Your favorite word
WORDS. Writers love ’em. And what power they have. Power to inspire, comfort, engage, infuriate. They can cause war. And bring peace.
Words refine our thinking. They give us pause to examine ourselves. They are the machinery that runs the enterprise of civilization.
Consider this: God spoke the world into being. Not a bad advertisement for the power of words.
Do you have a favorite word? I do. Mine is kinestatic. You won’t find it in the dictionary because it hasn’t made its way into popular usage. Yet. The word was coined by my husband several decades ago when he invented and patented an imaging device and named it the Kinestatic Charge Detector. (You can google it.)
Of course, I’m proud of Frank’s work, but I’m also amazed at the word he came up with. You see, kinestatic is an adjective describing something that is moving in one frame of reference, but at rest in another one.
Think of walking up a down escalator. Or running on a treadmill. In both cases, you’re moving in relation to the escalator or treadmill, but you’re still in relation to the surrounding area. That’s pretty interesting, but it gets better.
The word kinestatic describes so much more. Have you ever thought that you spent all day rushing around, but didn’t get anywhere? That’s a kind of kinestasis (using the noun here). How about climbing the corporate ladder, but never succeeding in accomplishing your goals? Same thing. You can probably come up with quite of few examples of kinestasis yourself. What a great word!
Do me a favor and post your favorite word or words below and let us know why you like them.
Wonky!! It’s not as scholarly as yours but I LOVE the word “wonky.” It sounds like what it is and when used properly it brings the perfect balance of descriptiveness and whimsy.
I think words, in some way, are what separate us from the rest of creation. We are the only creatures “with words”. Thus words must be a part of us being in the image of the Father.
My favorite word is “whinge” rhymes with “hinge”. It is a word from my childhood and it is probably not found in a dictionary—though perhaps in a New Zealand one. It is a precise word meaning “whining that makes you cringe”. If you are ever around children it is a very useful word and I love how expressive it is.
I believe my favorite word must be “redemption.” It’s a concept that gives me hope and endurance. Faith that He will redeem the years the locusts have eaten is often the only thing I can cling to!
You made me think about this. I didn’t know I had a favorite word. Let’s see… What’s the most beautiful and important word I know. I think I have it:
LOVE
What makes men and women the happiest?
What is it that is best used when you give it to somebody else?
What can end strife and hatred?
What does God demand from us?
My favorite word is think. You are alive as long as you can think.
community
I am basically an extrovert even though I like my alone time too. But no matter where I am or where I go, I find that I make the best connections with people through a community of friends, fellow worshipers, neighbors, family and even clubs and societies.
My favorite word is PERHAPS. I use it often and it is my favorite response because it can mean anything! It leaves my options open and it keeps the mood playful! I have found it most useful when someone is trying to back me in a corner, which I do not care to make rash decisions, perhaps you feel the same? 😉
Next… No matter what happens in our lives, there’s always a next and can it be exciting to see what is ahead in the next timeframe.
My favourite word is “Hope”
It keeps us motivated and going…helps lift our spirits when in despair ….encourages us to excel and do better.
I feel that it is ‘hope’ that helps define a sense of motivated and optimism in our lives
This is not too difficult for me. I came right up with it. My favorite word is GRACE. Grace is undeserved favor given to you by someone. It could be a smile to me when I gave a grimace. Or come as a second, third, fourth,,,,etc. chance at something when you continued to fail. It could be a new lease on life when you spent the last half of yours in poor health, or by making bad choices, or living materialistically. The thing about GRACE is that we all need it, whether or not we ever admit to it. We all fall short of the expectations that others and our Loving God have desired of us and even fall short of the expectations we place upon ourselves. We really don’t become a mature,complete, grateful,fulfilled person, if we can never admit our shortcomings and sins, and accept GRACE from others and mostly God, Who loves us to the UTTERMOST. But when we do, our relationships with others, ourselves, and most importantly HIM will flourish like a flower on a warm and wet spring day.That is when our life becomes not about us; but others. Come on, admit it. Don’t you hate to be around someone who only talks about himself. Rick Warren was so absolutely right when he wrote in his phenomenal book, THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, and I quote, “It’s not about you.” I guess the Scriptures were right all along,too when they repeat from Genesis through Revelation that the GREATEST COMMANDMENTS are two: LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL YOU HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH and YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
Marian Myers
My favorite word is encouragement. Nothing else gives one the incentive to press on, to keep trying, not give up- no matter what the task or problem. It is a positive action in a world so filled with negativity. Yes- encourage somebody today- it’ will make you and the person you encourage feel good. Also- I have a favorite word that my son used when he was little that is not actually a word “Winky” – that was his word for anything faulty, not working correctly, or broken- as in “This chair is too winky to sit in”. I still use that word to this day. ..
