Words

What is it with me some days, finding the most mundane things funny or amusing? I ask this question and love the answer: any day I can laugh or be amused, it's a good thing. So here's what's making me snicker today: it's a few words.

Someone used the word "boilerplate" today and it made me laugh. Isn't that a disgusting word? Of course it makes me think of "boils," those horrible giant infected-looking lumps.

At an IT conference in the fall, everyone kept using the word "robust." Over and over again I heard this word. It was crazy. And it was all to describe boring software applications...and occasionally hardware. I was about to crack up.

Here's a word a friend used last week: "extemporaneous." It reminded me of the Steve Martin movie Roxanne (you know, the one where the usually big-nosed fireman falls in love with Darrell Hannah and convinces her that another fireman is writing her poetry). He would use big words that the jock fireman didn't understand, and one of those words was "extemporaneous," which formed a hilarious scene in which he referred to the night as "extemporaneous." Oh yes, it's all coming back to you now, right?

What words do you love, hate or laugh at? I know you have some.