21 April 2006

And who will train the trainers?

I was in a particularly boring training meeting at work last week. I spent a good portion of the time wondering why the people who give trainings don't have to sit through trainings of how they can be better trainers.

This line of wondering led nowhere, however, except toward a nodding head. So in order to stay awake, I started making a list of interesting words as they came into my mind. This not only proved to help keep me from nodding off, it also made it look like I was taking notes.

For your enjoyment, here is my list. Some of the words I had heard but I did not actually know the meaning of, so I looked them up later.

conglomeration
asphyxiated
amalgam
anachronistic
cahoots
cavort
lichen
liniment
licentiousness
capsicum
inebriate
myocardia
Constantinople
opal
serendipitous
archaic
malodorant
anthropomorphic
agrarian
appaloosa
einsteinium
cairn
mop
pernicious
carbuncle
ocelot
gnu
gnocchi
jocular
perturb
argyle
labrador
Cornish
limpet
ergonomic
cantankerous

"Jared," you say, "some of those words are not nearly as cool as others on the list." Maybe not at first glance. If a word seems less cool, try saying it out loud. Perhaps it's just fun to say. Or, think about it linguisticly: mop, for example, is an extremely labial word. Isn't that interesting?

Also try and catch the flow of words. They appear here in the same order in which I wrote them. Some are connected to the words previous, some are not. Which ones are? What are the connections? You can have fun with this post for hours.

3 comments:

JonF said...

My favorite words from your list are "cahoots" and "anachronistic". If you recall, I once tried a similar strategy trying to stay awake at a church meeting. I believe the word that started it was "filibuster". The attempt was, alas, unsuccessful, perhaps because I restricted myself to words the speaker was using instead of allowing my mind more freedom.
I have often thought about interesting words like these, and wondered if I could use them to make a language that is extremely fun to speak. Well, at least it would be better than Esparanto.

Nick said...

I'm flattered that the word gnocchi (which OBVIOUSLY is there because you were thinking about me) was followed by the word Jocular.

My question is, can you use all those words in one or tow paragraphs that actually make sense?

Kjerstin Evans Ballard said...

Constantinople I could say all day. Or night. Instead of sleeping. Opal opal opal.