Friday List: Words To Tickle

I am a great lover (and perverter) of the English language.  I think it is a beautiful thing and can create and capture some of the most poignant moments of the human experience.

IT CAN ALSO BE DAMNED FUNNY!

For this Friday List, I will offer up some of the words that make me laugh, no matter how grave the situation.

1. ELVIS

I don't know what it is about the name of The King, but I always snirk a little when I hear it. Maybe it's because of the scene in Kalafornia when Brat Pitt yells "Elvis, get off him!" to the one dog screwing the other dog. Or maybe it's the whole kitsch of  people impersonating him.  I'm not sure, but that name is so funny to me.  If I ever own a rooster, I'm naming it Elvis.

2. MONKEY

Okay, has there ever been a better named animal than monkeys?  Monkeys LOOK like they should be called monkeys. Monkey gets even funnier when you put it with other words. "monkey dance" "monkey business." See? Funny!  When I hear the word "monkey" in my head, I always see millions of monkeys in the sky, floating along with bananas.    Yes, even when I hear "the monkey then attacked the man's face."

3.  PILGRIM

This has to be proof that I'm crazy. There is nothing remotely funny about this word.  It is made from the sound of two words (pill and grim) that both evoke BAD.  Yet, I laugh whenever I hear the word.  I'm not sure why "pilgrim" makes me chuckle so. I know they suffered a lot and then did bad things to others, but to me, they will always be a bunch of dudes in fugly hats and women with panties on their heads who are trying to sneak up on a turkey.

4. RHOMBUS

This one got me into trouble a lot back during Freshmen Geometry. A rhombus, as you will recall, is a quadrilateral where all four sides equal the same length. Boring, right?

Well, not to me. For some reason, any word that has one syllable followed by another syllable that ends in -"us" and I am going to find it funny.  And while I intellectually know what a rhombus really is, in my mind, it will always be a bulldog smoking a cigar and wearing a clown hat. And I have no idea WHERE that image came from, but if you say "rhombus" that is what pops into my brain.

Needless to say, if I ever own a bulldog, its name shall be Rhombus.

Do I have a point with this list?

Oh yes, I do. When you were a little kid, you watched the people around you, you listened to them, and sometimes, yes, they even worked with you and through all of that, you acquired language skills.  Our ability to speak and put words to images, symbols to ideas, is one of our fundamental building blocks, and for most of us, usually one of our first accomplishments.

Often unless something happens to take away our ability to speak, we don't think much about it.  We should though.  We are in possession of all of these words and sounds and related images.  Given that, maybe we should take some time to allow our brains to play with these concepts and see what we find. After all, I think everyone out there has words they find funny.  Maybe if you discover your "funny words," it can help you in times of stress.

Just think! Next time your pipes burst, you could console yourself by handling it like an adult on the outside and thinking "Monkey monkey monkey" on the inside.