Favorite Words

Lux, here!

I figured I could ease into blogging here by starting with random thoughts about language before hitting the big super complex gender stuff that’s also been floating around my brain. It’s an adventure!

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Lots of people have a favorite color, favorite song, favorite season, favorite holiday, etc. Being a nerd of many trades, I have a soft spot for words, syntax, and language in general. My favorite English words (being my native tongue) are: spontaneity, clever, and exacerbate.

Recently, I noticed I had the word “ameliorate” popping up in my head. The more I mulled it over and thought about the definition–laughing at myself because it’s the opposite of “exacerbate”–I realized that I like this word as much as the others and can consider it one of my favorites.

There’s not really a set standard for why anything becomes my “favorite” something. For words, it’s often a combination of liking the definition, the way the word expresses the definition, and the way the word sounds/feels phonetically. Oh, and there’s almost always a sentimental reason as well.

Spontaneity is my top favorite because it literally means “randomness”. It’s just a fancy-pants noun for “random”, which is an adjective I took to heart during some of my most formative personality-building years. It sounds awesome and it’s cool to say.

Clever is one of my favorites, to be completely honest, partially because the Doctor uses the term a lot. He says things are “brilliant” too, but it just doesn’t ring the same way for me. I’ve also been complimented as being “clever” and felt very flattered, so that probably factors in.

Exacerbate is on the list because it’s incredibly amusing to me. I first heard it on Shaun of the Dead, then almost immediately again while reading the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini. (Fucking excellent book series, if you don’t mind my saying.) I guess it just tickles me that a succinct word exists to describe making things worse.

Ameliorate mostly just sounds really cool and rolls off the tongue well. Plus, it ties in with the amusement from the previous word.

Am I just super weird for having favorite words? What are some of yours, if you have any? I’m normally not great at being active in the comment community, but I will try to do better so LET ‘ER RIP.

Favorite Words
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Oh Hi, There!

Well, hello there, FTB! This is an introductory post!

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I’m Lux Pickel, and I started my actual activism within the atheist community by blogging on Teen Skepchick–one of the Skepchick sister sites. Later on, they added me to Queereka, the LGBT-oriented Skepchick site. This past October I stepped down from those positions due to my depression, which has been like a black hole eating away at my life. 😀

Basically, my life lately has been going to work, coming home to play video games and watch stuff with my lovely husband. I peruse Twitter, which is how I befriended Zinnia and her partner Heather. I’m attempting to get organized and launch into recovery mode to kick depression’s ass! I’ll let you know how that goes. Most often, posts about that stuff will be at my oddly monikered blog: Metaphorical Penis.

Stuff that I’ve written about elsewhere–which will probably show up here as well–include feminism, intersectional social justice, church/state separation, mental illness, media representations of various groups, religious influence on society and government, and patriarchy. Oh, and nerdy stuff. There will probably be random nerdy stuff. Doctor Who, Bo Burnham, Tim Minchin, World of Warcraft, language, ancient polytheistic religions… It’ll get interesting.

More random stuff about me: I’m in a recently-opened poly marriage with a gorgeous, loving guy. We have two cats who are fuzzy and good cuddlers. I’m genderqueer and pansexual and probably a 5 on a 1-10 scale of kinkiness. I like making jewelry from sheet metals like copper, silver, nickel-silver, and niobium if I could get my hands on any.

So yeah, that’s the main stuff. If you’d like to get to know me better, you can find me on all the sites. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube… umm… There are probably others, but you get the idea.

I look forward to getting to know you lovely people! Leave some comments to share the love. <3

Oh Hi, There!