The Tool of Language
When you read my writing you may believe I am using too many big words, and therefore are unjustly limiting my audience. If you believe this is the case, then I have a few (hopefully) insightful words for you.
Language is a tool by which we communicate with others. The expression of complex ideas is made easier by extensions in vocabulary. This is illustrated easiest by the use of technical jargon in almost all occupational fields.
If you meet an artist, he probably knows twenty different names for shades of yellow, because this helps him communicate with his fellow artists more efficiently. Likewise, automotive engineers have terms for certain tools, parts, and processes of a vehicle.
If you extend this idea to all people, I hope you will see my point. The larger a vocabulary you have, the easier it will be to express and grasp complex, abstract ideas.
Yet, you might be right that I use too many big words. Although I do my best not to needlessly use one big word where one small word would fit, it does happen. Usually, it is because of an attempt to better understand the word through its use. I can’t memorize every word I learn, but if I use it in something I write, my memory can more easily retain it.
Below is a list of words from the book Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which were either used in a way that I haven’t seen before or had a definition that I wasn’t exactly sure of. See if you can define any of these words!
rick
cord
cordwood
tuft
hoist
tuft
urbane
arbor
colander
balladeer(ing)
flimflam
nub
vertiginous
manfully
staunch
sedentary
badinage
deign
hie
arch – mischievious
sally
inebriate
callow
ersatz
peristrephic
broadsheet
etiolate
nominal
quern
amanuensis
lozenge
mullions (112)
transoms(112)
pince-nez (112)
Terpsichorean (112)
aria 113
recitative 113
warble 114
tremolo 114
sostenuto 114
putative 114
font 114
febrile 114
terricolous 114
arrant 116
burnoose 116
fandango 116
besotted 117
hansome 117
margreave 118
verigrisian 119
reticule 120
frayed 120
fretwork 121
arabesquing 121
ama
evanescent
finfoot 124
vellum 124
prehensile 125
syncretism 125
exegesis 126
accoutrements 126
ontological 126
flounce 127
epaulets 129
rivet 131
coven 133
barmy 135
dulcet 137
impasse 140
frisson 140
tine 142
volubly 142
dyspepsia 144
apocrypha 148
histrionic 151
hoary 152
rimefrost 152
coterie 155
saffron 155
tamorna 155
salver 163
smarmy 164
chanteuse 165
oslter 169
splenetic 171
ziggurat 172
obeisant 172
dais 172
timpani 172
tabernacle 173
specious 174
apoplexy 175
sententious 175
verger 181
nave 182
arpeggio 182
maunt 182
fecund 185
epigram 197
