Friday, December 28, 2007

My Favorite Word

One of my brother's best friends, Tony, is British. I've heard a number of hilarious stories about this guy since he and my brother met but the following observation (paraphrased below) has not only far surpassed all of the interesting tidbits that I've gleaned from William Safire's On Language over the years but also helped me to define my favorite word.

"The English language has so many beautiful plural nouns like a gaggle of geese, a pack of wolves, a litter of kittens, and a yoke of oxen but you Americans have synthesized them all into one comprehensive word. 'Honey, look! There's a sh*tload of deer in the yard.' "

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Sh*tload is a very useful term of measurement. It works with every possible noun. Sh*tload of politicians, sh*tload of rocks, sh*tload of stars in the sky -- heck, you can even have a sh*tload of sh*t. What could be easier?