my favorite words

Everyone has a triple word score word. A gem of a word that is kept in your verbal arsenal for unexpected gatherings at a friend's home where snooty English majors might appear.

I love such words. I file them away in a mysterious mental catacomb that I imagine looks like the files of one mixed-up Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

These are my cherry picked favorites...at least upon quick recollection:

minutia: A small or trivial detail.

supercilious: Feeling or showing haughty disdain.

xenophobe: One unduly fearful or contemptuous of strangers or foreigners.

lexicon: A specialized vocabulary.

catbird seat: A position of great prominence or advantage .

beleaguer: To harass: beset.

flummox: To confuse: perplex.

onomatopoeia: The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.