Saturday, April 17, 2010

Oust These Words!

There are some words that I have long believed shouldn't exist in the English language. I'll mention two of them today.

SUPERNATURAL - Yeah, I know what the dictionary says, that it merely relates to 'an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe' (Webster Dictionary) or appearing to transcend the laws of nature. In my opinion, though, this word incorporates human ignorance, naming something to be outside of nature simply because we do not yet understand it. I think it is very simple - if something exists, then it is natural. It does not matter whether we currently understand it or not. If ghosts or demons or anything else that we call supernatural actually do exist, then they are obviously natural.

PULCHRITUDINOUS - Ugh! What a horrid word. I know about its Latin origins, but I dare you to go up to a woman in a bar and tell her how pulchritudinous she looks to you. I bet she slaps you. The very sound of this word makes me imagine rotting corpses with maggots crawling through the bloody muck of their intestines. How this word could possibly have the meaning of physical beauty is beyond me. Either remove it from English, or change its meaning to be just what it sounds like, i.e. something to do with decay.

3 comments:

  1. Who would ever use that word pulchritudinous? I can't even say it.

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  2. Oh, I love it! Good points about both words, and I was particularly amused by pulchritudinous. It's one of those words that's so long and ungainly it's uncomfortable to look at. Thanks for the reminder that words should be well chosen and beautiful!

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