A few weeks ago, the inimitable Holly Burns wrote a post about favorite words and phrases which has been rolling around in my brain pan ever since. And then, a few days ago, I noticed my word list at the back of my trusty little notebook and decided to share it with you, because these little beauties are too wonderful to stay locked up in a notebook. Here are a few of the best:
coterie
hirsute
apotheosis
disconsolate (bonus: SO much better than “inconsolable”!)
cortege
meretricious
draconian
cupidity
desultory
labyrinthine
ersatz
insouciance
and, a small trilogy of words that make me think I should be a theologian just to get to say them all the time:
exegesis
apocryphal
canonical
But then I was thinking about taking it a step further to favorite phrases, which gets distinctly more difficult for me. I have favorite expressions, but mostly I love them for what they mean, not what they sound like. For instance, I wish my life included more opportunities to say “rode hard and put up wet”, because it’s just so delicious; before you get filthy, it refers to horses, and best said in a Southern accent. I also love the descriptions “trussed up” and “a constellation of freckles”. They’re both very visually pleasing.
But a phrase beloved just for the way it sounds? I got to thinking and so far have come up with “voir dire” and “sexual congress”, and also, “de jure” and “habeus corpus”. And of course, those of you who know me well know my almost inappropriate affection for the name Slobodan Milosevic. Go ahead. Say it. Let it catapult off your tongue like a rollercoaster. Forget, you know, that it belonged to a genocidal tyrant. Slobodan Milosevic! It’s just fun to say.
So I guess if I have a favorite phrase, it’s the name of a genocidal tyrant. What are your favorite words or phrases, and why?

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