Marvelous Nuances

I love language. I do. All the twists and nuances and shades of meaning fascinate me no end.

I often find myself searching for exactly the right word to express myself. I find it deeply satisfying when I land upon just the right turn of a phrase.

One thing I particularly enjoy is when there a several words that all express the same general idea but with subtle differences, like pernicious, baneful, noxious, deleterious and detrimental. Or how about sarcastic, ironic, caustic, satirical and sardonic?

I'm also quite fond of it when words from other languages wander into common usage ... like schadenfreude.

And then there are words that are just plain fun ... words like giggle, sparkle, doily and one of my all-time favorites ... callipygous.