Words we adore
By Recovering Yogi
“Words are the voice of the heart.” – Confucius
Being the nerds that we are, it is not uncommon for us to spend hours delighting over a synecdoche or lose track of time reading the dictionary. Really. We love words. Well, most words.
So we put together a list of those we especially adore — a lexicon of phrases or sayings or terms that bring a subtle, satiating joy. They’re the yin to Words We Loathe & Abhor‘s yang, if you will.
An excerpt from a lovely passage within The Joker's Greatest Triumph, by Donald Barthelme.
abstinence binge / The art of declining. Which goes nicely with…
art of laziness / It’s the new yoga.
craydar / Like gaydar but for crazy people. Props to our friend Maynard for this one.
copulate or fornicate / Just not “make love,” please.
dick / But only when used by a lady, and only when describing herself.
farcicality / A polite and fictional word that means, “What you’ve just said to me, sir, is bullsh*t.”
harangue / You don’t even have to know what this means to sound smart.
juiced / As in, a packed house. Not to be confused with “juicy,” which we …
loathe and abhor / Things we especially hate. Like workshops during which one is suddenly asked to “grab a partner.”
misanthrope / We like this word for obvious reasons.
reverie / Puts a positive spin on plain old spacing out.
RLAM / ”Rad Like A Milkshake.” When something seemingly small gets you really, really excited.
ruin / The noun. As in, “Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit.” (Antoine de Saint Exupery)
savasana / If only this were the only word ever spoken in a yoga class.
somesuchery / It’s probably not a word, but if there’s a better synonym for “stuff,” we haven’t heard it.
startled / Especially when used by someone well under 70, frequently. (cough *Leslie Munday* cough.)
sycophant / What happens to otherwise tolerable people around their yoga-lebrities.
twerp / This word is sometimes just so perfect.
yego / A portmanteau referring to the Yoga Ego.
What about yours?
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12 Comments !
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Matthew says:
“Yego”!! I love that.
Anon says:
You will probably hate me for this but I have for years used the word “Cunting.” This term applies when the word “bitching” is just not effective enough.
recoveringyogi says:
We definitely love you for this.
Warriorsaint says:
I’ve always loved the word odyssey. I think because it starts with the the syllable “odd” and ends with “see”. I suppose you could use it interchangably with “adventure” but adventure seems kinda bloodless. Girl scout camp is an adventure. Taking a motorcycle though the mountains of Columbia is an odyssey. I’ve experienced both so (humbly)reserve the right to chose the noun.
Vision_Quest2 says:
Other words you might adore:
cynical – how some of us get through life
optimizing – how many of us live through our days
ledger – oh, such mundanity! Who’d a thunk it …
tax loophole – ADMIT it, yogsters (and others)
New Urbanism Movement – (okay, this is a phrase) before the yogis appropriate this architectural trend for themtheirselves … it is a word we can adore …
Notice what these words have in common?
Lack of granola … (well, that stuff – to me – is fattening …_
Lauren Taylor says:
“Limpdictomy.”
It’s a recommended surgical operation that’s superficially akin to a “lumpectomy” — but in this case the small offending tissue mass is distinctly male, and need not be removed, unless determined to be utterly worthless, but instead enhanced and strengthened.
The term is often confused with the related phrase: “He’s been a limp-dick-to-me.”
However, in light of your meritorious call for the work “dick” to be applied to women, usage of “limpdictomy” might also be correspondingly expanded.
Julia says:
loamy
salacious
lugubrious
proclivity
E.g. A yogi may have a proclivity to tell lugubrious stories that he or she believes to be salacious when in fact, they are not.
Sitting on the loamy earth for hours at a time is not conclusive proof enlightenment.
Dan I am. says:
I have more of a favorite saying for when fellow yogis get a little too “yoga-ee”. Namaste-away-from-me. It makes me laugh and that is a good thing.
Laura says:
“disquieting”. I have a lot of disquieting thoughts and no…i do not “honour” them.
Brie says:
Craydar. That is amazing. Going to have to start working that one in…
whitney says:
“Douche’” pronounced “douche-ay” in place of “touche’” as in “well played”. Also always loved the word “groin”.
Kate says:
Oh these words are lovely! (Which is banally one of my favorite words as well. But I also like douchetwat and fuckton. As in, “There are a fuckton of douchetwats at this retreat.”)