Jeffrey Nunberg, a linguist, read an essay on Fresh
Air about favorite words. One must be careful, he said, choosing her
favorite word. A favorite word must delicately balance both the pleasing
sound of the word with its meaning. "Ermine" is a good choice, but who
could love a word like "vermin"? And "melanoma" would be a good
candidate if only it meant something different, like a tropical breeze or
fish. Mr. Nunberg's five-year-old daughter immediately grasped all that
is entailed in selecting a favorite word: she chose "knucklehead."
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