A word or phrase to describe someone who is obsessed with words?
I want to be able to describe the love for, or obsession with, words. It may also be a condition from other's perspective.
It maybe because he is a lunatic who wants to aggrandize his vocabulary, a crazy person who can't forget the words he hears wafting around, or someone who wants to set a world record or something. Try fitting it in these:
He is a _______ who can blurt a thousand synonyms for good.
He is so ______ that he can be called a dictionary with a heartbeat.
He is showing what a _____ he is.
If thesaurus was a ghost, he would be dwelling in that _____'s body.
Any word or phrase would do.
You can go with verbomaniac. Also, logomaniac is similar.
verbomania: Obsession with words.
logomania: Great enthusiasm for words.
Source: http://en.wiktionary.org
Note: Both words have the sense of excessive talking also.
If you want a more common phrase, you can use word buff.
Note: There is also a similar question asked before:
What's a big-vocabulary word for someone with a big vocabulary?
I'm giving different answers from there which are more related to obsession. For example; logophile, which is given as an answer in that question, comes to mind but logomaniac is closer to obsession.
I think lexicomaniac may suggest an exaggerated love for words:
(noun) : one who loves words and reading [Its] book stock, which increases by about 8,000 volumes a year "a far cry from the 800 books that established Carlyle's home for the library's 800 original lexicomaniacs. —The Independent (London), October 26, 2005
Source: http://nws.merriam-webster.com
logophile may be the best of the suggestions to date.
word-lover and word buff also seem to convey a fondness for words and their nuances.
word fan or word fanatic might suggest an excessive enthusiasm for words.
logomaniac suggests an insane and perhaps violent level of enthusiasm.
A name used by a member of Saundspel is linguaphile. This seems appropriate handle for a linguist or language lover.