I like words, and having an interesting vocabulary means you can be more precise in communications with others; or at least it would make communication clearer and more precise if I didn’t have to stop and define half the things I say. Sometimes it’s as simple as “yes, I did really just use ‘fortnightly’ in conversation. No, it’s not ‘adorable’, it’s a perfectly normal word.” and other times it’s a bit more complex “Oh no, ‘zeks’ is totally legit to use on words with friends, I mean, what other word would you use for people confined to a forced labor camp in the U.S.S.R.?” Seriously, look it up, real word. I know this because sometimes I read the dictionary. I love the dictionary, when I look things up (in print or online) I get to read all the words around the one I meant to look up as well. Most of the time I don’t get to use these words, “clitic” doesn’t come up in natural conversation ever—and it’s derivatives “proclitic” and “enclitic” can really only be used in very specific grammar conversations. Other times, however, I not only get to use the word in everyday conversation, but I can even incorporate it into a haiku-tweet!
This past month I have working on getting “obganiate” into casual conversation. I was surprised how often opportunities presented themselves, not only were people obganiating, but it was entirely appropriate for me to discuss it (I was not the recipient of the obganiation therefore I could discuss it without becoming a nag myself). It didn’t even take much prodding to get my hiking buddy to work it into her conversation as well! That’s how you know you’ve succeeded, when you are no longer the only one in the conversation using the nearly obsolete word you stumbled upon while reading the dictionary.
I’m beginning to think this might cause issues with some of my upcoming group work in a class. Somewhere in the reading there was a suggestion we should strive to avoid our sesquipedalian tendencies. Only the reading said it in many, many more words. And that’s the problem: if I avoid superfluous verbiage I make myself incomprehensible, but if I don’t I can’t say a damn thing in just a few short double spaced pages.
