Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts

Long Words

We normally think that long words are only used for medical and/or scientific terms. That's what I used to think, too!
Here are some looooong words that we could also use in our daily conversation... that is if we can remember them and pronounce them properly!


Sesquipedalian: a word for a person who uses long words.




Crytoscopophilia: The urge to look through peoples windows as you pass by their houses


Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: The fear of long words


Batrachophagous: A person who eats frogs.


Blandiloquence: A flattery or complimentary speech. 




Brachydactylous: Having short and blunt fingers. 


Catapedamania: Having an obsession with jumping from high places.


Deorsumversion: Turning downwards.


Dolichocephalic: Long-headed.



Defenestrate - to throw out of a window.


Discombobulate - To upset or confuse, to disconcert


Ellogofusciouhipoppokunurious: Good.


Electrodynamometer: An instrument for measuring electric current.


Electroencephalogram: A graphical record of electrical activity of the brain. 


Floccinaucinihilipilification: Setting at little or no value.


Fantasticalness: The quality of being fantastic. 


Fibriophobia: Having fear of fever.


Pulchritudinous: Very beautiful


Haussmannize: To open out or to rebuild.


Honorificabilitudinity: Honorableness.


Ichthyophagous: Fish-eating.


Incomprehensibleness: Impossible to know or fathom.


Juglandaceous: Liking or pertaining to walnuts. 


Macrocephalous: Having a large head. 


Maschalephidrosis: Massive sweating of the armpits. 


Nigroglobulate: The act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto.


Orphanotrophism: Care and support of orphans.




Podobromhydrosis: Smelly feet.


Quomodocunquize: Making money in any possible way. 


Quinquagenarian: Person between the ages of 50 and 59. 


Quasquicentennial: One hundred twenty-fifth anniversary.


Rhinotillexomania: Compulsive nose picking. 


Raillery: Good-humored banter or teasing


Scurryfunge: a hasty tidying of your house between the time you see a neighbour and the time they knock.


Spectroheliokinematograph: Camera for taking pictures of the sun. 


Umbraculiform: Shaped like an umbrella. 




Unconsentaneous: Not in agreement. 


Whereinsoever: In whatsoever respect or place. 


Xenodocheionology: Love of hotels. 


Zalambdodont: Having molar teeth with V-shaped ridges. 


Pseudoantidisestablishmentarianism: The false support of the idea that a government should not support the church. 


Honorificabilitudinitatibus: The state being able to achieve honors.








Trivia:


'Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu' is the longest word in the English language, which is the name of a place.







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Connected Speech

This has been a difficulty among most non-English speaking countries - speaking word by word.


Even with the stress and vowel sounds correct in a sentence, we will sound wrong if we don't use connected speech.


Some. people. speak. like. this.


But we shouldn't. 


English words don't fit together very well. If you try to pronounce each word individually, it would sound awkward -- robotic. 
For example.
I. am. working. at. the. bank. at. this. moment. 


If we apply connected speech, it would sound like this:
Aym workingatha bankat this moment


The words 'working' and 'at' could be connected since 'at' starts with a vowel sound, while the words 'this' and 'moment' shouldn't be connected since the second word starts with a consonant.


More examples:
buy it.
We don't say - Bay. it.
Instead, we should say - Bayit


you and.
We don't say - yoo. uhnd.
Instead, we should say - you wnd


get up
We don't say - get. ap
Instead, we should say - ge tap


Here are some typical example of things we do to make some words easier to pronounce:
1. Delete 't' or 'd' at the end of a syllable when it meets another consonant sound.


Examples:
great time - grey taym
closed bag - clo sbag


2. Delete duplicate sounds that meet.


Examples:
Black clock - bla klok
big game - bi geym
pack case - pa keys
rode down - row dawn


3. Delete 'h' at the beginning of a syllable when the previous sound is a consonant sound. 


Examples:
Is he? - I zee?
put him - pu tim
deep hole - dee powl
push hard - pu shard









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A Guide to Remembering Hard-To-Spell Words (Part 1)


TOP MISSPELLED WORDS


Accidentally
Remember: It's composed of two separate words - 'accident' and 'tally'.


Accommodation
Remember: There's a double c and a double m.


A lot
Remember: There's no word such as 'alot', so 'a lot' is composed of two words.


