Are you a word freak? Here is a short quiz to test yourself. Be honest–no one is looking! 
1) Do you have a favorite word?
2) When you’re asked #1, do you have to stop and ask, “Favorite word, as in how it sounds? Or favorite word, as in how it looks?” For example, “egregious” sounds awesome, but looks gross. “Glimmer” looks gorgeous, but is kind of blah in the ear.
3) Do you have a most-hated word? And can it change from year to year? For instance, I’m in a writing program right now, and the next person who says “trope” to me is taking a big risk.
4) Do you know, and even use, any of the nonsense words, like “brillig” or “snicker-snack,” from “Jabberwocky”?
5) Do you rarely have to say “lalala…dum-de-dum” when you’re singing along to your iPod? Do you always know almost all the words?
6) When you come to a grammatically incorrect lyric, do you ever correct it as you sing? I mean, no one corrects “I can’t get no satisfaction,” but what about “I’m not willing to lay down and die, because I am an innocent man”?
7) Have you ever painted a room a color like “Pool Party” or “Amethyst Haze,” just because you love the name?
8 ) Do you steal great lines from your favorite movies and use them in your own life? “Frankly, my dear,” you might say when someone points out there are 1,000 calories in that slice of cheesecake, “I don’t give a damn.”
9) Do you ever write down your wishes, as if that gives them reality and power? Do you sometimes refuse to speak your fears out loud? Do you have your own “He-who-must-not-be-named?”
10) Fill in your own Word Freak Truth here. Chances are, if you’re a Word Freak, you probably didn’t have to take this quiz to know it.
If you answered “Yes” to five out of the ten questions, you’re probably a word-lover, at least.
Six or seven “Yes” answers, and you’re definitely a member of the club!
Eight or more? We’re best friends and just don’t know it yet!
So, come on…share your Number 10 with me! What quirky thing do you do that proves you belong to this club? I can’t wait to hear!
Not really a Word Freak thing, but I love looking at words backward. Probably stems from when we were kids, and my dad would say, “Don’t you dare read that street sign backward.” (Street name: Moorpark). Or when we’d turn onto Foothill, he would pronounce it “Footh ill” He also loved malaprops, and would turn “Peggy Lee” into … well, you can figure it out.
And yes to the grammar issued in song lyrics. Of course, I’m drawing a blank as to which Beatles song it is. I’ll be back if I remember. It was one of the slow ones…Maybe Paul McCartney.
Terry, those car games sound fantastic! I actually have a board game called “Backwords,” and I’m *abysmal* at it! I bet you’d be good, with all that practice! When you remember the Beatles song, come back and post it, okay? I bet I’ve had the same problem with it…although ordinarily I don’t allow myself to think ill of Paul McCartney in any way.
OK, not really the Beatles. But it’s Paul McCartney. Lyrics to Live and Let Die:
But if this ever-changing world in which we live in
The “in which we live in” bugs me every single time.
Oh, I remember being wildly bugged by that one, too! But then, one day out of the blue, I thought…hey, maybe it’s saying “The world in which we’re living.” So now I hear it that way instead. I really should look it up and see whether I’m giving him too much credit, just because…well, because he’s Paul McCartney!
1) “Delicious.” I just love that your mouth moves all around to say this word… just as it does when you eat something that’s delicious!
2) LOL I did that just now!
3) Yes, several. “Trope” is pretty high on my list these days, too.
4) Frabjous!
5) People who don’t know all the words to their favorite songs confuse me. That said, when I don’t know the words, I love to make them up, “frabjous” style.
6) Rent: I sing, “… so be causteated./ I’m getting nauseated!” Yeah, I have to make up a word to keep the rhyme, but it’s worth it.
7) Not painted a room, but I have picked out clothes based on ridiculous names like that.
8) Seventy percent of my vocabulary comes from films I love.
9) If I don’t write it down, it’s not real! If I say it… it is. *cues scary music*
10) You have a favorite letter!
LOL….LOVE your answers! I hadn’t thought of “delicious” that way, but you’re so right! Your number ten is awesome, too. My favorite letter is “M,” because when I’m happy I think it has a beautifully satisfied sound, but when I’m down I can hear the murmuring of it. Ooh…”murmur” is one of my favorite words!
I’ve heard some experts say that the olfactory sense is the strongest for making associations between smells and events or people. For me, words always trigger memories and people more deeply. My high school sweetheart, who is now a high-powered lawyer, used to love the word “grapple.” Every time I hear that word, it triggers a memory of him using it in high school debate tournaments. Just as the phrase “hoist on your own petard” reminds me of one of my clients, who misunderstood it to be “hung on your own guitar string.” Sense of smell be damned. Words rule!
Favorite word: adorable
Least favorite words: denied and irrefutable.
Painted my room: Vanilla bean because it reminded me of ice cream.
LOLOLOL, Terri. You honestly did make me laugh out loud. First of all, every high school boyfriend loves the word “grapple.” In fact, isn’t that practically a synonym for “high school boyfriend”?
And as for “hoist on your own petard” I will never, ever hear that the same way again.
Now I must have a vanilla bean room.