t know where they come from, but I know where they come to: they come to my desk, and if I’m not there, they go away again.”

Nonetheless, this poem did more or less "appear." It was kind of like a quick slideshow -- I'd follow one line to see where it was going, and then the next would materialize. I suppose that's a part of the work of writing -- Kristin Cashore said she thinks Neil Gaiman said that "everyone has ideas, the difference with writers is that writers notice that they're having an idea."

It takes practice to notice, too (as reading more of the link above would corroborate). It takes writing to be on the lookout for writing ideas. (At least for me.)

I noticed a phrase repeating in my head that sounded a bit to me like a line from a poem: "I saw pieces of my mother," or maybe it was simply "pieces of my mother." I went from there. I got up out of bed and wrote it down, and crossed out words here and there, replaced some of them with others. And there it was.

Of course, talking about my writing process as though I am a writer, one of the ones Neil Gaiman was talking about... it sounds kind of arrogant, if you don't like the poem, if it doesn't work. If it does work, well... then maybe it's okay.

So, feedback? Do you like it? Any similar sorrows you're struggling with? Or tell me, what do you think about the balance between work and inspiration, not just in writing, but in any creative endeavor? Or about the balance of self-criticism? Is there something personal you've been wanting to share somewhere, but you're doubting yourself?

Judging by the number of questions here, maybe I'm trying to do too much with this post, and should be more focused. Meh.

To shift back a little to the poem's subject matter:

Let us pray for all who suffer and are afflicted in body or in mind;

For the hungry and the homeless, the destitute and the oppressed
For the sick, the wounded, and the crippled
For those in loneliness, fear, and anguish
For those who face temptation, doubt, and despair
For the sorrowful and bereaved
For prisoners and captives, and those in mortal danger

That  God in his mercy will comfort and relieve them, and grant them the knowledge of his love, and stir up in us the will and patience to minister to their needs.

Gracious God, the comfort of all who sorrow, the strength of all who suffer: Let the cry of those in misery and need come to you, that they may find your mercy present with them in all their afflictions; and give us, we pray, the strength to serve them for the sake of him who suffered for us, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 -The Book of Common Prayer, from the Liturgy for Good Friday

Rhythm and Rhyme

I get Marian Call songs stuck in my head, and it is no bad thing. The other day I was struck again by her rhythm and rhyme, and the contrast with... other lyrics.

Take, for example, Weezer's
"I swear it's true
Without you my heart is blue."

(I admit it, it's not fair, this is not a random example. I picked these lines because they particularly bug me. For some odd reason.)

And then there's Marian Call. The lines running through my head the other morning:
"She'd collect on the cash, but her victory stung
She cursed at the cat that had captured her tongue."
 
Ah. Sigh of pleasure and relief. (Fun alliteration in this sample, too. Bit of assonance even, for that matter.)

Or how about:
"So you unpacked your camera to frame the good times,
And I nabbed a used napkin to scribble some lines.
The chemistry swept us both off our toes --
You shot no one else -- I couldn't compose --"

See, Weezer? Not "off our feet," but "off our toes" -- you tweak a cliché just a tiny bit, and your line becomes about a million times better. Objectively.

Dang it, now I have Weezer stuck in my head. ("Girl!")

Because we crack ourselves up.

No, not the royal we. There were two of us. With the cracking.

And because I know you were wondering about the true depth of my nerdery and weirdness. Admit it. You were. Um.

Or if you were just wanting to read something funny... that works, too. At least, it does if you have a certain sort of temperament, and certain interests. You might not find it too amusing otherwise.

So, Melanie and I had this conversation on facebook a couple days ago. Mostly us, a few other people at the beginning and end.

I've rearranged some of the comments for flow and clarity, as sometimes one of us would post something before seeing the other person's technically earlier comment. But that, removing a last name here and there, and adding some links are all the changes I've made. The part at the beginning isn't quite as entertaining to me, but I've included it anyway because it sets the stage a little better than I seem to be able to manage with summary.

Melanie's original status: "Heh, I just realized I'm not sure I've spoken a single word today. Funny thing about living alone and staying home sick. Kind of nice given what my throat feels like. :P

No, wait, Peter called me. Talking to him hurt... 

Hmm, I find myself wondering when, if ever, I truly haven't spoken a word in a given day. Even on those days when I did nothing but read I generally met family when I emerged to get food... and if I stay home alone all day I normally call someone..." 

• Melanie: ‎...and if I'm home all day and no one is around and my throat isn't on fire, I'm afraid I am somewhat likely to say a few words out loud to myself anyway...

