Another cool word–hapless. And in that vein–witless, and half-wit.
Now: Chris Powers (or so he calls himself) wrote me re my list of Annoying/Pretentious Terms. I agree on all his annoying terms. Re his cool terms: I don’t find many of them especially cool (but road salt has potential), but don’t find any of them annoying at least. Re the 6 am words, not sure what the criteria are. but I would agree that you don’t want to hear fungus followed by plump or cackle.
Chris’s letter:
I enjoyed reading your Annoying/Pretentious Terms page while looking up “Götterdämmerung” this evening, and thought I’d offer a few of my own.
Annoying:
“having said that” or “that said” instead of still or nevertheless
“going forward” instead of “from now on”
“fair question” as in “That’s a fair question”
whilst instead of while
wordsmith
Cool:
gun camera
orbital
mechanics
cognitive style
carbolic
acid
road salt
phasic
Words you don’t want to hear at 6am because they just sound annoying:
ilk
smigden
fungus
plump
cackle
filtch
snickerdoodle
torso
participleThat’s it. Enjoyed the links, too, especially the physics and libertarian ones.
