These are a few of my favorite words ...

I learned to read at age three. I did not go charging out the gate reading at an adult level -- in fact,
I'm told I spent a couple refusing to read anything that didn't have pictures on one side of the page. Still, I was ahead of my classmates once I reached kindergarten -- "The Little Engine that Could? I read that LAST year." My poor teacher didn't know whether to yell or laugh.

By the time I was seven, I could read the front page of the paper and Readers' Digest. In other words, I read at a sixth-grade level. I did not always comprehend at a sixth-grade level. The sentence "Drop for drop, a bee's venom is more venomous than that of a cobra" sent me screaming to my mom with, "The bees are going to kill us!" It took my mom some time to explain that "drop for drop" to my satisfaction.

The case I'm trying to make is that I've had a lot of time to accumulate words -- big words, small words, words in other languages, archaic words. I'd like to share a few of my favorite words here:

• Flabbergasted -- astonishment with a sense of speechlessness and probably some discomfort. My sister once asked my mother why I used the word 'flabbergasted' when surprised was a perfectly good word. Mom came to my rescue, "I'm surprised when someone gives me a present. I'm flabbergasted when someone drops their drawers in front of me." 

• Eke -- to support oneself with difficulty or to allocate scarce supplies. An old word, "eked" is elegant in its simplicity -- "He eked out a living in the desert."

• Defenestrate -- to throw out a window. Too specific? The official definition suggests that a person is the proper object of defenestration, but I have threatened to defenestrate my computer at various times.

• Palaver -- prolonged and idle discussion; also the name of a type of African sauce made from pulverized greens and spices and served over rice, fufu, or dumplings. I have encountered both definitions; the latter makes for tasty food.

• Vitriol -- I hated Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series. My father did as well -- he suggested killing off the main character in the first chapter and saving us all some annoyance. But the few pages I read introduced me to a perfectly good word -- vitriol, which means cruel and bitter criticism. I think Donaldson used it for every little rant, however, so I'm not sure he used it correctly. He loved the word, though.

• Caterwaul -- the shrill wailing a cat makes. You can hear the noise when you read the word, can't you?

• Mystique -- I love the sound, I love the look, I love the idea of the word, which means the air of mystery someone or something carries. I, myself, have no mystique, being an open book with the words "Ask Me Anything" across the spine. 

I'm looking for more words. Drop me a response with one of your favorite words (English or not) with definitions!