On Happy Words

One of the things that makes me happiest is words.  Especially ones written down or oddly juxtaposed or particularly mellifluous or having a very specific meaning.  In light of this, a few word-based things that make me happy:

Word Origins: I am a sucker for etymologies, especially the shocking number of words (even really short ones) that have something to do with Latin, and the sense of joy I get out of seeing words that almost completely change in meaning from the Old English to present.  Hence: The Online Etymology Dictionary.

(And for words you think you know how to spell, say, or use, the ever-popular Dictionary.com with its wonderful Word of the Day and the unjustly overlooked Merriam-Webster Trend Watch, which keeps tracks of unusual spikes in word search frequency and links these spikes to media occurrances.)

Journals: I am also a sucker for really nice blank books, and for writing exercises.  I don't do nearly enough daily, recreational, non-project-related writing and it makes me a wee bit sad.  But perhaps over the summer I will practice using some of these ideas: Bernadette Mayer's collected suggestions for journaling,  dream journals (to enhance the super-awesome but probably spurious practice of lucid dreaming, where you can consciously control what you dream about and thus have awesome adventures every night -- except I'd probably lucid-dream about sitting quietly by the fire with a cup of tea and a book....)  And LISTS.  I love making lists of strange things.  Like these people.

Fictitious Band Names:  I love how strange words when put together can instantly make you think of the kind of band that pick such a weird phrase as a title.  Some of the ones I've come up with on my lonesome include Crafty Arachnid, Pink Bunny Suicide Zone, and It Pours Hot Water.  I'm also a fan of turning verbs or adjectives into plural nouns and tacking "the" in front of it -- both classic and cutting-edge.  So: The Shines, the Leaps, the Sketches, the Throws, the Trues, the Alls, the Zaps.  Could get super-meta and be called The Thes.

Also, one particularly memorable philosophy class yielded the following (all of which sound like pretenious shoegazing Canadian alt, to me, at least, maybe with a little socially-conscious riot grrrl thrown in.)
Beaver Soul
Lone Orca
Ugly Talentless Women
Come On Neanderthal

I really wish a few of these existed so I could be fans of them.

Finally, a word on fonts:  I hate and despise Helvetica, Arial and Courier.  For a long time I've preferred to stick to my sweet and responsive Times New Roman, but lately Georgia has been in the process of seducting seducing me with its pleasing old-timey chunkiness.  It's like the difference between a size 2 model dressed in ubermodern clothes, and the quirky pleasure of a full-figured specimen in a bustle.  For me, something as simple as paying attention to what fonts I prefer is helpful in the process of determining and owning my aesthetic tendancies.

Hugs and kisses, dahlinks.