Wednesday, July 06, 2005

That which by any other name

The other night at the Cheesecake Bistro we’re sitting around talking, and I bring up the question of the night: “Is there any word that you wish had a different meaning?”

Put another way: is there a word that you love the sound of, but it means something you don’t care for at all. For me #1 would have to be Chlamydia. If you ignore the definition, and just say the word, it sounds good in the mouth and rolling off the tongue. (Go ahead. Right now. Say it! Don’t worry about what they person in the next cubicle will think. Shout “CHLAMYDIA!!!”)

Sadly, Chlamydia means what it means, instead of something cool like an ancient Babylonia Civilization or a fabled Fountain of Youth.

This prompted Sparrow to tell the following story. She went to visit her mother, who had a large Camellia flowering tree. Sparrow forgot the exact name, so she ended up saying, “Hey mom, how’s your Chlamydia?”

That pretty much broke the table up. No one really had any good ideas after that. (Well, Quincy said “abomination,” but he didn’t know what he’d want it to mean.)

What about you? Any of you have word that should mean something else?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I am going to have to think on this one for a while, but in a story similar to that told by sparrow is the fact that Handsome tends to get "vulva" confused with "volvo". This can either be amusing or embarrasing depending on the conversation and the company. Keep 'em coming. :)

Anonymous said...

I never noticed, that is a nice word to say. I think my fav is Puma, but it also means something cool as well!

Anonymous said...

The word I would choose is Abyss. It sounds too soothing and romantic to mean a deep dark void.

I think abyss should refer to something sweet - an act of affection. For instance, if someone gives you a soft gentle nuzzle on the back of your neck, it should be called an Abyss.