70 Favourite Words          - 1/11/2006      <--Prev : Next-->



The British Council undertook a survey to establish the 70 favourite words in the English language. The wordlist emerged after the council asked more than 7,000 learners in 46 countries what they considered the most beautiful words in English language. Some 35,000 other people registered their favourites in an online poll run in the non-English speaking countries where the council operates.

Being a Mother myself I can quite understand why the word "Mother" came out in the number one position ! "It's interesting that "mother", the only word of the 70 that describes a direct relationship between people, came top of the poll, said the project spokesman.

Interestingly the word list contained only one verb - "cherish " I have listed below the top twenty words, if you would like to see all seventy of the most beautiful words in the English language please e mail magskriel@mac.com 1 Mother
2 Passion
3 Smile
4 Love
5 Eternity
6 Fantastic
7 Destiny
8 Freedom
9 Liberty
10 Tranquillity
11 Peace
12 Blossom
13 Sunshine
14 Sweetheart
15 Gorgeous
16 Cherish
17 Enthusiasm
18 Hope
19 Grace
20 Rainbow

Of course there is also the new "Urban" dictionary, the modern slang dictionary where words like Bling and Blog are favourites. In fact new words are added daily to the Urban dictionary, Mrs Malaprop would have had a wonderful time with her own particular set of words, it even contains a few "Yackisms ..."

One word that is in the urban dictionary is "Nucular' which I always thought was the strange rather uneducated way in which President Bush says "Nuclear" however I stand humbled and corrected because the word nucular, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "pronunciations ending in \-ky&-l&r\ have been found in widespread use among educated speakers including scientists, lawyers, professors, congressmen, United States cabinet members, and at least two United States presidents and one vice president. While most common in the U.S., these pronunciations have also been heard from British and Canadian speakers."

Words like "meanderthal" and "alcoholiday" are rather interesting from the Urban Dictionary. In fact my own nephew Chris has a beautiful word "otherisation" which needs to be added to the Urban Dictionary .......

Radonkulus means when something is beyond ridiculous.
Radsome is defined as amazingly radical and awesome.
and of course "humongolodongus" means extremely huge, bigger than ginormous; but my brother in law David has an even better word which deserves a place n any urban dictionary - humongasaurus !!

And instead of an obituary a modern death announcement is an oblogituary - cyber posting of deceased human ........

I dread to think which words, in ten years time, will be voted as the world's top favourite 70 words.

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