beautiful words

[just_jenni]

A friend and I were discussing writing and the use of beautiful words. Not in the sense of what they mean but how they sound, how they roll off the tongue and perhaps invoke some feeling that goes beyond their meaning. We were talking about the English language specifically. She mentioned a quote from JRR Tolkien in which he had stated that the

Comments

[aglaiya]

*smiles* you really did it!

'cellar door' is music for my ears!
*lol* @ you saying: (which is actually two words) - this shows perfectly how you are!
I would have to think about an English word. 'malicious' is one I like.
I don't like your words except 'illusion'.

Spanish: mariposa, llanero, mañana, en la noche del miércoles (more than ONE word) and I guess there are some more. Spanish sounds sometimes very good for my ears but I'm sure NOT always.

French is a language I never liked.

Basque I don't know. For me it sounds not good with all the 'tx'.

Russian: Я люблю тебя! - Ja ljubju tebja! There are much more good sounding words. (you can say I wrote THREE words)

*LOL* @ the German word, the 'u' should be an 'ü' - Düsseldorf

I think every language has some very well sounding words. Unfortunate I don't know them.

I guess I like more 'soft' sounding words. 'L' is one my fav letters.

[just_jenni]

Yes, I did it, but I did it quickly and did not give myself a lot of time to find lovely words. I get it about the sound now. If you disregard the meaning then some words sound great, but how could you possibly use 'cellar door' in a story or poem unless it meant exactly what it is? It does sound nice, but the meaning spoils it...

All the words I chose flow like liquid nectar off the lips, I think...

allusion and illusion have almost the exact same sound!

'chemin de fer' is a most beautiful way to say 'railway train' - much nicer than the English translation!

What about mispronunciation? What if the person who reads a word doesn't pronounce it properly? Then the sound is messed up!

Hahaha! I somehow thought that you would say you hated all the words I chose! I looked through a book of poetry and chose the most beautiful words I saw in it, but I spent only an hour or so...it's a good way to find words, though. :)

[aglaiya]

It was not about using a word or more it was ONLY about the sound!

All the words I chose flow like liquid nectar off the lips, I think... Again it shows many differences ;)

French isn't my language, it doesn't sound pretty for me! I know many people say French is a beautiful language. Again we all are very different.

What about mispronunciation? Very interesting question. I know there are differences between English English, American English and Canadian English and some words sound different.
Example: dance - English English a long a and American English a short a, not even an a. There are many other words.
Sometimes a user of a foreign language pronounces a word wrong and the person likes the word....

I didn't write I hate your words, I wrote I don't like them! That's a difference!

Millos just scored their second! VAMOS MILLOS!

[just_jenni]

Oh I forgot. I don't know ANY German at all (such a shame) or Russian - LOL. And you will have noticed that never type anything with accents. That's because in English we don't use them, in Spanish my teacher from Bogota said you don't need to use them, and so I felt a bit pretentious in doing it. So sorry about the 'Dusseldorf' thing but that's also how it showed up on my TV as well. No accent! We don't use them here at all, although the French do. Interesting.

And 'cellar door' IS two words, not one. But it's okay, because some of the ones I chose were also more than one word. But I guess I do tend to stick to the rules and try to work within their boundaries most of the time. ;)

[hhimring]

It's a bit unfortunate that when you leave out the diacritics on the *u* in Dusseldorf (as I just did) it actually means "idiot village" in German...

[just_jenni]

Oh dear. LOL. That's terrible. Unfortunately, I didn't know that and there lies the danger in trying to say something in another language. I guess one of the points I was making was that if someone doesn't understand another language then any mistakes they make in trying to use it don't really matter to that person, but of course they would matter to those native speakers.

Now if only I knew how to access those symbols on my English (and accent-free) keyboard...

[aglaiya]

HERE you can find all shortcuts!

The diacritics on the u are NO accents!

I guess you have accents on your keyboard. Look at the numbers above the letters. On the right side you should find a key with the accents. At least the one you need the most in Spanish words.

It is only a hint and you don't have to care.

[just_jenni]

Thank you!

I know the 'diacritics' are not accents, but the u on my keyboard is just plain like that, so if I have to add more I have to call it something--hence 'accents' because then ppl will know what I mean.

Sorry, no, there is nothing on my keyboard that would point to accents. Not all keyboards are the same between different countries. I do remember our Spanish teacher in second year giving us a sheet of paper that gave us the combination of keys to press to get the accents to go over the plain letters, but I lost it years ago. Like we would have to press two keys together to get the accented letter, but I have no idea what they are.

Thanks for the hint. I appreciate it. :)

[sunshinelucy]

OOH! Yes! I love "allusion", too!
And I know what you mean about Basque :) I miss it dearly... so much that I actually just got a Basque tattoo, lol.
I'll have to remember to do this meme. I love words!

[just_jenni]

I love the sound of your Basque tattoo! El pais vasco is definitely a wonderful place. I was telling my daughter all about it and she wants to go too! Hopefully we can go soon. :)

Yes, I know you love words! Words are wonderful. I wish I had more time to spend finding more special ones. XD

[just_jenni]

Yes, I agree about Tolkien and 'cellar door'. It didn't seem like his sort of choice at all, so was quite surprising to me.

I love your choice of beautiful words. I regret not learning German because those words are lovely. :)