Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Smellin' the Petrichor

Now that we've had our first real rain of the year, we can all breathe in the glory of the petrichor. For those of you unfortunate enough not to know the meaning of this truly remarkable word, allow me to enlighten you. Petrichor is the smell of the earth after it rains. How cool is that! If there's one thing your English teacher likes, it's a super specific word.

What are the most delectably specific words you adore?

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28 comments:

  1. Ok...I LOVEEEEE

    Pseudostratifiedciliatedkulumnarepithilium

    It's an extremely rare lung disease.

    I also like nonchalant.
    and awkward cause i like the way its spelled

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  2. Oh my God now this is my favorit word because the smell of the earth after the rain is my FAVORITE SMELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR PETRISHOR !!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. Frankly, I love the word defenestration (to push someone or something out of a window). Antidisestablishmentarianism (a religious position in the 19th century where you opposed Anglicanism as the official language of the entire United Kingdom). Prestidigitation (a magic trick performed as entertainment) is also pretty high up there. Oh, and did I mention the scientific name of the protein Titin? I would mention it, but it is about 200,000 letters long.

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  4. well, it isn't very long or complicated. the word is, doff. like sophie, i also like nonchalant.

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  5. I like that word. I LOVE that smell too! :D

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  6. me too!! Howard, please please put in the scientific name!
    I also love the WORD saliva, and not the actual THING!

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  7. ANAIS!!!!! U SPELLED PETRICHOR WRONG

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  9. sorry i removed that...there was something wrong with my emoticon bunny to represent my love of the word "munch". i love that word.

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  10. hi psalm!! i know ur reading this

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  11. i love the word lemon!!

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  12. Sophie, just go to this URL:

    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061113221628AAxlNn5

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  13. I LOVE the word redolence!! (Strongly smelling of something)

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  14. I have two:
    hippopatomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: it means the fear of long words (which is ironic because it is a long word)
    and...
    pneumoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: a disease of the lungs caused by inhaling fine silicate dust

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  15. I don't know what word I like. I really like the smell of rain (of course after the rain) too. But I just despise when there are really dark clouds and the sun is peaking out. It gives me a headache for some unknown reason. I would rather it rain my whole life than to have that dark cloud and sun mix. UGHH!

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  16. As for words, I really like the word chatoyant (resembling a cat's eye.) However, there are some really cool French words (Anaïs you probably know something better), my favorite of which is myrtille, which means blueberry. Isn't that a great word?

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  17. Oh my other favorite word is triskaidekaphobia, which is fear of the number 13. There's a weird connection between this and the Apollo 13 mission--it was Apollo ≈13≈, launched off of Pad 39 (13 x 3) at 13:13 (military time), and it failed two days later, on the 13th...creepy, right?

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  18. Bella, I've heard of triskaidekaphobia,but most everyone I know likes thirteen.

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  19. Triskaidekaphobia was more popular when people were really superstitious. My great-grandmother once invited twelve people to her house for dinner, but only eleven showed up, so counting her and my great-grandfather, there were thirteen people, and she had triskaidekaphobia, so she asked my grandmother (who was six at the time), to come sit with them for the first course so there wouldn't be thirteen people. (Another random thirteen story.)

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  21. I like the word antidisestablishmentarianism too, because it is really, really, really, really long (like 12 syllables long!) I also like the word flabbergast (to overcome with surprise or bewilderment) Try flabbergast like a cowboy would. Doesn't it sound cool (or weird. I will accept any definition of how the word sounds)

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  22. When I said "try flabbergast...", I meant "try SAYING flabbergast..." (sorry for the punctuation error)

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  23. I really like the wind. Is there a word for the smell after it's windy?

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  24. Atoll- A ring shaped reef, island, or chain of islands formed of coral. I LOVE THAT WORD!!!!!!

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