The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Words

Clint Eastwood could make another movie. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Words” and have a duo of writers ride into town, earnestly ready to clean up the vocabulary of the inhabitants, whether they want this decree or not. This dynamic duo, stocked with guns of versatile words, shoot the innocent victim when he or she is having difficulty describing the day to their partner. Such as: “Darn Susan, I was thinking how…uh…what’s the word now…” Bam! Shot. “Oh yes, I was saying how the clouds cascade down the mountainside like ebullient children full of incandescent light. I find the whole experience ineffable. Don’t you?”

Wow! I used 4 “Beautiful Words” from the author’s list below in the quoted material under “Beautiful Words”. Cascade. Ebullient. Incandescent. Ineffable. I like referring to the list. Makes writing much easier.

Now let’s try the “Ugly Words”. This should be great fun! Ugly inspires too. “Sometimes ugly words are like leeches that suck on the repulsive, repugnant, and rancid events of life and chafe the decrepit souls of man,” said the town’s philosopher after he was shot by the languid and lithe hands of the dynamic duo. Yeah! This time I used 6 “Ugly Words”, 2 “Beautiful Words” the author offered as descriptive terms in his list below under “Ugly Words” and “Beautiful Words”. I’m having the time of my life.

Are you ready to try your hand at this? Together let’s come up with some “Bad” words to add to the author’s list below. He seems to haven forgotten those. I’ll start.

Bad Words

Disaster
Grimy
Pantywaist (look that one up)
Pallbearer

Well I could go on an on. Read. Enjoy adding on to your vocabulary.

“One of the many fascinating features of our language is how often words with pleasant associations are also quite pleasing on the tongue and even to the eye, and how many words, by contrast, acoustically and visually corroborate their disagreeable nature — look no further than the heading for this post.

Enrich the poetry of your prose by applying words that provide precise connotation while also evoking emotional responses. (Note the proportion of beautiful words to ugly ones in the compilation below; it’s easier to conjure the former than the latter, though I omitted words associated with bodily functions, as well as onomatopoeic terms.)

Notice how often attractive words present themselves to define other beautiful ones, and note also how many of them are interrelated, and what kind of sensations, impressions, and emotions they have in common. Also, try enunciating beautiful words as if they were ugly, or vice versa. Are their sounds suggestive of their quality, or does their meaning wholly determine their effect on us?

Beautiful Words

Amorphous: indefinite, shapeless
Beguile: deceive
Caprice: impulse
Cascade: steep waterfall
Cashmere: fine, delicate wool
Chrysalis: protective covering
Cinnamon: an aromatic spice; its soft brown color
Coalesce: unite, or fuse
Crepuscular: dim, or twilit
Crystalline: clear, or sparkling
Desultory: half-hearted, meandering
Diaphanous: gauzy
Dulcet: sweet
Ebullient: enthusiastic
Effervescent: bubbly
Elision: omission
Enchanted: charmed
Encompass: surround
Enrapture: delighted
Ephemeral: fleeting
Epiphany: revelation
Epitome: embodiment of the ideal
Ethereal: celestial, unworldly, immaterial
Etiquette: proper conduct
Evanescent: fleeting
Evocative: suggestive
Exuberant: abundant, unrestrained, outsize
Felicity: happiness, pleasantness
Filament: thread, strand
Halcyon: care-free
Idyllic: contentedly pleasing
Incorporeal: without form
Incandescent: glowing, radiant, brilliant, zealous
Ineffable: indescribable, unspeakable
Inexorable: relentless
Insouciance: nonchalance
Iridescent: luster
Languid: slow, listless
Lassitude: fatigue
Lilt: cheerful or buoyant song or movement
Lithe: flexible, graceful
Lullaby: soothing song
Luminescence: dim chemical or organic light
Mellifluous: smooth, sweet
Mist: cloudy moisture, or similar literal or virtual obstacle
Murmur: soothing sound
Myriad: great number
Nebulous: indistinct
Opulent: ostentatious
Penumbra: shade, shroud, fringe
Plethora: abundance
Quiescent: peaceful
Quintessential: most purely representative or typical
Radiant: glowing
Redolent: aromatic, evocative
Resonant: echoing, evocative
Resplendent: shining
Rhapsodic: intensely emotional
Sapphire: rich, deep bluish purple
Scintilla: trace
Serendipitous: chance
Serene: peaceful
Somnolent: drowsy, sleep inducing
Sonorous: loud, impressive, imposing
Spherical: ball-like, globular
Sublime: exalted, transcendent
Succulent: juicy, tasty, rich
Suffuse: flushed, full
Susurration: whispering
Symphony: harmonious assemblage
Talisman: charm, magical device
Tessellated: checkered in pattern
Tranquility: peacefulness
Vestige: trace
Zenith: highest point

Ugly Words

Cacophony: confused noise
Cataclysm: flood, catastrophe, upheaval
Chafe: irritate, abrade
Coarse: common, crude, rough, harsh
Cynical: distrustful, self-interested
Decrepit: worn-out, run-down
Disgust: aversion, distaste
Grimace: expression of disgust or pain
Grotesque: distorted, bizarre
Harangue: rant
Hirsute: hairy
Hoarse: harsh, grating
Leech: parasite,
Maladroit: clumsy
Mediocre: ordinary, of low quality
Obstreperous: noisy, unruly
Rancid: offensive, smelly
Repugnant: distasteful
Repulsive: disgusting
Shriek: sharp, screeching sound
Shrill: high-pitched sound
Shun: avoid, ostracize
Slaughter: butcher, carnage
Unctuous: smug, ingratiating
Visceral: crude, anatomically graphic”

I feel so unctuous now that I won’t slaughter the English language anymore with my maladroit and mediocre language. Or was my writing just a cacophony of noise falling on deaf ears? I think I’ll just float away on those ebullient and incandescent clouds. Now it’s your turn… keep writing!

100 Beautiful and Ugly Words
by Mark Nichol

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/100-beautiful-and-ugly-words/