Britain's three favourite words are love, serendipity and family, according to a charity effort to build a "wall of words".

Telecommunications giant BT and children's charity I CAN have already built a mile long "wall" from thousands of online submissions to their Internet site www.wallofwords.org.uk and are hoping to complete a second mile.

Visitors to the Web site submit their favourite word and the reasons why. The wall is made from virtual bricks represented by each word submitted. BT has already donated 50,000 pounds to I CAN on completion of the first mile and is offering prizes to contributors for the second mile.

It's not surprising that a nation which has seen a lot of slate grey skies over the winter chose sunshine as its fourth most favourite word or that a people famed for their stiff upper lips chose smile as number 6 and happy as number 10.

"It's heart-warming to see that, despite all our daily pressures and worries, so many positive emotional words are turning up in this list. It seems we're not just a romantic people - we're playful too," linguist David Crystal, an honorary professor at the University of Bangor in Wales, said in an I CAN press statement released on Tuesday.

Although love was the top choice overall and the number one choice for women, antidisestablishmentarianism was the top choice for men and the ninth most favourite word on the list.

Regionally, Welsh contributors favoured the word "cwtch" (cuddle) and Scots favoured "numpty" (an abbreviation of "numbskull").