[andreas_g4]

What is it? Which english word is your most favorite "unusual word". I can't come up with one, I hope to be inspired.

[imitchellg5]

Ubiquitious is my favorite word. You don't hear it that much anymore.

[TheoCryst]

Antidisestablishmentarianism is a classic (and hey, it's in the OS X dictionary too!).

En español, mi palabra favorita es «trabajábamos» (significa «we work» en inglés). ¡Dígalo!

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by TheoCryst 

Antidisestablishmentarianism is a classic (and hey, it's in the OS X dictionary too!).

Not in mine. How come?

[TETENAL]

"Flabbergasted" is the most unusual English word I can come up with.

[kick52]

lugubrious.

and

cromulent from the simpsons

[phantomdragonz]

I like palindrome...

Zach

[Cold Warrior]

Apocope - apocope - Definitions from Dictionary.com

Picked up years ago during grammar studies of a semitic language.

[Sage]

Pogoing.

Fights back at the wheel, pogoing chassis at high speed.
John Flansburgh is pogoing when he plays the guitar.

[Paco500]

ort.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

They're not terribly unusual, but I've always loved using chortle, guffaw, and gesticulate.

I mean, just say them. So good!

greg

[Rev-O]

A really good obscure word is short. I mean sesquipedalian is a nice word, but long words are so showy.
Cwm and Kerf are two of my favorites. I rarely get to use cwm, but I use kerf all the time. It is a very handy construction and woodworking term.

[chris v]

Quincunx.

Gegenschein.

Phylactery.

Narthex.

Catarrh.

Are amongst my favorites.

[BlueSky]

plethora, extrapolate

[Nexus5]

Originally Posted by chris v 

Quincunx.

Gegenschein.

Seems to be german?

<german>
Was meinen die deutschsprachigen hier?
</german>

nexus5.

[moodymonster]

I like how Germans have words that mean things (that have full on meanings with no direct English equivalent):

doppleganger - copying someone else's character - stalker like

Schadenfreude - pleasure from someone else's misery

and English word, not used much:

coquettishly - in a flirty manner

[SVass]

callipygian

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

Ubiquitious is my favorite word. You don't hear it that much anymore.

Is it lost on everyone that ubiquitious is no longer ubiquitious?

I have always considered Cooter to be a weird word.

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by moodymonster 

I like how Germans have words that mean things (that have full on meanings with no direct English equivalent):

doppleganger - copying someone else's character - stalker like

Schadenfreude - pleasure from someone else's misery

and English word, not used much:

coquettishly - in a flirty manner

As a German, it sounds rather strange to hear those expressions.

[kernokerno]

superespectacularísimamente
neumonoultramicroscopicosiliciovolcanconiosis
esternocleidomastoideo

[ghporter]

I like odd words like apostrophe (which is often misspelled), and abbreviation (why is this such a big word?).

I knew your second one, kernokerno, but it starts with a 'p' in English;
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Sternocleidomastoid is a great one-more descriptive than many muscle names, too. My favorite anatomy term (at the moment) is "extensor digiti minimi" which is the muscle that extends the little finger (separate from extensor communis, which extends all four fingers).

On the subject of German words, while there are numerous German words with no direct, one-to-one English equivalent, the opposite is also true. My father-in-law was a paratrooper; in German it's Fallschirmjäger, and while that's not too much more complex, it literally means "falling fighter" or "falling hunter." Not the same sort of feeling, eh?

[BlueSky]

snoochy koocher

[Dark Helmet]

Squozen. Freshly squozen orange juice.

My friends laugh when I say it and say it isn't a word but I swear I've heard it on the simpsons and other TV shows before. Not that it makes it true but if they say it on the Simpsons it must be common enough slang so anyone gets it.

[lpkmckenna]

loquacious

[MrForgetable]

hirsute

[Cipher13]

Defenestrate.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by Cipher13 

Defenestrate.

Especially when applied to operating systems.

