EPTSo I'd like to know what you think. What are words that every person should know? Or what words do you like to use?
Words you should know?
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Dalguno
United States2446 Posts
So I'd like to know what you think. What are words that every person should know? Or what words do you like to use? | ||
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Archas
United States6531 Posts
Mugwump: A person who is undecided on a controversial (usually political) issue. Hirsute: The state of being covered in hair. Fulminous: Of or relating to lightning. | ||
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Cambium
United States16368 Posts
Some words are certainly very useful though. | ||
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Dalguno
United States2446 Posts
On March 07 2011 10:34 Aeres wrote: Some of my favorite words: Mugwump: A person who is undecided on a controversial (usually political) issue. Hirsute: The state of being covered in hair. Fulminous: Of or relating to lightning. This reminded me of one I learned last year. Discalceate: barefoot or wearing only sandals | ||
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echO [W]
United States1495 Posts
Thrice: three times Usage notes: Unlike once and twice, thrice is somewhat dated, often used for a comical or intentionally archaic effect. | ||
Liquid`Zephyr
United States996 Posts
cogent - well reasoned out/convincing | ||
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Chef
10810 Posts
On March 07 2011 10:34 Aeres wrote: Some of my favorite words: Mugwump: A person who is undecided on a controversial (usually political) issue. Hirsute: The state of being covered in hair. Fulminous: Of or relating to lightning. The problem with words like that is if you ever use them no one knows what the fuck you're talking about lol. | ||
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Archaic
United States4024 Posts
On March 07 2011 10:52 Chef wrote: The problem with words like that is if you ever use them no one knows what the fuck you're talking about lol. Using words like that are great for intentionally writing stuff to confuse the hell out of readers. We studied "The Intentional Fallacy" by Wimsatt & Beardsley, and they intentionally (no pun intended) used ridiculous prose to make the reader feel inferior and to make it difficult to understand. | ||
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Turgid
United States1623 Posts
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Archas
United States6531 Posts
On March 07 2011 10:52 Chef wrote: The problem with words like that is if you ever use them no one knows what the fuck you're talking about lol. Fortunately, confusing people happens to be one of my favorite pastimes. | ||
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hellokitty[hk]
United States1309 Posts
P.S.:CleverKeys might be convenient . | ||
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Xela
Canada203 Posts
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Archas
United States6531 Posts
On March 07 2011 11:20 Xela wrote: Read books and do crosswords in the newspapers, it'll help your vocabulary alot more than learning random words on a forum. I disagree on the crosswords bit. As someone who A) has a large vocabulary, and B) loves crosswords, I can say with reasonable certainty that they don't really do much. Excluding the very difficult puzzles (like those from the NY Times or Wall Street Journal), most crosswords tend to have fairly simple words. I get really sick of having the words "area" and "oleo" in every motherfucking puzzle. =( | ||
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Hikko
United States1126 Posts
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Aquafresh
United States824 Posts
One of the many reasons that show is awesome. | ||
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MoltkeWarding
5195 Posts
Mugwump: A person who is undecided on a controversial (usually political) issue. This seems like an odd derivation of Mugwump. The Mugwumps were certainly not undecided on a controversial issue. | ||
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turdburgler
England6749 Posts
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Hikko
United States1126 Posts
On March 07 2011 11:32 MoltkeWarding wrote: This seems like an odd derivation of Mugwump. The Mugwumps were certainly not undecided on a controversial issue. If I can remember US History at all, I'd say it is very accurate, as the term described people who jumped parties suddenly or went independent, but had the potential of coming back just as fast. | ||
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Disregard
China10252 Posts
After watching so many BBC documentaries and whatnot, it just sounds way better even though sometimes it causes others to question me. British English vocabulary! Im aware that "like" is also used to describe similarities but damn you America! amalgamation - Mixture People never use this word in conversations or sentences, it just sounds awkward. | ||
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Archas
United States6531 Posts
Zenzizenzizenzic: a number raised to the eighth power. Nostomania: overwhelming homesickness. Defenestration: the act of throwing someone or something out a window. Boanthropy: a type of insanity in which a man thinks he is an ox. Groak: to watch people eat hoping that they will offer you some of their food. Gynotikolobomassophile: one who likes to nibble on a woman's earlobe. You are now educated. | ||
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GrapeD
Canada679 Posts
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palanq
United States761 Posts
that said, I think the best way to expand your vocabulary is to voraciously consume erudite literature | ||
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hoppipolla
Australia782 Posts
Probably my favourite word, a bit difficult to incorporate into your vocabulary though  . | ||
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Ryalnos
United States1946 Posts
It is not productive to just get a list and memorize them all. It's more of a lifetime interest where you are interested in finding out what words mean when you encounter them, converse with people who use such words, read books, etc. | ||
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eLiE
Canada1039 Posts
I guess you can right click thesaurus stuff in word to get some new words, but make sure you look up the definitions too, because thesaurus' aren't perfect! | ||
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Dalguno
United States2446 Posts
