No, not a new art band. These are among the 70 most beautiful words in the English language according to the more than 40,000 folks surveyed by the British Council. Respondents were living in non-English speaking countries, though it seems clear that they were learning English from Britishers; note "smashing" at #55 and "oi" at #61, for example.
I'm not sure how scientific the survey is, but it's interesting. The BBC has a couple of brief pieces on it, and here's the list:
1.Mother 2.Passion 3.Smile 4.Love 5.Eternity 6.Fantastic
7.Destiny 8.Freedom 9.Liberty 10.Tranquillity 11.Peace 12.Blossom
13.Sunshine 14.Sweetheart 15.Gorgeous 16.Cherish 17.Enthusiasm
18.Hope 19.Grace 20.Rainbow 21.Blue 22.Sunflower 23.Twinkle
24.Serendipity 25.Bliss 26.Lullaby 27.Sophisticated 28.Renaissance
29.Cute 30.Cosy 31.Butterfly 32.Galaxy 33.Hilarious 34.Moment
35.Extravaganza 36.Aqua 37.Sentiment 38.Cosmopolitan 39.Bubble
40.Pumpkin 41.Banana 42.Lollipop 43.If 44.Bumblebee 45.Giggle
46.Paradox 47.Delicacy 48.Peekaboo 49.Umbrella 50.Kangaroo
51.Flabbergasted 52.Hippopotamus 53.Gothic 54.Coconut 55.Smashing
56.Whoops 57.Tickle 58.Loquacious 59.Flip-flop 60.Smithereens
61.Oi 62.Gazebo 63.Hiccup 64.Hodgepodge 65.Shipshape 66.Explosion
67.Fuselage 68.Zing 69.Gum 70.Hen-night
Those of you also interested in the "wordiness" of words should check out Motherless Brooklyn. It's a great novel about small time gangsters told from the point of view of a man with Tourettes Syndrome.
2 comments:
Some of those words aren't English words. They forgot my favorites, "free" and "not guilty".
Myself, I love that "if" is on the list.
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