How do you pick up words for your vocabulary?

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That may sound either obvious or silly, but to explain -- pretty much my vocabulary expands or is modified through the written word, through stumbling across words and picking them up that way and then using them in a written context as well as a spoken one, though often without knowing the pronunciation! So sometimes I have to be corrected on that front, and who can blame people for doing so? ;-)

But I also find that older writing rather than newer provides a rich vein of vocabulary I enjoy using, it appeals to a certain sensibility of mine that implicitly (and incorrectly!) assumes that everyone generally talks/writes that way. My beloved (if that's the right word to use for that crusty feller) Ambrose Bierce, with his words as well as his grammar and sentence construction, has created more of an impact than that of many current writers.

This arguably puts me out of touch on many points but at the same time I like the idea that you have your own approach, that there's something unique. Not sure.

And FWIW, I've noticed that since the late eighties most (not all but most} modern slang just seems strange for me to use, I'm utterly uncomfortable with it. For example, it's been almost twenty years since I heard "dis" for the first time and I think I've used it a grand total of once or twice in any context. Then again perhaps I am a literary r*ckist. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

A particulary fine thread idea.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

when did you first say/write 'rah' Ned? (quasi-serious question ;)

― Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

A particulary fine thread idea.

Indubitably! Some might even say it reflects a new skill and ability.

when did you first say/write 'rah' Ned?

Wouldn't have been here. I think it was just an expression of general cheeriness I liked and decided to use. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

almost entirely through the written word. the 50-cent words come from books, magazine articles, internet doodads; a lot of the slangier things these days come from ilx, cuz i see them here all the time and they're fun to say.

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

dictionary.com word of the day

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

I raise my glass to the memory of Mr. Bierce. Perhaps, Ned, you are uncomfortable with modern slang because you are no longer of an age where you can use it unselfconsciously. I have generally eschewed overuse of slang because, while it may strengthen bonds in smaller subsets of people, it is an impediment to clear communication with the larger public.

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)

last night i learned from tv that "apologia" isn't pronounced the way i thought it was pronounced!

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)

Perhaps, Ned, you are uncomfortable with modern slang because you are no longer of an age where you can use it unselfconsciously.

Perhaps, perhaps. It certainly can sound clunky to me coming from other people but then again the core phrase is 'to me' -- to other people it must seem as right as rain! ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

um, ned, if one is to be a pedant, i believe that 'diss' has two esses. ;) well, depending on its usage i suppose. or perhaps i'm mistaken, seeing that i didn't bother to look it up.

xp--how is 'apologia' pronounced?

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

jbr otm.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

apo LOW gee ah

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

xp--how is 'apologia' pronounced?

apple LO-juh (like "robert loggia")

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

poloponies to thread.

Written, and I find older writing has the same effect Ned identifies. When I was in my teens I read lots of 19thC stuff and that widened my vocabulary a bit at the time. I don't think of myself as having an especially wide vocabulary for my peer group(s) but my spelling is above average.

― beanz (beanz), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

My spelling is considerably below avarice, I mean, averridge, I mean, what he said. I possibly mangle English more than anyone else on 'ere apart from Ph4yz0r and poss Sinxzx0r, but can give you no reason why I feel the urge to dae so. Someone wanted to write AN ESSAY on me for SKOOL you kno! Hahaha. I still think someone shd do this.

― Sarah C, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

Yay to Sarah! You're one of the best writers I know, actually. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

my spelling used to be impeccable, but now it's slipping. i blame teh internets.

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

Get one book, that's my method innit. I was accused at school by one retard (who had nevertheless passed an entrance exam to get there) of reading the dictionary, but pfeh, dodgy science fiction is generally v rich in vocabulary.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

dodgy science fiction is generally v rich in vocabulary

otm!

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Hurrah! Also dodgy fantasy. Stephen R. Donaldson = the man who never found a thesaurus he didn't love.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

also, scrabble is v good for remembering words you've already learned.

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

I actually do read dictionaries and encylopedias sometimes.

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

I have an enormous passive vocabulary I think, but I don't use nearly as many of those words in my conversation as I would like. Because a) the first words to spring to anyone's mind are the ones they already use a lot, I guess and b) the company I'm in might think I'm a spod.

I had a very interesting discussion today about the word 'meretricious', whose meaning I have an incredibly clear picture of in my mind, but which I found it hard to express in other terms. I think it IS because I pick up a lot of vocab unconsciously, from my reading, and my understanding of the meaning of words is saturated with context and connotation rather than etymological or specifically 'learned'.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

I went through a phase of reading the dictionary for poem inspiration, and I did 'learn' some great words that way. But in fact despite getting excited about the sounds and keeping lists and stuff, I never used them in poetry as much as I used words which were already lurking in my unconscious. Unsurprisingly.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

I'm often amazed at the words that elbow themselves forward from the back of my head at appropriate moments, when I don't always know I know them.

― beanz (beanz), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

I come from a working-class background and often use swear words and slang and other low-brow language, and sometimes my more upper-class mates (at the uni, mostly) may find my speech a bit coarse, but I keep on talking the way I do for the sake of maintaining an identity, if nothing else.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Sometimes I think people don't really pay attention to what people say, only how they say it. For example, dozens of people in my life have pointed out that I don't swear. This is plainly untrue, I swear fucking loads. But they remain convinced that I'm a non-swearer. Weird.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

Poststructuralist critical theory, page-by-page, packs in the hellenic-based neologisms pretty much at a higher rate than any other writing I'm aware of. If you have the stomach for Marxism, or for Derridean dances of meaning circumvention, pick up Archive Fever or Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. (I write this assuming we take theory's distastefulness for granted; but nevertheless, to repeat, it's pure word-building power is unparalleled.)