On March 07 2011 14:27 Ryalnos wrote: There are many words out there. It is not productive to just get a list and memorize them all. It's more of a lifetime interest where you are interested in finding out what words mean when you encounter them, converse with people who use such words, read books, etc. I'm not merely making a list and memorizing. I've learned words that I'm going to implement where possible. This is very productive indeed. While I will find out words when I encounter them, this will speed up the process. Why not do this? | ||
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VorcePA
United States1102 Posts
I asked 10 people if they knew the meaning of this word and only 1 person -- my mother, with a master's degree -- could answer correctly. | ||
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forgotten0ne
United States951 Posts
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Ryalnos
United States1946 Posts
On March 07 2011 14:44 Dalguno wrote: I'm not merely making a list and memorizing. I've learned words that I'm going to implement where possible. This is very productive indeed. While I will find out words when I encounter them, this will speed up the process. Why not do this? Ok, I guess I don't like the idea of a list of 'words you should know'. It seems so absolute, when I think that vocabulary is preferably matter of personal style, inspired by words you find interesting or useful. But I guess people will respond in a way that aligns with #2 so whatever, I'm just being picky. | ||
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HULKAMANIA
United States1219 Posts
I would say that the words that are most useful to know for an advanced English vocabulary are not English words at all. A huge preponderance (another! and it illustrates my point) of long English words are classically derived, so you get a lot of mileage out of knowing Greek and Latin, especially Greek and Latin affixes. Off the top of the dome: anti vs. ante pre vs. post neo, poly, crypto sub, intra, infra, extra, super, in, im, un, a dis vs. mis (as in disinformation vs. misinformation) -logy, -glot (There are a shit-ton more. Hard to think of them in the abstract, though. There's one! ab-) ab, ex, de ad is an important one. So is com (which often becomes con- or cor- or some other shit via assimilation. Understanding assimilation is important for recognizing a lot of derivatives). Latin words like video, ago, fer are going to get a lot of use, too... I don't know. Basically the absolute best thing I ever did for my English vocabulary was study a lot of Latin and a little bit of Greek. But for your purposes you don't even have to learn the language, you just have to recognize the vocab (although a little familiarity with how words change over time wouldn't hurt either). Other than that you have to read, read, read, because it's the best way to encounter new words in a context that actually suggests how to best use them. I also just had to post in this thread because of my current signature. I I I V | ||
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NeoLearner
Belgium1847 Posts
On March 07 2011 15:21 forgotten0ne wrote: Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia - Fear of long words. Jocular. Definition of JOCULAR 1 : given to jesting : habitually jolly or jocund 2 : characterized by jestin as in, Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is a jocular and fictional phobia. I also partial to the word frugal/frugality. | ||
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QuanticHawk
United States32097 Posts
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Chef
10810 Posts
On March 07 2011 11:05 Archaic wrote: Using words like that are great for intentionally writing stuff to confuse the hell out of readers. We studied "The Intentional Fallacy" by Wimsatt & Beardsley, and they intentionally (no pun intended) used ridiculous prose to make the reader feel inferior and to make it difficult to understand. Appropriate user name ;P Still, I feel like that's the same as artificial difficulty in video games. You can make someone look up every second word, and that's called tedious, the same as making a pixel perfect jump is tedious. Or, you can use interesting grammar and sentence structure to make things difficult, which makes it meaningful to solve it, like an unusual puzzle in a video game that gives you pause. I dunno. It really doesn't make me feel inferior when someone is a bad writer. I speak English, language is made for communication... If someone wants to prove a point by pulling out a thesaurus and making their writing tedious, then the point is probably gonna be lost on me because I'll hand it back after reading two sentences and tell them to rewrite it lol. | ||
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Lanaia
Canada1142 Posts
1. inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd: a lascivious, girl-chasing old man. 2. arousing sexual desire: lascivious photographs. 3. indicating sexual interest or expressive of lust or lewdness: a lascivious gesture. I just really like how it sounds. | ||
zatic
Zurich15357 Posts
ameliorate - to make better | ||
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Zlasher
United States9129 Posts
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MoonBear
Straight outta Johto18973 Posts
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MoltkeWarding
5195 Posts
On March 08 2011 03:50 zatic wrote: Something I learned today and probably the most beautiful English word I know now: ameliorate - to make better When it comes to coining neologisms, Anglophones are handicapped relative to Germans in the sense that our morphemes must be extracted from a foreign tongue. A-melior-ate is merely the Latin equivalent of the German Zu-besser-n. In lexical acquisition, our minds are relatively oriental in disposition- we merely acquire the words by en-rote memorization. However, once you learn to break a word down, you can easily have fun coining you own: Apejorate: Opposite of Ameliorate Remeliorate: To make something better again Deporculate: To debase oneself into a pig Retrogarrulation: Babbling backwards etc. As a register, Latin words in English are prominently employed in scientific and academic usage. A man who overstuffs his vocabulary with Latin emits the air of a dry and humourless pedagogue. You should try to mix up your etymology where possible. And it's certainly beneficial in the diverse walks of life, for each language has its strengths. German has the ability to coin new words for abstract concepts at will, and is a great speculative language. French has the distinction of perfect lexical clarity. English is by contrast is noted for its lexical subtlety. So German for philosophy, French for law, English for poetry, and Italian for music. Someone should take this compromise to the European Commission. | ||
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