Acceptable
Remember: It's composed of two words - 'accept' and 'table'.


Accessory
Remember: This word has two c's and two s's.


Believe
Remember: The letter i is the middle letter of this word, not e.


Commitment
Remember: Only one t for 'commitment', but two t's for 'committed'.


Definitely 
Remember: NOT 'definately'. Think of the root word 'finite'.


Discipline
Remember: The first syllable spells like 'disc'.


Disappointed
Remember: Always spell the word 'appoint'.


Difference
Remember: Just add 'ence' to the word 'differ'.


Drunkenness
Remember: If you are experiencing this, you will probably forget the extra n!


Embarrassing 
Remember: Two r's and two s's


February
Remember: You just have to remember the silent r.


Grammar
Remember: Just remember that every letter should mirror each other (except the g of course).


Guarantee
Remember: Two a's and two e's.


Heroes
Remember: Just remember the –es at the end of hero.


Humorous
Remember: It's not 'humourus' or 'humorus'. Think of the root word humor then add -ous.


Leisure
Remember: This is an exception to the i before e rule.


Library
Remember: NOT libary or liberry; the middle r should be pronounced.


License
Remember: Keep the c and s separated and you’ll remember this tricky word.


Lightning
Remember: There is no e in the word; it’s spelled just as it’s pronounced.


Misspell
Remember: Just be sure to double the s's and the L's.


Noticeable
Remember: Think about the root word 'notice' then add 'able'. DO NOT remove the a on the suffix -able.


Occasional
Remember: There's no t in the word, no double s, and two c's.


Parallel
Remember: Double the L, NOT the r.


Pitiful
Remember: Change the y to an i, and keep the L single.


Seize
Remember: An exception to the i before e rule.


Vacuum
Remember: Two u's, NOT two c's.


Weird
Remember: An exception to the i before e rule.







source
http://www.suite101.com/content/top-misspelled-words-a90999
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Taglish



Some words and phrases and their respective definitions or uses are peculiar to Philippine English and may not appear in most English dialects
Some examples are:


Apartelle - A budget hotel.

Ballpen - A ball point pen, or simple a pen.

Barbecue - Roasted meat must be cut into pieces and put into a skewer in order to qualify as a "barbecue", basically a satay.

Batch - A graduating class.

Biodata - A resumé.

Blowout - taking several people out to a restaurant and paying for everybody.

Boundary - An amount public transport drivers pay their operators daily; any excess belongs to the driver as his daily wage. (jargon)

Brod - Short for brother. Usually used among members of a college fraternity.

Cabinet (furniture) - refers to "closet".

Calling Card - refers to a "business card," not a phone card.

Change oil - An oil change.

Chit - A restaurant bill.

Combo - A musical band.

Commute - Same meaning as in other forms of English, but is almost always used to refer to the act of taking public transportation.

Commuter - Same meaning as in other forms of English, but implies one who takes public transport (rarely used to refer to motorists, often excluding them).

Coupon Bond - Bond paper. Coupon here is pronounced /kopon/ not /kyupon/.

Course - While also used to refer to individual classes/subjects (as in US English), a "course" often refers to an entire degree program (as in UK English).

CR (Comfort Room) - Toilet, bathroom.

Dine-in - "Eat in", "for here"

Dormer - A dormitory resident.

Drawer (furniture) - refers to the whole "dresser," rather than to individual drawers.

Duster - A loose house dress or sun-dress.

For a while - Used on the telephone to mean "please wait".

Get down / go down (a vehicle) - "Get off". Derived from Tagalog context ("Bumaba ka", literally meaning "(you) get down").

Gimmick - A planned or unplanned night out with friends.

Green jokes - Dirty jokes

Jeepney - mass transit trams originally made from US military jeeps. (See "Owner" below)

Middle name - Mother's maiden name.

Officemate - a co-worker

Open/close the light/computer/TV - Turn/switch on /off the light/computer/TV.

Owner - a Jeep-derived vehicle for private, non-commercial use.

Pack-Up - used instead of "wrap-up" when referring to movie sets, presentations, etc.

Parlor - salon, i.e. beauty parlor = beauty salon

Pentel pen - A marker.

Practicumer - Refers to a student who participates in a course of study that involves the supervised practical application of previously studied theory; an intern. (Practicum - internship)

Remembrance - A souvenir or memento.