• Liz: Yeah, that is unlikely to happen for me. I talk to inanimate objects. And the cat.

• Kate: I usually catch myself singing... today it's been the Imperial March and She's Out of Our Hair from Monster's Inc (among other things)

• Melanie: Oh, if we count singing, there is virtually zero chance that there has ever been such a day since I was a very small child.
  
  I even sang a couple lines today, though I forced myself to stop because it's dumb to risk the damage to my voice that is at least somewhat possible from singing when sick. And because it hurt a lot and my voice didn't sound good anyway, but those were lesser reasons. :P

• Kate: Yeah, it's can feel good, but hurt at the same time, probably best to take it easy.

• Me: Yeah, a sore throat is one of the few times when I'm not feeling well that it *isn't* a good idea to listen to Marian Call. Because it's so hard to keep from singing along.
  
  I said hi to the lettuce the other day. John thinks this is weird.

• Melanie: John *would* think that. :nods:
  
  Say hi to Llaves-sama for me.

• Me: Will do. As soon as I'm alone in this room... :D

• Me: THERE. Llaves-sama has been greeted.

• Melanie: Yay! Thank you. :D

• Melanie: ‎(Major points to anyone not us who figures out what "Llaves-sama" means.)

• Me: Oh, by the way, this was actually little sprouts of lettuce growing in a planter, not lettuce from the fridge. Because, you know. This MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

• Melanie: Oh! Well then OF COURSE you said hello. Silly John. :)

• Me: EXACTLY. ^_^ I mean, they didn't even used to be there. They were all new and cute.
  
  Not that I'm above saying hi to a boring old mature lettuce from a fridge, but STILLLLL... :D

• Melanie: On a *completely* unrelated note, ;) I do love knowing little bits of four languages. Marcy, did I ever tell you about the time I said, hmm, I think it was, "Pues, adieu until mañana"? Because I said it. Naturally. Without trying. (If I had been trying, I would have said, "Jaa, adieu until mañana.")

• Me: I'm not sure if you did or not. I like it.
  
  LITERALLY.
  
  Um. "How jolly the lot of an oligoglot!"

• Melanie: It *was* a little frustrating in French class, when I finally got over my habit of saying "pero" in the middle of my French sentences, only to have to fight saying "demo." "Mais" only got used with a very conscious effort...

• Melanie: ‎"Literally." Haha!

• Me: Yeah, but "How frustrating (at times) the lot of an oligoglot" just does NOT have the same ring to it. :-P

• Melanie: No. Nor is it as true. Oligoglocy is jolly. :D

• Me: You said "oligoglocy." *giggles*

• Melanie: Why yes, I did! I thought you would enjoy that. :bows:

• Me: ‎:claps:

• Me: I feel like I should blog this conversation. It's entertaining ME vastly, anyway.

• Melanie: And me. And we're totally normal specimans of humanity, after all.

• Me: TOTALLY. Well, I'm pretty sure my blog isn't exactly for normal specimens... but yeah.
  
  Ooh, I have a niche, finally! Um, right, Marcy. Because naturally, ALL non-normal specimens of humanity will LOVE *your* blog. Naturally.

• Melanie: Naturally! WHY WOULDN'T THEY?

• Me: ALL THE REASONS! Er, I mean, NONE OF THE REASONS!!!

• Melanie: Oo, maybe your niche is oligoglots? That would be jolly.

• Me: Ooh, yeah, but just the jolly oligoglots. None of those mopey ones. *nods*

• Melanie: Do you ever wonder if anyone else has ever said exactly the same sentence before? Because I'm pretty sure we've gotten some completely original sentences in here.

• Me: ‎^_^ Seems likely. I've wondered that with a twitter hashtag before, and had it confirmed that no one else had... but I couldn't use it, ended up being too long.

• Melanie: How could any oligoglot be mopey? IMPOSSIBLE.

• Me: You'd think. :) Maybe some of them are less... enthusiastically nerdy oligoglots, and more... ACCIDENTAL OLIGOGLOTS. Hai.

• Melanie: Demo c'est tan jolly! How could even accidental oligoglots fail to see how jolly their lot??!?

• Me: The mind boggles, ma'am.

• Melanie: Hai.

• Me: So, I added my latest twitter updates to my blog sidebar. So next time I make a comment about it, there it is! Woo!

