Sunday night links: word power

Here are some lazy Sunday night links to bloggers who know the power, and the pleasure, of words.

Starting with singer/songwriter Christine Kane (who so many other bloggers have mentioned, I just had to go and visit), we have 13 cool words.  There are some great words here, including a made up one, and my personal favourite from her list: gubernatorial.  (As Christine says, you can choose words not for the meaning but for the feeling of them in  your mouth – like candy.)

I already knew that Brad Shorr loved words from his word nerd test at Word Sell.  He warms up with words at his Scrambled Toast site, and I loved his invention (I think?!) and definition of “swiposuction”.  Check out the post to find out what it means.

There’s a link to another word power challenge from Nancy Friedman at Away With Words – together with a link to another level of challenge, to provide your definitions before you see the multiple choice options.  (I have to confess I do cheat and look at the multiple choice options at Word Sell, mainly because Brad’s possible definitions are so much fun).

Matthew Stibbe at Bad Language has a rant about what happens when words start to lose their meaning -  in this example calling airline pilots “flight service professionals”.  I particularly liked his extension of this to other fields – like the translation of “brain surgeons” to “cranial re-engineering specialists”

Last but not least, we had a 4th July reminder from Laura at Writing Thoughts that words matter – that ideas, dreams, concepts and the words we use to describe them can shape the history of a nation.  As she writes,

“Words are important. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Thanks to everyone for writing such great stuff last week. I look forward to being bowled over by more word power in the 7 days that follow.