Tip o’ the pileus to June Samaras on the Classics list for alerting us to this accolade … here’s the incipit of how the Atlantic spun the tale:
Ted McCagg is a creative director in advertising in Portland, Oregon. In his spare time, for the past five years or so, McCagg has been keeping a blog,”Questionable Skills” — the content of which consists almost entirely of drawings, some of them the bracket-style rankings that are a familiar feature of March Madness.
A few months ago, McCagg began using his blog and his bracket system to answer a question: What is the best word ever? Not the funniest word or the most erudite word or the most whimsical word … but The Best Word, full stop. What if, you know, the scallawag could eke out a thingamajig that would help him select the least milquetoast morsel from our linguistic smorgasbord?
Today, McCagg has answered his question. The best word ever — according to deep lexicographical research, science, taste, and common sense — is this: diphthong.
[…]
Read the rest: Here It Is: The Best Word Ever (Atlantic)
… it’s a Greek word, of course
rogueclassicism 