words good and bad

Some words are cooler than others. I like the way these words sound:

antithesis
anathema
parallax
genesis
equilibrium
gaia
sorcery
paradox

In my previous position, we'd get so bored writing long reports that we knew would never be read that we'd sneak unusual words in here or there to see if anyone would notice. No one ever did. "Sorcery" made a special appearance in those reports, as did other favorites, like "bogey", "vector" and "devilry". Ferris Bueller once said that high school was childish; work is really no different.

And then, of course, there are words that should go away:

- ginormous, and all other fake words like it
- irregardless--this is not actually a word, and hearing it drives me crazy because the speaker is usually trying to sound intelligent when they say it. How about choosing "irrespective" or "regardless" instead? You might actually sound intelligent.
- buzzwords like "holistic" and "synergy". I hate these words so much now that I apologize to people when I use them. Unfortunately, there's often not a better way of expressing these ideas.
- euphemisms like "fetch" and "oh my heck". If you're not from Utah, you may never have heard these. Consider yourself lucky.

Do you have any favorite or least favorite words?