Monday, May 19, 2008

my preferred utterance

I've love adjectives. Lyrical, rhythmic, meaningful, adjectives.

It wasn't just a weekend, it was a TREMENDOUS weekend! It wasn't just a meal, it was a SCRUMPTIOUS meal! I'm not just in love, I'm MADLY, MYSTIFYINGLY, MAGNIFICENTLY in love!

I love words. I love SAYING certain words. Eclectic. Myriad. Delicious. Autumnal. Twitterpated. Testicular Fortitude. Bumble Bee. Galoshes. And any number of expletives that I really can't put here.

But I have, over the past few weeks, recognized my favorite adjective. It's not flashy or particularly fun to say. You don't stumble over consonants and falter around too many syllables. It sits, humbly, at the bottom of our vocabulary, being used to describe things like lamps, and fairly ordinary days.

You don't have to be AMAZING or FASCINATING or REMARKABLE.

Just NICE.

Helping people is nice. Being friendly on the phone is nice. Giving someone the bird is not nice. Smiling is nice. Compliments are nice. Being thankful is nice.

The word nice is kind of given the shaft. Flashier words seem to carry more weight than the word nice, but really, being nice is kind of remarkable. It is kind of fascinating. And really, it's pretty amazing.

12 comments:

Modernicon said...

NICE.

beinmyOWNself said...

lol, he stole my comment!! i agree with you, lovely...and i love words as well....some words are just fun!

kristin said...

i can't resist saying it...


nice.

kristin said...

what i want to know is if there is a word that you don't like?


my sister-in-law hates the word "moist" and now i do too...

Modernicon said...

no, no no, "crotch" is by far a much worse word

Jen said...

My co-worker was TERRIBLY nice (adds a little emphasis Bixel-style) to me today!

Jen CD

AnnaMarie said...

Yay for Bixel references!

Hmmm.. words I don't like...

Patrick, I agree that crotch is worse than moist.

After a rousing discussion with Roy (and some really nasty visuals) I would say my least favorite word is bile.

Rae said...

From a person who can never seem to find the right adjective at the right time... that's a pretty good one.
Sometimes I feel like the rest of them -- amazing, incredible, awesome, intense, -- get overused, and lose their meaning. Not everything is "amazing"... sometimes, its just nice. And nice can be pretty damn good.

Anne and Leigh said...

Being that you are one of the nicest people I know, it totally fits that you like the word "nice".

-Anne

Leigh said...

I agree with Anne. You are so nice. :)

Hugs!

Mary Bix said...

May I add two of my favorite words to your list?....idiosyncratic and shroud. My least favorite word? Hmmm. Bunionectomy.

beinmyOWNself said...

lol, funny that miss mary should post bunionectomy, because i was thinking that ANY word ending in ectomy is on my list of unfavorite words