Rubber shoes - Sneakers or athletic shoes.


Salvage - A slang word for summary execution. The meaning evolved from frequent usage in sentences such as 'The corpse was salvaged from the Pasig river', from "salvage" meaning recovered or found. The victim would usually be a victim of summary      execution. The word may also be related to the Spanish-derived Tagalog slang "sinalbahe" (literally "turned bad").

Better : 'The corpse of a salvaged person was found floating on the Pasig River.' 

The above sentence would mean the person was salvaged on the Pasig River.


Sari-Sari Store - refers to a convenience store or booth.Sari-sari is Tagalog for "mixed variety," but the term is generally used in English communication. Sometimes called a "variety store" in the Canadian sense.

Shooting (film) - used in the movie industry instead of "filming".

Slang - Good English pronunciation

Slippers - Flip flops.

Softdrink - Filipinos prefer to spell soft drink as one word.

Step-in - Stylish ladies' sandals minus the strap.

Stow away - To run away from home.

Subdivision - A gated community.

The other day - Used specifically to refer to the "day before yesterday" (from the Tagalog expression "noong isang araw").

Thrice - Three times. While it is also used in other forms of English, it is much more prevalent in Philippine English.

Toga - refers to the commencement/graduation gown

Tomboy - A boyish lesbian. A "tomboy" is almost always presumed to be a lesbian, although the word is rarely used for feminine-looking lesbians.

Traffic - implies a traffic jam. Often used as an adjective, referring to heavy traffic volume.

Violet - used instead of "purple."



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Errors In Word Usage (part 1)

ABLE and CAPABLE
The word 'able' means having the ability to perform a given act, and 'capable' means having the adequate capacity to do or to make.




WRONG:
No man fully able of his own language ever masters another.
RIGHT:
No man fully capable of his own language ever masters another.
WRONG:
To be capable to practice five things everywhere constitutes perfect virtue.
RIGHT:
To be able to practice five things everywhere constitutes perfect virtue.
WRONG:
I feel secured now that my pet is in able hands.
RIGHT:
I feel secured now that my pet is in capable hands.




ANXIOUS and EAGER
The word 'anxious' should be used only when anxiety is involved; it should not be used as a substitute for the word eager. The word 'eager' means 'full of desire or enthusiastic'.


WRONG:
I am anxious to read the new book of my favorite author.
RIGHT:
I am eager to read the new book of my favorite author.
WRONG:
She was eager to know about her brother's condition.
RIGHT:
She was anxious to know about her brother's condition
(Here anxious is being used in the right context as the subject's anxiety has to be portrayed.)



AMOUNT and NUMBER
The word 'amount' is used to denote quantity. The word 'number' is used when the objects involved can be counted.


WRONG:
The amount of animals in the zoo was small.
RIGHT:
The number of animals in the zoo was small.
WRONG:
We saw a large amount of cars parked outside the school.
RIGHT:
We saw a large number of cars parked outside the school.
WRONG:
There was a small number of milk in the carton.
RIGHT:
There was a small amount of milk in the carton.



ALL TOGETHER and ALTOGETHER
The words all together have the meaning of 'everyone in or at the same location'. The word altogether means 'entirely'.


WRONG:
We were there altogether for the first birthday of her baby.
RIGHT:
We were there all together for the first birthday of her baby.
WRONG:
They were all together unanimous in their decision.
RIGHT:
They were altogether unanimous in their decision.


ALL RIGHT and ALRIGHT
The term all right is correct; the word alright is non-existent in acceptable usage.
WRONG:
 Everything is alright in the army camp.
RIGHT:
Everything is all right in the army camp.


ACCEPT and EXCEPT
Accept (verb) means 'to receive'.
Example: I accept your gift.


Except may be either a preposition or a verb
Example (preposition): Every girl is here except Sarah.
The word 'except' here means 'make an exception' of.

Example (verb): We except her from the responsibility.

WRONG:
 I shall except the invitation. 
RIGHT:
 I shall accept the invitation.
WRONG:
They excepted the report file given to them.
RIGHT:
They accepted the report file given to them.
WRONG:
 The doctors accepted certain possible diseases from him.
RIGHT:
The doctors excepted certain possible diseases from him. 


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