I was always afraid of words when I was young,I didn’t understand them, I couldn’t spell them ,nouns, verbs , etc. it was all jibberish to me. The funny thing is GOD provided me with a mate that brought the written world alive ! I’ve come to realize words are powerful,kind ,destructive and loving. Your question made me think and I have several words I like—(persevere) the first lesson dad taught me. Also the word (listen) there is much to be learned when we listen and we can be hurt when others fail to listen. I love to sit in the midsts of people and just listen without me ever speaking a word I can know someone what they like dislike, troubles, dreams, needs and beliefs.To listen is to open many avenues to a person or many endeavors. Wow Kay Good job you’ve ask a question that has so many answers. Reading all the responses is like sitting in a room listening. I love reading the responses! I Look forward to reading your book 🙂
Congratulations Kay! This is so fun. I can’t wait to read your 1st novel! I can’t say that this is my “favorite” word but I enjoy saying it and sometimes I just plain need it. You know, those moments when you just can’t call up the exact word you are wanting to use. – THINGAMAJIG- It means according to Webster dictionary ” something that is hard to classify or whose name is unknown or forgotten”. Sample. Uh, do you know where the thingamajig is for the pressure cooker?
My favorite word is Italia. It is my father’s country and reminds me of my roots and how important they are.
What a huge question! I am to choose ONE word and claim it as my favorite? No can do. So here are a couple of current but temporary favorites. Circuitous. This word applies to so many paths in life. Wherever you are in your day or your life you arrived there by a circuitous path. One choice or event (or word!) led to another and here you are. And life has varying seasons. Season is another favorite. Nothing is forever except heaven or hell. While we walk the earth we are in a season of life. Again, varying seasons. A mother of small children imagines she will be chasing babies and changing diapers forever. But that season is relatively brief. And soon that mother finds herself on the circuitous path of raising teenagers. Another season…
My first thought was “garsh” as in Oh my garsh! I can’t wait to read your book! But on a more serious side, I really treasure the word FAITHFUL. This word brings me such comfort and hope and assurance that there is ONE who has always been so to me as well as those HE has brought into my life. I love reading all the others too😉
My favorite word is memories. Our life is made up of them pasted together to form the image of our life. And we continue to make them every day.
What a great blog. I’ll have to remember “kinestasis” and its associated forms.
For many years, my favorite word has been “defenestration.” To think that there is a single word to describe the act of throwing something–or someone–out of a window is a little mind-boggling. Then discovering actual historical events with that name, e.g. “The Defenestration of Prague” (I’m a history buff)–wild. Talk about words causing wars: very accurate. This is a one thought-provoking blog. I will have to come back!
I will also look forward to the publication of your book. Let me know when it’s planned to hit the stands.
Mercy. That’s mine! His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. Proud of you, Kay!
I Ilike the word “work” The greek is ergon as a noun and ergazomai as a verb. The first 3 letters ERG in physics is a unit of kinetic
energy. Philippians 2:13 says God is at work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Chad once said in a sermon that God energizes us. This goes with Jer 10: 23 that says it’s not in man to direct his own steps. God gave us reasoning Is 1:18 and free will.
