Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I Just Don't Have the Words

"Self taught, no lessons, thank you very much, Pop!"

Ten points to the person that can name the movie this quote appears in, and another ten if you can name the actor.

The end of November is here, and I'm at a bit of a loss for a blog post. I've had an idea for a repeating post that I was thinking of implementing in the future. I think I'll try it out right now.

Now, as writers go, I'm not all that educated. I skipped out on college to take a good paying job (good for an 18 year old, anyway) and well, here I am. This post isn't really about that. What it is about is vocabulary. Mine is a bit on the light side. In an attempt to bulk up my word-muscles, I've been compiling a list of words from the books I read. When I run across one I've never seen, don't understand, or recognize but am not sure of the correct usage, then I write it down, look it up and try to burn it into my brain.

Here are a few words from that list.

Convivial : relating to, occupied with, or fond of feasting, drinking, and good company

Troika: 1. a Russian vehicle drawn by three horses abreast; also : a team for such a vehicle
2. a group of three; especially : an administrative or ruling body of three

Arcana
: mysterious or specialized knowledge, language, or information accessible or possessed only by the initiate

Urbane
: notably polite or polished in manner

Raucous
: 1. disagreeably harsh
2. disorderly

I have a much longer list, with more difficult words. I realize some of these words are pretty common. Remember, I said some of them I was merely unsure of (he says, nursing his wounded ego), not completely ignorant of. If you must laugh, be gentle.