― Gorthaur the Cruel, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

Hey Sauron, how's academic life treating you post-Ring?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Hell is a post-graduate seminar on l=a=n=g=u=a=g=e poetry. If Manwe asks you to repent, do so.

― Gorthaur the Cruel, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

I record in a notebook every word I read that I don't know the definition of. I guess I've been doing this for almost three years now, and I probably have 500 - 600 words. About a year ago I went through the list that that point and looked each word up (I don't do this when I record them because it would be such an interruption and I can usually infer meaning from context anyway) and put them all in order with definitions in a document. It's about time to do the ones I've added since then.

Big contributors to the list I can think of offhand are Joyce's Portrait..., Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and, more recently, a collection of Aldous Huxley's short stories. The last word I added was "terrine". Sometimes I get angry with authors if they keep using words I don't know, it's like they're doing it to annoy me, to interrupt my reading and force me to put the book down and record the word.

― W i l l (common_person), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Hell is a post-graduate seminar on l=a=n=g=u=a=g=e poetry. If Manwe asks you to repent, do so.

Noted for reference.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

I record in a notebook every word I read that I don't know the definition of.

Wow, that is cool idea. I either just look up the word I don't know or else more likely forget about it.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

stockholm cindy's secret childhood v. appollonia's apologia

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

I read the dictionary for fun sometimes too, and last year I had one of those Forgotten English "word a day" desk calendars which was great.

Best source of unusual words is watching Call My Bluff on telly. I love that programme.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 17 February 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

Hey, I have the Forgotten English desk calendar this year. Last year I had a word-a-day calendar but that was generally a dud, I already knew most of the words. I had a BETTER word-of-the-day calendar in '03, I think a Scrabble one, that had weird words I didn't know. That one was cool.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 17 February 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

HI DERE WATH IS YOUD TALK ABOT TEHN

― RANDOR, Thursday, 17 February 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

hvuk ju tu:, meit!

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 17 February 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

I think it IS because I pick up a lot of vocab unconsciously, from my reading, and my understanding of the meaning of words is saturated with context and connotation rather than etymological or specifically 'learned'.

This happens to me all the time.

Unfortunately, it means that sometimes I get the wrong impression about words, though: until recently I was misusing both "laconic" and "lugubrious" (the former I thought meant "characterized by a dry wit" -- maybe I was thinking "sardonic"? -- and the latter I thought meant "sluggish").

One reason I fear I'll never make it as a writer is because I'm constantly reading articles by people that use all these great vocabulary words, and it's not that they're unfamiliar, but they just don't come to me readily.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 17 February 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

The other day I was in a group interview at work and we were doing some kind of team exercise to see who would get promoted. The word "dichotomy" just slipped out my mouth while I was trying to explain some point or other and the whole room went silent.
"What did you just say?!"
"Lobotomy?"
"Dichotomy?! What does that MEAN?"
"OMG! You know words!!!"

I still haven't heard the end of it.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 18 February 2005 10:25 (twenty years ago)

I didn't get the promotion BTW :-(

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 18 February 2005 10:26 (twenty years ago)

Sometimes I'm afraid that I've lost the ability to learn new words, like how it gets a million times harder to learn a new language after a certain age. It's probably not the case though, more likely they just sort of sneak in without one noticing when it happens.

My aunt (a crossword fiend, naturally) recently dropped a word casually into conversation that I had no clue as to the meaning of, which was a really strange feeling since that almost never happens in a verbal context. I wish I could remember it, damn, well, I know I'll know it the next time I hear it.

― Dan I., Friday, 18 February 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

DL, what sort of profession are you in?

― Dan I., Friday, 18 February 2005 10:50 (twenty years ago)

Also, U&K: did the caterpillar in Disney's Alice in Wonderland say "lugubrious" at any point? 'cause I have this very clear memory of it.

― Dan I., Friday, 18 February 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

And it's weird because the Mock Turtle is not in the movie version.

― Dan I., Friday, 18 February 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

also, scrabble is v good for remembering words you've already learned
and if you play open-dictionary, it's great for learning new words, too.

― Lingbertt, Friday, 18 February 2005 12:04 (twenty years ago)

I find the Vulcan mind meld usually works for me

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 18 February 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

I like doing those "It Pays To Increase Your Word Power" multiple-choice quizzes in Readers Digest, too.

― C J (C J), Friday, 18 February 2005 12:10 (twenty years ago)

Right here.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 18 February 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

but good communication is about using small words that even idiots understand, and talking s-l-o-w-l-y. this is how i shall take over the world.

― darragh.mac (darragh.mac), Friday, 18 February 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

all these great vocabulary words, and it's not that they're unfamiliar, but they just don't come to me readily.
I too feel this pain. It's like my brain's information retrieval system is staffed by one-trick-pony librarians who can handle very specific straightforward requests relatively rapidly, but give them anything requiring a little creative thinking and they fall down on the job.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 18 February 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)

I have a habit, picked up from learning French, of immediately looking up words that are unfamiliar to me. I apply this to English now as well. If I don't/can't look them up they stick in my craw making it hard to continue reading until I find out their meaning. I do this, largely I think, because as a child I knew many words I didn't really know how to pronounce and precociously used the word 'adjective' in conversation but placed the accent on the wrong syllable and got a strange look and then a laugh from some adults.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 18 February 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

I once dated someone whose parents didn't really speak English much, and who'd picked up most of it from reading. She's one of the smartest people I've ever met (and now an Internet gazillionaire), and had a vocabulary significantly broader than mine, but every so often she'd mispronounce a fairly common word she'd learned from a book instead of from hearing it spoken. My favorite was when she asked me if she could borrow a comb, which she pronounced to rhyme with "bomb."

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 18 February 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

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