We got into thinking up various words for mischief the other night:

Ribaldry.

Shenanigans.

Tomfoolery.

Hijinks.

Skylarking.

Fandango.

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

and abbreviation (why is this such a big word?).?

Probably to illustrate the need to abbreviate.

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I knew your second one, kernokerno, but it starts with a 'p' in English;
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Thanks to both of you, I used that in my my school paper.

[kernokerno]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I like odd words like apostrophe (which is often misspelled), and abbreviation (why is this such a big word?).

I knew your second one, kernokerno, but it starts with a 'p' in English;
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Sternocleidomastoid is a great one-more descriptive than many muscle names, too. My favorite anatomy term (at the moment) is "extensor digiti minimi" which is the muscle that extends the little finger (separate from extensor communis, which extends all four fingers).

On the subject of German words, while there are numerous German words with no direct, one-to-one English equivalent, the opposite is also true. My father-in-law was a paratrooper; in German it's Fallschirmjäger, and while that's not too much more complex, it literally means "falling fighter" or "falling hunter." Not the same sort of feeling, eh?

medical words are great

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by moodymonster 

I like how Germans have words that mean things (that have full on meanings with no direct English equivalent):

doppelganger - copying someone else's character - stalker like

Actually, more "twin-like": looking like another person.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

My father-in-law was a paratrooper; in German it's Fallschirmjäger, and while that's not too much more complex, it literally means "falling fighter" or "falling hunter." Not the same sort of feeling, eh?

Not really, fallschirm means parachute. So literally it would be parachute hunter.

[rickey939]

Whodathunkit.®

[Jawbone54]

Moist.

Moist is probably the grossest word in the English language.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by kick52 

lugubrious.

That was going to be mine. So I'll throw in "apodictic," which I've never heard actually used and isn't found in OS X's spell checker.

[Ganesha]

Copacetic. It just sounds wrong for what it means.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Not really, fallschirm means parachute. So literally it would be parachute hunter.

Thanks for the clarification. But then that makes it sound like a parachute is something related to falling - a falling "screen?" Whatever it comes from that in itself is another example of German words that are not what an English speaker expects..."parachute" comes from French and means "protect from fall" so the roots seem equivalent, but from a different perspective.

Again, thanks for the clarification.

[KeriVit]

Funny you ask, me nephew just taught me this one today...

defenestrate- to throw something or someone out a window.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by KeriVit 

Funny you ask, me nephew just taught me this one today...

defenestrate- to throw something or someone out a window.

I learned that from Calvin & Hobbes. Cool word!

[KeriVit]

My nephew=Calvin & Hobbes.

He'll love it!

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I learned that from Calvin & Hobbes. Cool word!

Me too.

[smacintush]

niggardly

Not a word you hear too often.

[Sage]

Yeah – my AP English teacher had to explain the meaning of that word in a book we were reading so that people wouldn’t throw a fit.

[marden]

Originally Posted by smacintush 

niggardly

Not a word you hear too often.

Great word. And those who are sensitive to racial slurs yet still appreciate that word are likely...

Imperturbable.

[dcmacdaddy]

Some words I like to say. Some words I like to hear being said.

dearth and plethora are two of my favorite words to use; I like saying them and how they sound.


Words I Like To Say (in no particular order)
diffuse
abscond
burgled
windward/leeward
bubble
toil
correct
signal
pejorative

Words I Like To Hear Being Said (in no particular order)
egregious
aperture
marked
exceptional
conceptual
illustrative
illusory
pending

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by smacintush 

niggardly

please

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Thanks for the clarification. But then that makes it sound like a parachute is something related to falling - a falling "screen?"

That would be correct. Literally: Fall-screen.

Screen refers here to protect (ie. to screen you from something), so it's more like a fall-protector.

[Dakar²]

Ribofavin.

Perineum is always a fun one.

[- - e r i k - -]

Priapism

[zro]

Meconium


And I like pronouncing February correctly.