The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #78137   Message #1400759
Posted By: Bee-dubya-ell
06-Feb-05 - 12:55 PM
Thread Name: BS: Beautiful Names for Nasty Things
Subject: BS: Beautiful Names for Nasty Things
No, I don't have too much time on my hands. I've just been doing a lot of the type of dull, repetitive manual labor that leaves one's mind free to wonder about weird stuff. Specifically, I've been sawing up and burning trees that Hurricane Ivan knocked down back in September. So, it has occurred to me that, though hurricanes are one of my very least favorite things, the actual word "hurricane" is quite lovely. It has intrinsic beauty. If it didn't already mean what it does, it would make a very nice name for a flower. And "hurricane" isn't the only beautiful name for a natural disaster. "Tornado" and "tsunami" are beautiful words as well.   

Most nasty things seem to usually have either nasty short little clippy names or long unpronouncable things that require too much effort. "Cancer" is just an ugly word. And who could possibly ever think "infarction" is beautiful? But there are exceptions.

And, since I'm not feeling quite 100% this morning, the words "nausea" and "vertigo" have popped into mind and I've found that they resonate quite nicely if one can disassociate their sounds from their meanings.

Any other candidates? How about "fistula"?