Monday, 27 April 2015

Three favorite English words

The English language contains so many interesting words, with each word a little story behind. In my short 12 years of being immersed in the English language, I have some words that I particularly like. 

Kakorrhaphiophobia
This word means the fear of failure. I have come across this word in a funny children's book which talks about a boy entering a spelling bee, meeting new friends and encountering eccentric words. I find this funny because when someone with Kakorrhaphiophobia fails to spell 'Kakorrhaphiophobia' successfully, he will break down due to failing to spell his own phobia. Also, I have always wondered how this word was formed, since it can't even be separated into parts of a word that I know.

Bubble
The word bubble is another word that interests me. Bubble was formed probably due to the sound bubbles make when they pop, with the 'bub, bub' sound. The word is just really fun to say, and you sound like a baby when he first learns to speak. 

Winklepicker
This word refers to a type or style of shoe with a long and sharp pointed toe in the 1950s. This word is probably the most mis-leading word I have ever come across, and I had to double check in the dictionary to make sure that it is a real word. At first glance, I thought that winklepicker meant someone whose job is to pick up something called a winkle, which I have no idea what it is either. As the 2 words above, this word is also very eccentric and peculiar, and very fun to say.

No comments: