First Random Thing I Love: Words

A series intended to distract us all with some randomness, humor, and wonder!

This is the first post in a weeklong series intended to be a distraction from the seriousness of the week. (Regular content will return next week.) While my creative bent shows up in much of my other writing, this week I am giving it free rein.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

First Random Thing I Love: Words

It is a bit predictable for an author to choose words as the first thing she loves. Yet, here I am. It is just true. I do love words.

I thought I would have some fun with ChatGPT.

What are three of the silliest words?

• Flibbertigibbet: a frivolous, flighty person who chatters or gossips excessively.

• Gobbledygook: nonsensical jargon

• Snollygoster: a shrewd but unprincipled person)

When I asked for one more, I got my favorite: Bumfuzzle: To be confused or perplexed.

That made me consider how bumfuzzled the Substack AI picture generator would be by the word. I have no explanation for this.

bumfuzzled

Can ChatGPT Create a short Poem with Unusual words?

I wondered what ChatGPT would create if I asked for a short poem created with unusual words. Are these all real words? I suppose I should look them up, but I am simply enamored with the last line: “Odd words that give the world a face.”

Unusual Words

A sonder spark, a hiraeth ache,
Petrichor’s scent after skies break.
Eunoia blooms in fleeting grace,
Odd words that give the world a face.

The world as a face

Ok, so I did look the words up. I had to. It turns out they are delightful words!
(Credit: Dictionary.com, Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries)

Sonder: The feeling one has on realizing that every other individual one sees has a life as full and real as one’s own, in which they are the central character and others, including oneself, have secondary or insignificant roles.

Hiraeth: A deep longing for something, especially one's home.

Petrichor: A distinctive scent, usually described as earthy, pleasant, or sweet, produced by rainfall on very dry ground.

Eunoia: A feeling of goodwill (being friendly and wanting to help), especially one that exists between a speaker and an audience.

Finally, what is the longest word?

“The longest word in the English language, according to the dictionary, is "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis." This 45-letter word refers to a type of lung disease caused by inhaling very fine silicate or quartz dust. It was coined as a sort of linguistic curiosity and isn’t commonly used outside of discussions about long words!”

“However, there are even longer words used in specific scientific fields, like the chemical name for the protein titin, which has 189,819 letters! It’s so long that it would take hours to pronounce. That said, most people accept "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" as the longest “practical” word.”

While I often spend time working with words, I seldom take the time to play with them. I will be back tomorrow with another distraction.

And what is wrong with playing with words?
Words love to be played with, just like children or kittens do!"
—David Almond—