word fads 1

Here are some words I like:
Indeed - a formidible word that doesn't really mean anything. I prefer it to other ways of expressing agreement, as it sounds scholarly and can be inserted into nearly any statement.
decasualize - to reduce or eliminate the employment of. Godamnit Mike! You are the worst pork frier I've ever seen! Consider yourself decasualized!
chimera - For years, I read this word as shie-mare'-uh, because I had only read it. No one ever used it in speech. I'm going to start pronouncing it kie-mare'-uh as a compromise with the proper pronunciation, kie-mere'-uh. I bet no one will notice. If they do, I will reassure them that their misgivings are but a chimera.
agoraphobia - the fear of crowds. Because there are so many phobias, people confuse them all the time. The other day, despite my confident assurance to the contrary, some dude tried to convince me that this meant something else.
nemesis - the dude that tried to convince me. Nothing is worse than a person who likes to argue, yet concedes nothing. Such people forsake reason for conviction.
solipsism - I first encountered this in an article entitled "Education and Solipsism," extolling Deep Springs College. Primarily a philosophical term, it refers to the theory that only the self exists or can be proven to exist. The solipsistic individual forsakes social concerns for self-examination and betterment. Solipsism is a destructive, misguided ideology.
epigone - a follower, successor, or insignificant imitator of an innovator.
spongy parenchyma - the soft tissue on the underside of a leaf. The color is paler because it is largely devoid of chloroplasts.
escapement - This is a versatile word that describes a lot of mechanical devices. [the two-pronged claw that controls the speed of the going train (the ticking cog inside your watch) by rocking back and forth, the lever arrangement in a piano that allows the hammer to fall back into position after striking a string] Basically, an escapement is a device that offers other mechanical devices an outlet, a way of escaping. How beautiful.
hectare - Both larger than and phonetically superior to acre.
icosahedron - any polyhedron with twenty triangular faces. icosa is a great prefix, and I think this is the only word that uses it.
Dope - one of the finest ways to express interest and excitement. Since Zac has been a tireless advocate of its usage, dope is comin back at ya! Is psych next?

Here are some words I hate:
diva - This was first used in the 1800s to describe outstanding female opera singers. I don't know how it was reborn, but I can tell you that before 1996 I had never heard it. Two years later, when I got back from the ranch, every dumb-ass chick was a diva. To call someone a diva is to mistake popularity for credibility. "Diva" reeks of the miasma of false empowerment.
Darwinism - Don't people know that Darwin was only one figure in the history of a rich scientific discipline? The way people use this word is akin to replacing "chemistry" with "Lavoisier-ism." Evolutionary theory encompasses far more than natural selection.
punk rock - To some people, anything rebellious is "punk rock." Any nonconformist is "punk rock." But "punk" was originally used to describe vagrants, hoodlums, and prostitutes. I don't think it has earned the right to describe this nobler quality of defiance, especially when "punk rock" defines a style of music, dress, and behavior which is governed by its own rules of conformity. I think it is ridiculous that people call Johnny Cash and Thomas Paine "punk rock."