Ps 119:109 .(David knew he had free will)..Our thoughts come from the Holy Spirit in us as we walk in the spirit of His word or from the god of this.world if we walk in disobedience Eph.2:2 .
THANK YOU – is my choice of words. Being “grateful” for whom we are, what we do and what we receive. Being “appreciative” of any opportunity.
I find it interesting that people rarely hear the same words in precisely the same way. For instance, one person can hear a person’s words as small-talk while another hears profundity. In politics, one can be inspired by a politician’s speech while another hears hogwash. Yet, it’s the same words!
What makes us hear them differently? In my experience the “listening” we bring to words gives them shape and meaning. What if we paid more attention to our listening than to our speaking?
Maybe if we listened through the windows of many of the “favorites” offered in this blog, like, encouragement, love and grace, we would come to really know each other more deeply.
Kay, thank you for the chance to muse with you and your friends.
I intend to listen to your published story with gratitude. Thank you, Vincent
I had no appreciation for Words until I spent years programming in Machine Languages. Then I read “The Professor and the Madman” and realized we are making our own programming language. Like books and numbers words have characteristics. The spelling of some can be hard to remember. Some words’ meanings can be ambiguous as well as phrases like, “Eats, Shoots, Leaves”. [Also, the title of a very funny book on Grammar]. “Obsequious” is funny sounding to me. If someone hollers, “FLEAS” will people flee? Did Adam Have Them? [Poetry by Ogden Nash]. Did you know that “gullible” is not in the dictionary!!!
Love, what a powerfully sweet word. It’s something we all hope to have in our lives. It’s ironic, that the more love you give away, the more love you possess.
A word that I find both compelling and thought -provoking is “Water”. Water in its many manifestations captures my imagination, whether it be the Spring morning dew or the freshly fallen snow on a rooftop. We cannot deny water’s significance in our lives because it sustains and nourishes us daily. Without it, there can be no life.
Water has been used biblically as a source of spiritual renewal.The Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4 was surprised to learn that the water Jesus could give her would not only satisfy her physical thirst, but would also give her eternal life.
Now, that’s something worth thinking about!
My favorite word is catawampus because it was my father’s favorite word. He was a machinist, and whenever a piece turned out poorly he would exclaim “Well, that went catawampus!”
So many awesome words have already been mentioned. Wait–has anyone mentioned “awesome” yet? That’s a pretty cool word, right? I think, if I had to choose one, my favorite word might be Hallelujah! It means “Praise the Lord,” which is my favorite thing to do. And to me, it covers many of other great words mentioned here, like hope and grace and love.
FAITH is a favorite word. If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed you can move mountains. It is a word I live with daily and helps me believe indeed all things are possible through faith.
The word imagination is a favorite word for me. I love listening to and watching preschoolers using their imagination as they play. As a child, I could make my alone time enjoyable by imagining that the mud pies were cookies and coke bottles were friends. The chore of cleaning two floors of steps in my imagination became less of a chore because I could imagine being a princess or a movie star descending the steps.
I love imagining what I read in the Bible about what it will like in heaven and what it will be like to see Jesus. I enjoy imagining what characters look like when I read a book.
My imagination has begun to really take off as I begin writing the fictional book friends have encouraged me to write.
This is a fabulous blog! Kay, I absolutely agree with you that words are important. Words matter. And our liberty to use words matters. So, my choice of a single word is FREEDOM. I’d hate to think of living in a time or place where we are not free to choose our words, express ourselves with those words – – – whether written or spoke. We are very fortunate to have our many liberties, which include the FREEDOM of speech and expression.
What a fun question! My favorite word lately has been “legacy”. It’s such a weighty word and I love how it connects the past, present and future together. Like Stephen Covey’s famous quote, legacy prompts me to “begin with the end in mind” and make choices with intention.
On a fun note, my favorite silly word is “taco”. We even do a little dance when we say it! Taco, taco, taco, taco…. lol!
My favorite word: Baby. Such a sweet thing.
antidisestablishmentarianism, symbiotic, perspective, obtuse