FAVORITE WORDS

Many years ago, the film “The Glass Slipper”, a retelling of the Cinderella story, had an odd fairy godmother who liked to recite her favorite words. One of these was “windowsill” just because she liked the way it sounded. She also had some words she did not like at all. After seeing this film, my mother and I played around with this idea.

As a goofy word, I nominated ‘ilk’. It sounds like you meant to say something else, but choked before you could get it out. It also looks like it is missing a letter or more. If you don’t recognize this word, you probably do not work many crossword puzzles. It is related to the word “like” and means the same thing as type, sort or kind, as in a group of something. At least, that’s its meaning in English. Just for fun, check out the meaning in Azerbaijani.

The word irk is a close second since its sound does not suggest a word, only a noise like a bark. Meaning to irritate, the word maybe self-fulfilling. But I don’t care. I still enjoy it for its individuality.

In the category of ugly words, both my mom and I agreed the winner had to be bladder. There is very little redeeming about this word, not its meaning or its sound, though its appearance on the page might get a pass. But only if you are kind.

Maybe it’s not pretty to anyone else, but whippoorwill is at least fun to say. The fact that the sound this bird makes gave it its name just makes this word more endearing to me like a song refrain, or the haunting melody of a distant bird calling in the night.

Now that I’ve opened this subject, I challenge you to select words that are special for you. Make it a game, maybe, the way my mom and I did. We got a lot of laughs as we argued in favor of the words we selected. Hope you do, too.

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