• Me: There ought to be a word for people who speak quotes from several sources. Or at least make references to them. So far in the last hour or so I've channeled Willow, Tohru, and Jeeves. :is proud: Though Tohru was semi-accidental.

• Me: Oh, right. We're called "nerds."
  
  Yeah, but that's not as... *specific* as I want.

• Melanie: Oo, I missed Willow... but only because her style of speech is so natural on you. ^__^

• Me: ‎:) Well, that was actually on twitter. And the first "HAI" was there, too.

• Melanie: Ohhh... Okay. Well, some of what you've said here wouldn't be out of place in Willow's mouth. :)

 

• Me: I suppose not. This makes me happy. :) Hi, Willow!
  
  Other part of brain: Um, she's not exactly here, you know...
  Me: <_<   >_> And this makes a difference because...?

• Melanie: ‎"Willow, Tohru, and Jeeves walk into a bar..."

• Me: I WANT TO SEE THAT. ^_^

• Melanie: ME TOO.

• Melanie: And the bartender says, "Who IS that girl?"

• Me: ‎:drools:

• Melanie: And Jeeves says, "Honda Tohru-san, sir."

• Me: ‎:giggles:

• Me: Keep going, keep going... :is unhelpful with the creation of this awesome fan fic:

• Melanie: And the bartender says, "No, I mean the Eskimo!"

• Me: Duh! And Jeeves looks very slightly disgruntled.

• Melanie: It is, of course, even better when Willow, Tohru, Jeeves, and Binabik walk into a bar.

• Me: O_o
  
  Well, we knew if we really wanted we could add other awesome characters, but... well played, ma'am. Well played.

• Melanie: I'm not sure exactly where the conversation goes from there, but it becomes very difficult to prevent Jeeves from pouring everyone's drinks and to prevent Tohru from doing, well, everything.

• Me: ‎^_^ Indeed. And Binabik probably shares some wise sayings, maybe even some that we haven't heard before. I mean, he doesn't tend to repeat himself with those. As far as we know. Ooh...

• Melanie: I have no talent for writing Binabik-like proverbs, but they would definitely add.

• Me: ‎:tries to think of a Qanuc saying to tone down Tohru's fervor for doing everything: :fails, but is amused:

• Melanie: ‎"The bees are not thanking you for making honey."
  
  ...Not quite, especially since I don't think bees do well on mountain peaks, but it's my most valiant attempt.

• Me: ‎:nods: It's pretty good (:is impressed:), but you're right, we need a mountain-peak-type phenomenon.

• Melanie: ‎(I just barely caught myself in time not to say "Bees do not thank...")

• Me: Heh heh, that would be Wrong.

• Me: Ooh, maybe something along the lines of, "The fish are not needing you to teach them to swim"?? But with more doing, less teaching...

• Melanie: Yeah, and that's too derivative of English proverbs. Binabik is never derivative.

• Me: Very true.

• Me: I forgot.

• Me: I mean, the English proverbs, not that Binabik is never derivative.

• Melanie: Hee hee. "If the bears are not eating you, then it is home." Hee hee. ♥ Binabik.

• Me: That's not a new one at all! :is offended: :not really:

• Me: ‎"Send the man with the oily tongue to go and lick the snowshoes."

• Melanie: Nor appropriate to the situation. Just... remembering...

• Me: Indeed.

• Melanie: Let me see, "The goats are not asking you to be making them fur coats"?

• Me: Ooh, I like it.

• Me: Come to think of it, he could tell this to Jeeves AND Tohru. Everybody wins!

• Melanie: Especially everyone else in the bar!

• Me: Yes, especially the EVERYONE.

• Me: But Willow might *think* he somehow is talking to her too, since she's dressed like an Eskimo. Fur and all. Though he might be wearing some too, not because it's hot, but because what else does he have...?

• Me: Heh heh, no Willow, he's not calling you a goat.

• Melanie: Yes. And I find myself wanting Oz to be playing in a band or something so he can be oddly fascinated by Binabik. ;)

• Me: ‎:D But he needs to be oddly fascinated by Willow! Oh wait, that's not odd. And yeah, Oz and Binabik... I think they would get along.

• Melanie: Right? Though I was mostly just making a, "No, the Eskimo!" joke.

• Me: They can talk with Willow about animal cookies and monkey pants.

• Melanie: Um, so I should probably eat something today...

• Me: You should. Besides animal cookies and monkey pants. :nods:
  
  Hee hee. "See, I like that you're unpredictable..."

• Melanie: You know a Facebook comment thread has run amok when you feel compelled to excuse yourself when you need to go.

