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This thread is devoted to underused words.  I really want to see someone else use Petrichor in a story!  Go ahead, share your own favorite gems.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor

 

EDIT: The list thus far ...

 

Petrichor - https://www.dictionary.com/browse/petrichor
Vellichor - http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/post/57250260260/vellichor
Biblichor - https://lawhimsy.com/2017/09/13/word-nerd-biblichor/
Juxtaposed - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juxtaposed
Limerence - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerence
Nefarious - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nefarious
Lamentable - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lamentable
Defenestration - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/defenestration
Edited by Wayne Gray
Compiling the Awesome
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11 minutes ago, Marty said:

Cool words, yes. Not sure whether I would deliberately use any of them in a story, though, unless they were used in dialogue. They seem just a bit too obscure, and I would worry that I would interrupt the flow in the reader's mind whilst reading. I know this happens to me sometimes when I am reading and have to look up a strange word....

 

Now, if I were writing a poem it may be a different story...

 

That's a great point.  Yet, I've had some fun experiences with readers in that regard.  I stuck "petrichor" into one story, and I had several readers respond that they were happy to learn what that smell was called.  Until they saw the word for it, describing the scent was a clunky enterprise.  If anything deserves elegance, it's petrichor.

 

Can you tell that I love the rain?  It's probably not obvious.

Edited by Wayne Gray
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1 minute ago, Wayne Gray said:

Can you tell that I love the rain?  It's probably not obvious.

 

Correct! It wasn't obvious. :) 

 

I assumed, because of the -ichor ending(s), you might just like the smell of certain things. 

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A few weeks ago I read about a Japanese word that refers to the desire to use the restroom in a bookstore. Defining something and giving it a name gives it more power. Sometimes that’s a negative though, with school shootings, going ‘postal,’ and workplace shooting taking on so much meaning that they inspire copycats who never would have considered committing that act.

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20 minutes ago, droughtquake said:

A few weeks ago I read about a Japanese word that refers to the desire to use the restroom in a bookstore. Defining something and giving it a name gives it more power. Sometimes that’s a negative though, with school shootings, going ‘postal,’ and workplace shooting taking on so much meaning that they inspire copycats who never would have considered committing that act.

So natch, I just had to google that (so susceptible to dangling carrots I am - good thing I’m not a cat :P ) and what I found was quite interesting...

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I love the word petrichor. I learned it from a Doctor Who episode, lol! It was written by Neil Gaiman. I doubt anyone else could have managed to fit that word into a family sci-fi show...

 

I'm fond of 'juxtaposed'. It's not so much the meaning of it, but it just rolls off the tongue so wonderfully, I find.

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4 hours ago, Marty said:

 

Correct! It wasn't obvious. :) 

 

I assumed, because of the -ichor ending(s), you might just like the smell of certain things. 

ichor is actually a watery discharge  or more, what flows in the veins of Gods ...  Or in a story i wrote the name of a planet, Ichor3  aka New Australia

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1 hour ago, Thorn Wilde said:

I love the word petrichor. I learned it from a Doctor Who episode, lol! It was written by Neil Gaiman. I doubt anyone else could have managed to fit that word into a family sci-fi show...

 

I'm fond of 'juxtaposed'. It's not so much the meaning of it, but it just rolls off the tongue so wonderfully, I find.

 

Not SciFi, but I've used petrichor. And vellichor. Different books, same character and series.

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1 minute ago, Carlos Hazday said:

My favorite word used in one of my stories is LIMERENCE. My editor warned me it could piss some readers off because they would have to look it up, but I actually received a couple of compliments on it.

I had to look it up.  Worth the time.  It's a great word, particularly for a romance writer!

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