A New Leaf

Favorite and Least Favorite Words Today

3 Responses

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1. I like the word “ouster”. You should explain your preferences. I enjoy the words “whorish” and “motley”. I’m feeling, well, dangerous.

   Greg Clinton

   January 30, 2009 at 2:37 am
2. i support your ouster of ouster. hate it.

   i also hate the word akimbo — it was ruined for me forever by thomas wolfe, who uses it approximately 7,000 times in the phrase “shanks akimbo” in a man in full.

   jim

   March 1, 2009 at 1:40 pm
3. I included akimbo here mostly because of the spelling – the wayward k…

   “Indices” bugs me for several reasons. First, some spell-checkers flag it as incorrect. Second, it invites people to use the word “indice” (as in, “in-di-see”) when they mean to say “index” – it just makes me cringe. Third, we have available to us the perfectly reasonable, better-behaved, and better-sounding “indexes.”

   “Ouster” is out because it describes both action and actor in a most confusing way. The “-er” construct implies actor – call it an “ousting” or an “oustation” for god’s sake.

   nclinton

   March 3, 2009 at 6:08 pm

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