• Me: Hmmph. As long as you come back later, young lady. ^_^
  
  Um, I should probably actually do some work... >_>

• Me: I have decided on a blog title. It shall be named, "Because we crack ourselves up."

• Kate: You ladies crack me up too.

• Me: Oh good. Thanks! That makes three of us. :D But hey, it's ALL of the people who've stated a preference one way or the other! So there ya go!

• Me: Ooh, I'm thinking after Binabik's line Tohru will apologize profusely, then get all flustered, trying to figure out what to do if she's not helping people. Jeeves might say, "Quite right, sir," bow, and continue serving drinks with full aplomb.

• Melanie: That sounds extremely accurate.

• Melanie: If Tohru gets it. She might not.

• Melanie: Jeeves might have to explain.

• Melanie: Hee hee... :remembers:
  
  "I'm SO SORRY!" :shakes cat-Kyo in her vehemence:

• Me: He might. Ooh, I don't think she'd apologize to Jeeves for explaining and shake him (she'd apologize to Binabik), but... it'd be awesome if she did. I'm imagining the dignity. Heh heh. YOSH.

• Melanie: YOSH.
  
  While I'm getting carried away... :imagines Chiyo-chan there too:

• Melanie: The best character combination ever, of course, remains Ranma-meets-Kyo.

• Melanie: Because there is such a long inevitable string of events which ensues ending in Ranma shrieking and running away in terror.

• Melanie: I think we don't have nearly enough of Willow's reactions to the whole situation.

• Me: Now that's just crazy talk. :D The Chiyo-chan part, I mean.

• Melanie: Yeah, Chiyo-chan isn't old enough to drink! :realizes that Willow and Tohru aren't either:

•  Me: Yeah, but Willow would just get the thing on her hand and look all cute about it.

• Melanie: ‎Marcy, you know why Ranma shrieks and runs away, right?

• Me: Because he's girl-type Ranma and hugs Kyo??

• Melanie: Well, you've got a lot of it.

• Melanie: First inevitable event: They get in a fight. (Duh. It's Ranma and Kyo.)

• Me: Well yeah.

• Melanie: Second inevitable event: They fall in a pool of water, or it starts raining, or someone splashes them, or something. (Duh. It's Ranma fighting.)

• Melanie: Third inevitable event: Ranma turns into girl-type Ranma.

• Me: Indeed. Inevitable.

• Melanie: You've got it from there.

• Melanie: Well, and they would probably fall in while grappling, which would count as a hug.

• Me: I think Willow would react rather more calmly than everyone else. Well, except for Jeeves. Okay, she might freak out. *Quietly.*

• Melanie: Binabik would be pretty calm too. Tohru would be the loud, frantic one.

• Me: Yes. I think Willow would mostly watch, and be quiet and frantic if they tried to draw her in in weird ways. Make her go on stage or something.

• Ron: By the way, I'm mostly just amused that y'all managed 118 comments on a post that was originally just about not talking much that day.
  
  I'm pretty sure the conversation qualifies as a tangent.

• Melanie: ‎*A* tangent? We took tangents upon tangents, sir! WE ARE TANGENT MASTERS!!!

• Melanie: You will note, though, that I was a little starved for human conversation. In that sense, it was all applicable.

LITERALLY.

I feel like I am literally fading away.*

Yes, I know that I cannot and will not literally fade away. I mean, I could have a slowly fading tan, but I wouldn't go so far as to fade away, in that case.

Nonetheless, I feel like I'm literally fading away. So there. Ha.

There's an episode of Big Bang Theory in which Sheldon objects to someone's use of "nauseous," saying the correct word is "nauseated." Now, I have my share of syntactical and semantical peeves, but that isn't one of them. I was actually taken a bit aback by this distinction.

Later on, thinking about it some more, I decided that perhaps the theory behind this is that "nauseous" ought to mean that one is literally made up of nausea -- kind of like gaseous. Gaseous substance, nauseous substance.

Okay, so I can still feel nauseous, then. Ha! Yes, there are times when I feel like I am literally made up of nausea. Hey, it's not my fault if my feelings tend towards hyperbole. (Wait, is it? ::drawn into sudden introspection::)

I just can't say "correctly" that I am nauseous. Alright, I can go with that.

Hmm. This whole post seems to be ruined by dictionary.com's usage note on "nauseous." Dang it. My theory was funnier and made more sense. Yeah. So there. At least it says it's perfectly fine to use that way. Take that, Sheldon.

