100 most beautiful words in the English language.

Ailurophile A cat-lover.

Assemblage A gathering.

Becoming Attractive.

Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.

Brood To think alone.

Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.

Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.

Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.

Comely Attractive.

Conflate To blend together.

Cynosure A focal point of admiration.

Dalliance A brief love affair.

Demesne Dominion, territory.

Demure Shy and reserved.

Denouement The resolution of a mystery.

Desuetude Disuse.

Desultory Slow, sluggish.

Diaphanous Filmy.

Dissemble Deceive.

Dulcet Sweet, sugary.

Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.

Effervescent Bubbly.

Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.

Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.

Elixir A good potion.

Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.

Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion.

Emollient A softener.

Ephemeral Short-lived.

Epiphany A sudden revelation.

Erstwhile At one time, for a time.

Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.

Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.

Evocative Suggestive.

Fetching Pretty.

Felicity Pleasantness.

Forbearance Withholding response to provocation.

Fugacious Fleeting.

Furtive Shifty, sneaky.

Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.

Glamour Beauty.

Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk.

Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.

Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.

Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.

Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.

Imbue To infuse, instill.

Incipient Beginning, in an early stage.

Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible.

Ingénue A naïve young woman.

Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth.

Insouciance Blithe nonchalance.

Inure To become jaded.

Labyrinthine Twisting and turning.

Lagniappe A special kind of gift.

Lagoon A small gulf or inlet.

Languor Listlessness, inactivity.

Lassitude Weariness, listlessness.

Leisure Free time.

Lilt To move musically or lively.

Lissome Slender and graceful.

Lithe Slender and flexible.

Love Deep affection.

Mellifluous Sweet sounding.

Moiety One of two equal parts.

Mondegreen A slip of the ear.

Murmurous Murmuring.

Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy.

Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore.

Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.

Opulent Lush, luxuriant.

Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones.

Panacea A solution for all problems

Panoply A complete set.

Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources.

Penumbra A half-shadow.

Petrichor The smell of earth after rain.

Plethora A large quantity.

Propinquity Proximity; Nearness

Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses.

Quintessential Most essential.

Ratatouille A spicy French stew.

Ravel To knit or unknit.

Redolent Fragrant.

Riparian By the bank of a stream.

Ripple A very small wave.

Scintilla A spark or very small thing.

Sempiternal Eternal.

Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem.

Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else.

Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny.

Sumptuous Lush, luxurious.

Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky.

Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania.

Susurrous Whispering, hissing.

Talisman A good luck charm.

Tintinnabulation Tinkling.

Umbrella Protection from sun or rain.

Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate.

Vestigial In trace amounts.

Wafture Waving.

Wherewithal The means.

Woebegone Sorrowful, downcast.

Source: deshoda.com

Lazy, ignorant and overpaid.

Exactly how I would describe the vast majority of football pundits, summarisers and ‘experts’. They may disguise it well during Match of the Day, throughout various coverage of live English Premier League matches or on a number of Talksport programmes but when they venture in to the big, bad world of European football their ignorance is as obvious as the boozed up, beer-bellied Londoner you’ll find staggering along the boardwalk of Benidorm.


pun·dit/ˈpəndit/

Noun: An expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called on to give opinions about it to the public

In order to justify the large pay packets of these pundits, surely (according at least to the above definition) they should be ‘experts’ in their field? In other words, vastly knowledgeable about a wide range of details, facts and figures regarding clubs, leagues and players of all levels from all over the world. You would think so but alas, for the most part, this isn’t the case.

These particular so called ‘pundits’ tend to view the world of football in a completely different manner from the rest of the world, blinded by the glaringly obvious bias that the English Premier League is the ‘best’ and essentially the only football league that really matters. This is still the view of most despite only two English clubs (Manchester United on two occasions) having ever lifted the Champions League trophy in eighteen years.

This ignorance was further proved during tonight’s Bayern Munich v Manchester City match when their lack of knowledge and interest in foreign football along with their patriotic bias led both commentators to continuously express their disappointment with regards to City’s performance rather than focusing on the fact that they were being taught a masterclass in football from a stronger, more passionate, more hungry group of players with a great sense of unity. After all, this is a team who are currently sitting top of one of the most competitive and well supported leagues in the world having yet to concede a single goal in their last ten league games and who have been a dominant force in football for a number of decades, never mind years. Manchester City on the other hand were a below average team who became one of the richest clubs in the world overnight, spent excessively on one too many high profile players, have a massive problem with team spirit, far too many egos fighting with each other and have a muppet for a manager. They’ve yet to learn that ruthlessness and sense of togetherness which leads to a burning hunger and passion needed to grind out victories and ultimately clinch trophies.

Their ignorance at times even extends to their own backyard, when week in and week out they demean ‘lesser’ teams by insisting that the team on paper should blow them out of the water and being surprised when teams such as Stoke City get hard earned and well deserved results against Manchester United.

Football isn’t won on paper, far from it, and it’s about time these ‘pundits’ realised that too.