I like words.

That may sound like a strange statement but it’s true. I like words. I like reading them. I like writing them. I like speaking them. I love how words often sound like their meaning. How certain ones flow off the tongue effortlessly and others are succinct little chirps. I love the differing number of syllables and how some are spelled phonetically and others have no rhyme or reason to their spelling whatsoever. I love silent letters and multiple meanings. But mostly I just love words.

I like them all, but I do have my favorites, the ones I use over and over again, the ones I probably use too often. There’s really no explaining why I love these particular words. They’re not the most difficult or the most eloquent sounding. They’re just my favorites. And if you know me in real life, or even if you frequently read my stuff here on CollegeCandy, you’ll know that these words are, in fact, a very big part of my everyday vernacular.

Ooh vernacular, now that’s a good word…

10. Legit. A shorthanded slang for legitimately. Often used by me for statements that are far from legitimate. But using the shortened version, “legit,” instead of “legitimately” makes the hyperbole okay somehow. At least for me.

9. Quip. A witty comeback. A short statement. I think I love using the word quip so much because I like to quip. A lot. So if I refer to other people’s comments as quips than maybe they’ll refer to my comments in the same way. Plus I like the alliteration of “quick quip.”

8. Simultaneously. A very, very pretty word that, let’s face it, sounds a hell of a lot more eloquent than “at the same time.”

7.  Quintessential. Not really a word you hear in everyday language, but I use it all the time. And probably more often than is appropriate. But I can’t help myself. It’s one of those words that just flows off the tongue. The “s” sound makes it sound so pretty.

6. Touché. This is a favorite of mine mostly because it allows you to still sound like you have the upper-hand even when admitting that your opponent actually has a point. Like, sure, you may have won the argument, but do you know how to bow out gracefully with words that require an accent? I do.

5. Repartee. More often than not when I used this word it’s preceded by the word witty. Because really, what’s the point of having a repartee if it’s not a witty repartee?

4. Pretentious. I’ve described more people than I care to admit using this word. It’s great because it allows you to sound important and intelligent and sure of yourself while making it sound like a bad thing when someone else behaves in the exact same way.

3. Adorable. Perfect for describing a puppy or a pair or shoes. Very few words are as adaptable as the word adorable. So make the most of it, why don’t you.

2. Absurd. A word my brother knows well. Mostly because it’s how I describe every one of his statements/actions/decisions since I was old enough to learn the word.

1. Fabulous.  Blame it on Carrie Bradshaw or Coco Chanel. Or whoever you please, but fabulous will pretty much always be my favorite word in the English dictionary. And you know why? Because it’s fabulous.

I know I’m not the only lover of language out there. What are your favorite words? 

Remember when you were a little kid, and you’d actually wake up on time for school… just so you could huddle next to the radio and listen for your school to be called on the list of snow days? With winter’s doom impending and temperatures dropping faster than The Situation’s pants, we can’t help but cross our fingers and pray.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Are snow days something you never grow out of? Or, in college, do they prove that miracles really can happen? Here’s how our anticipation of snow days has evolved since grammar school.

Then: A snow day meant a day off from times tables.
Now: We don’t have to finish copying someone else’s MiniTabs before Stats lab.

Then: We would make a beeline to the street and get all the neighborhood kids together for a snowball fight.
Now: We don’t have to brave arctic winds to walk to class and sit through lecture with snotsicles hanging from our frostbitten faces. Read More »

We might be too old to go door-to-door and ask strangers for candy… but we’re not too old to dress up as slutty versions of our favorite childhood fairy tales characters, animals, or public service workers, are we? Besides, if we’re struggling to pay $49.99 for a “Sexy Bull Fighter” costume, dammit, we want to get the most bang for our buck!

Here are a few games and party options that you can host throughout Halloween week, just to get into the spirit of things!