*Or I did when I first started writing this, before the "March Madness" post. Subsequently decided I should have a real Pregnancy Announcement post before this one, and then combined that with a summary of other current events in my life. Then took a while to finish writing it. I think I may have started this one in late February, early March. Something like that.

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

And by "things," I mean "words." Or maybe my favorite things are words. Well, at least a few of my favorite things are.

Hey, you were warned, I told you Quettandil means Word Lover. And not only that, but it's Quenya for Word Lover. Which means I don't just love words, I love them so much I need a fictional language to express my love. Yeah.

And Melanie had already taken Book Lover in Quenya, Parmandil.

It's funny to me now that I once thought I loved words in foreign languages, and of course I loved books, but English words weren't anything special. Ha. That was never true. Well... maybe when I was three? I doubt it. I'm still much more interested in foreign languages than in using my linguistics training for various applications in English, but... that's not the same thing.

Anyway, on to the point.

Last month Shannon Hale did a lovely "These are a few of my favorite words" post. She asked us to give her words we love in the comments, "Words you like the look of, words you like to taste on your tongue, words whose meanings are unique and fun, whatever you like."

I commented several times.

I sort of tried not to. But then I'd comment, and then I'd think of more... I probably just should've collected them all on paper, first, but I was Excited. Asked for my favorite words! What an opportunity! My brain wouldn't turn off. After the commenting I drove down the highway with my voice recorder at hand, to catch the words flitting by.

Ooh, "flitting."

I digress.

Yay, "digress!"

It occurred to me that I really should do my own post about favorite words. Because, I mean, I named my blog Quettandil. And... yeah. It'd not only be appropriate, but also FUN and EASY.

I knew my favorite favorite favoritest words, the awesomest words ever. But reading other people's comments and thinking about it, I remembered there are other fun words too, words I do like the sound or feel of, words I like to play with even if I don't devote entire blog posts to just them and them alone. Er, half blog posts.

I shall start with them and work up to the most awesomest awesome EVAR. (Ironic that in a blog post about favorite words I keep repeating other words over and over, even if they really aren't my favorites... um.)

Actually, I shall start with some fun words that other commenters on Shannon Hale's post got to before I made it to the party (okay, so I wouldn't have thought of all of them without their help, but they are Good Words and I Approve):

Scrumdiddlyumptious (I don't see it in the dictionary, but it ought to be.)

Miffed

Wombat

Serendipity

Pernicious

Specificity

Discombobulate

Conundrum

Snarky

Persnickety

Kerfuffle

Superfluous

Whimsy

Squelch

Laconic ("Once, in flight school, I was even laconic.")

Tintinnabulation

Gesticulate

Genuflect

Mellifluous

Viscous

Indubitably

Fortuitous

Plethora

Ubiquitous

And some great ones people posted after me, so I obviously didn't think of them, but they ought to be included with my favorite words, really I just forgot:

Irk

Abscond

Despicable

Fickle

Words from my voice recorder, after I gave up on commenting: A few of these are ones other people said before me -- the difference is, I love these words so much, I wouldn't mind being repetitious, I'd post them anyway. Either that, or, well, I was driving, and I couldn't remember for sure what had already been said.

Credulous

Swashbuckle

Deleterious

Detritus

Plenary

Irascible

Prodigious

Quibble

Curmudgeon

Crotchety (Especially in that one episode of Babylon 5... "This cannot be a real word.")

Scallywag

Equivocate

Quiescent

Perfidy and perfidious

Sensical (Dictionaries will be adding it any day now, just you wait.)

Twiddle

Prognosticate

Pontificate

Prevaricate

Salubrious

Circumnavigate

Bric-a-brac

Gallivant

Mosey ("Plus he gets bonus points for using the word 'mosey.'")
Toodle-oo

Poppycock

Criminy

Supercilious

Suboptimal

Superoptimal

Morpheme

Onomatopoeia

And finally, the words I actually posted in my original comments. In roughly reverse order.

Obtuse

Obfuscate

Eschew

Eschew obfuscation.

Solstice (Especially because of Marian Call's song "Perilous Road" and the phrase therein, "the sad solstice sun.")

Misanthropy

Vociferous

Fricative

Deciduous

Eccentricity

Epitome

Ululation

Cacophony ("That's pretty, what's it mean?")

Bibliophile

Soporific (Thank you, Beatrix Potter... and my mother.)

Somnambulating (Marian Call again, awesome use in "Coffee by Numbers.")

