The Fishwhacker Swindle?: 3 A.M. thoughts

Thursday, December 29, 2005

3 A.M. thoughts

The best words in English are the ones that start with a consonant, preferably a plosive, followed by the letter r. Brood, prune, frown, prick, drool… all wonderfully evocative. Shrew is great too, though it doesn’t follow the rule strictly. On the whole, words of one syllable are best, but there are some excellent exceptions, including my favourite word of all time, drivel, which begins with a superb punch and rambles off like the thing it’s describing.

There are those who claim that the word is mightier than the rifle. The cunts would have been no use at all at Kronstadt.

- Leon Trotsky

# posted by Foot Eater @ 4:27 am

Comments:

Fruck and Crunt work pretty well too!

# posted by

Kim Ayres : 5:05 pm

They do, they do... and 'crunt' reminds me of another two great (real) ones: 'cruel' and 'grunt'. 'Crap' on the other hand I've never liked - it's too overused to have retained any of its beauty or power.

# posted by

Foot Eater : 2:30 am

Mmm great post, Footsie. I agree! Something about the consonant + r combination is just... provocative! Indeed...

# posted by

LindyK : 3:38 am

Got a bit of a problem with 'provocative', though. It's too long, and the impact of the opening shot gets lost. 'Provo' is quite good, but I don't do politics.

# posted by

Foot Eater : 3:48 am

You're right, provocative is too long (although I wasn't really going for the consonant + r word). I think they have to be monosyllabic as well, for that strength you're talking about. What about crush? I'd say that's provocative enough -- the insinuations are there...

Cheers for the link, Footsie!

# posted by

LindyK : 1:26 am

'Crush', yes, lovely and violent, LindyK.

# posted by

Foot Eater : 1:53 am

Lovely and violent indeed -- what else could you want?!

# posted by

LindyK : 2:26 am