Comments on: Five Great Words That Probably Aren’t in Your Vocabulary

By: Hamish

Hamish — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:57:53 +0000

Dammit!!! Jeremy beat me to it!! My sister is an editor and introduced me to callipygian. It is now my favourite word.

By: Hamish

Hamish — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:55:58 +0000

Dammit!!! Jeremy beat me to it!! My sister is an editor and introduced me to callipygian. As I work as a trauma nurse with a lot of pulchritudinous ladies, I can compliment them on their callipygian assets and still have time to run before I get smacked. Keep up the good work!

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:27:43 +0000

Great article! I cannot wait to use a few of these words.

One of my favorites is still the word callipygian : having shapely buttocks.

By: AlphaSoup

AlphaSoup — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:45:04 +0000

Wouldn’t saying “habitually froward” be redundant?

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:50:08 +0000

I have fun with pulchritudinous a lot. Sometimes in the presence of attractive women, I will have an “attack” of Pulchritude Overload, or declare that there is “too much pulchritude confined in one spot.” Recently I came upon two women friends; declared “Pulchritude Overload, ” and one took it as a compliment, the other didn’t like the sound of it.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:13:49 +0000

I’d have to say my new favorite word, based on these presented, has got to be PULCHRITUDINOUS – while I’m sure I’ve heard it before, I am up to the challenge of trying to use this in every day speaking. LOVE it. My task for tonight, though, is to read all the rest of Justin’s postings. NICE job, sir!

By: Julz

Julz — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:41:53 +0000

This guy is my new best friend! I’m determined to use all of these words in my next story lol. I already use a few of them. The problem, as stated in a couple of comments, is that the average (American) individual would probably scratch their head in confusion upon seeing or hearing these words used in everyday conversation. They’re great words, but only when used in an appropriate situation and context. These are the big words you slip into essays (preferably the long philosophical ones) to impress your teachers .

By: Cher

Cher — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:13:57 +0000

I adore your article and hope to use some of these words in the future. I wanted to point out that given your definition of “froward” (“habitually disposed to disobedience…”), your example is redundant, specifically at the point of “he’s too habitually froward…”

By: Michele

Michele — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:21:25 +0000

Also more common than a true monopoly (though much less so than oligopoly) is a near monopsony, which is a pretty fun word to say.

By: Spootie

Spootie — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:45:36 +0000

You forgot my personal favorite; vacillate.

By: Seb

Seb — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:21:06 +0000

Is “ineluctable” that rare? It seems quite familiar to me.

By: nicolemill

nicolemill — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:31:55 +0000

As an English teacher, I definitely support the idea of expanding one’s vocabulary. Be that as it may, I would have to say that I can’t imagine a situation in which an average person could use any of these words and not appear to be “trying too hard.”