Hyperallergenic (Yeah, I made that up. I have a hyperallergenic pie I make sometimes. It's delicious.)

Couth (Normally "uncouth," but dictionary.com does recognize "couth," and even includes a sample phrase of "to be lacking in couth." There you have it.)

Disambiguate

Incorrigible

Disreputable

Abominable

And now we're getting to my few favoritest favorite. Before we do that, so as not to be anti-climactic later... LET'S SWITCH LANGUAGES! No really. It'll be fun. Pleeeeaaase? Hey, I'm the one writing this blog post, and I decide. We're doing it.

In Spanish:

Calabazas (Squashes, as in pumpkins and such.)

Anteojitos (Spec-tacles! Come to think of it, I also like the word "spectacle." Whether that's in spite of Peter's mockery of my glasses, or thanks to. "Anteojitos" is the diminutive of "anteojos," or "before-eyes," or "glasses.")

Rascacielos (Scrapes-heavens. Er, um, sky-scraper.)

Rompecabezas (Breaks-heads. A puzzle.)

Osos mohosos (Moldy bears. Who wouldn't love moldy bears, let alone rhyming moldy bears?!)

Hablaba (Was talking. Blah, blah, blah, blah...)

In Japanese:

[I might be spelling a few of these wrong, as I learned them via audio lessons, but I'm pretty familiar with the standard romaji (Roman alphabet) spellings and rules, so I think if there are things I have wrong, it's mostly in where to put the word divisions -- sometimes there isn't a big difference between a suffix and a particle.]

Chotto

Kawaii (Because. No, I'm not saying that's what it means... never mind.)
Kara (Uh, 'cause of the above... this one actually does mean "because." And it goes at the end of the sentence, and it has a nice sound, all open and fully pronounced as AW vowels, but still choppy and short at the end, and with that nice little flip of the tongue on the "r.")
-chan (Does that count? Of course it does. I say so.)
Chiisai
Hajimemashite (I love Japanese words. They have such wonderful sounds, they just roll off the tongue. After a bit of practice. They're a little tricky if you're not familiar with Japanese pronunciations, but I'd be happy to say them for you, anytime. Just ask. Or don't, I still might. As Melanie said, "I feel like you're a CD.")
Arigatou gozaimashita (A past tense of thank you, for thanking someone about something completed, like having you over for dinner last night, a thing that is very important to remember to do the next day. Thank them, I mean. The next day.)
Shichi ji ni (A phrase, not a word, but the combination of sounds is so great! The first "i" is barely pronounced. It means, "at seven o' clock.")

Otokonoko
Nomimono
Watashi tachi wa
Shimashita
Ikimashoo

And a couple others from a phonetics class that I can't spell without the International Phonetic Alphabet. I don't remember what languages they're from. But trust me when I say they are AWESOME. One... would be something like, "amagomamumu," but the first and last two "m"s are "voiceless," kind of like a whisper (in practice, like you're sniffing out your nose in the middle of the word...), and those two "u"s are nasal. And the other one... if you pretend my upside down question marks are glottal stops (the sound in "uh-oh" between "uh" and "oh"), it'd be wa¿aha¿ayo¿o. IIRC. And one of those two, no joke, means "don't laugh." Seriously. I think the other is "two barrels of sour cream," unless that was what that other word meant, the one I can't remember because I couldn't pronounce it, with all the ejectives and consonant clusters.

And now.

MY FAVORITE WORDS:

Oligoglot (Dictionary.com doesn't have it. This is why dictionary.com is so, so depressed. Not only does a book by the name of Le Ton beau de Marot have it, it also has a chapter entitled "How Jolly the Lot of an Oligoglot." Causing me to fall in love. With the word and the book.)

Transmogrify (Calvin and Hobbes, of course. Via Ron.)

Spelunker (Via Ron.)

Antepenultimate (Remains my most popular post by far, whether I link to it or not. Though really, it contains a sad missed opportunity -- instead of saying, "the antepenultimate syllable," I should've said "the antepenult." Since that's a word, too.)

Defenestrate

Apokolokyntosis

I'd worry that I built this up too much and made it anti-climactic, but really. Apokolokyntosis! (Uh, yeah, that link is different than the last one. And now that I click on the link from the link, I remember that really it should go on "defenestrate," not "apokolokyntosis," but there is a connection, so... Uh, it makes sense. Really.)

Now, because there are so many delicious, savory, delightful words out there, I'm sure I've missed some important ones, even after this lengthy list.

What are some of your favorite words?