Liquor Treat
This game can be the most fun, but is also the most difficult to pull off, especially if you live in a dorm with a strict RA or a No-Alcohol Policy. Similar to an “Around-the-World” party, you have to rally everyone on your floor/in your apartment building to participate. The members of each room or apartment choose a theme…and a type of liquor. When guests arrive, they go door to door and can stay to mingle in any room they like. When they ring the doorbell, they are also rewarded with a shot– hence, this is the grown-up’s version of Trick or Treat. Read More »

“My Boyfriend” is a phrase many of us single ladies would like to add to our vocabulary.

Some of us are the Charlottes who are happy knowing at the end of the day there is a guy that will be thinking about us before we fall asleep. Some of us are the Samanthas who are happy knowing we have a guy we can shag before we fall asleep. Ahh, and then there are those in between-ers like myself. We want someone to love and shag us before we tuck in for the night.

Whichever category you fall into, it’s no wonder we’re all looking for that special person to “complete” us.

Having a boyfriend brings about a sense of pride and accomplishment. It gives us all feelings of worth, self esteem and validation. Oh, and a serious case of the butterflies.

As sad as that may be, it’s the truth. Sure, the powerful and independent woman can find all of that on her own, but the fact is we’ve been taught our whole lives to want a boyfriend. Case in point: romantic movies. Those friggin’ things don’t do jack sh!t for a single girl besides motivate those starry-eyed expectations of how the majority of real guys act. Homegirl, I’m not talkin’ only about movies along the lines of “The Notebook” either. Those Disney Princess movies of carpet rides and glass slippers laced our childhood hopes of boyfriends with metaphorical crack before we got our training wheels off.

So yes, I want a boyfriend! You want a boyfriend! Your dog wants a boyfriend! Read More »

Remember when you were a little kid, and you’d actually wake up on time for school… just so you could huddle next to the radio and listen for your school to be called on the list of snow days?

With winter’s doom impending and temperatures dropping faster than an eight ball at Amy Winehouse’s flat, we can’t help but cross our fingers and pray… Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Are snow days something you never grow out of? Or, in college, do they prove that miracles really can happen? Here’s how our anticipation of snow days has evolved since grammar school.

Then: A snow day meant a day off from times tables.

Now: We don’t have to finish copying someone else’s MiniTabs before Stats lab.

Then: We would make a beeline to the street and get all the neighborhood kids together for a snowball fight.

Now: We don’t have to brave arctic winds to walk to class and sit through lecture with snot-cicles hanging from our frostbitten faces.

Then: Since we were already up at the crack of dawn, we could take advantage of the snow day and start building a snow man as soon as we got “the word.”

Now: We can go back to sleep for about six hours, and wake up just in time for happy hour. Read More »

I owe Mark Zuckerberg a thank-you note for the many hours of procrastination and ability to do brief background-checks on guys my friends or I have dated, but my love for the Facebook pales in comparison to my adoration of the best application ever.

I admit, I was what a communications professor would have categorized as a “laggard” of technology users (See? You use these random bits from class sometimes!), and I absolutely, passionately, vehemently loathed the applications on Facebook. A good friend of mine went so far as to title the profiles with superwalls, superpokes, the ability to throw sheep at people and start zombie fights as “MySpaced out profiles,” and we would roll our eyes together at how lame our generation had become. Was it not enough that we had integrated Facebook into our daily lives, making it a verb and using it to evaluate our acquaintances and friends alike? Lame, indeed, twenty-somethings. And so I was a staunch hater of all things that were not on the original Facebook.

That is, until I discovered Scrabulous. Read More »

SAT. What a horrible word. The lost hours that stupid test took from me will never be replaced, and the sheer embarrassment I felt looking at my math score will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The English part of that standardized bullshit was easier for me than the mind numbing numbers sections, but a little thing called vocabulary kept me from getting a top score. Learning words that people don’t use on a daily basis wasn’t ever something I cared to do, but had I only known a few more nerdy terms, I could have hit the language jackpot.

Classless Education, a “collective of comedy writers and educators” have decided I’m not the only one who could use some vocab help. The group recently put out a book called The Yo Momma Vocabulary Builder, an “irreverent, educational” paperback that attempts to teach the finer points of language with some of the oldest jokes in the book. Read More »