I once read that someone had chosen pickle as one of the funniest words in the English language. Since then I have come across several lists of words that some find inherently funny. Among them are kumquat, oxymoron, discombobulate, frumpy, banana, prune, flabbergast and persnickety.

That's not my wisdom; I'm quoting Richard Creed of the Winston-Salem Journal of July 24. He is my inspirer (or is it inspirator?) Creed lists 'serendipity' as one of his favorites, and titles his article Coming across funny word, quite by chance.

Somewhere or other we've done a thread of words that sound beautiful. How about words that sound funny? One that comes to mind for me is 'gurgle'.

Almost _all_ words sound funny, if you say them over and over and over and over and...and...often enough Just try it.

How about "pump" for starters? That's a good one!

burgle, rigamarole, and skew...