Let's get back to vocabulary! I was reading a piece in Newsweek and a fabulous word popped out of an article: shoal. Shoal is a shallow patch of water or a large number of people/fish, and a favorite word of mine that Macbeth uses in one of this great soliloquies. It's an older word, one used less often these days, but its presence in the article made me keep reading. So, look for some awesome vocabulary, a word or two or three that really zing from the page.
This blog post isn't due until December 2 (the Monday after Thanksgiving break). We will have two most posts to close out the semester. If there's something you'd love to have everyone look at and write about, let me know.
20 comments:
delineate: describe or portray precisely
"I never expected a spicy Vietnamese sandwich called Banh Mi, would have the power to delineate my life."
Using delineate is more precise and exact and powerful than using "describe."
tumultuous: excited, confused, or disorderly
"And yet, the simple and ultimately complex sandwich—the result of a tumultuous relationship between the French and the native Viets..."
With the addition of this more descriptive and complex word, depth is added to the sentence.
lambasting: criticize (someone or something) harshly
Doug has been defending Rob to CNN and on the council floor by lambasting critics as hypocrites, and both brothers are vowing Godfather-style vengeance on the opposition..."
sanguine: cheerfully optimistic
As The Times’s Nicholas Wade sanguinely noted, “There are grounds for hope that the Y chromosome has reached a plateau of miniaturized perfection and will shrivel no more.”
and just for kicks... "The females produce eggs, but the eggs do not need sperm. That’s parthenogenesis, which is a big word that means we understand absolutely nothing about how this works.”- Dr. David Page
Louche: disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way
"But, for perfection, if cake can’t be friendly, it ought at least to be louche ..."
Officious: assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way, esp. with regard to petty or trivial matters
"...officious looking forms and slips to fill in for tots with a mind to claiming family allowances."
Loved reading these words because they really stood out to me and made the pieces feel like more colorfully written works.
There were three words in Collins’ most recent article that stood out to me. “Snoops,” “Foul-Ups” and “Cumbersome” all added to the distinct flavor of the writing immensely while still serving a focused purpose.
The word “snoops” added an element of playfulness to the piece that is signature to Collins’ writing style. It easily could have been replaced by a more serious and official word such as surveillance or spying. It invokes, for me, the image of a cartoon dog watching its humans, much sillier than something so heavy as government espionage.
Cumbersome as a word is exactly what it describes: awkward and difficult to deal with. It is, in of itself, cumbersome. I always love the use of this word because it gets its point across merely with its existence. It is so effective. Collins uses the word to describe specifically the new health care website, but it reaches beyond to set a mood in the writing that accuses all politics as being unwieldy and inefficient. In addition, it is a longer word for Collins, who prefers short commonly used words. It works nicely to break up the usual pace of the writing without alienating the audience.
Shrewd: having or showing sharp powers of judgement; astute
Ardent: enthusiastic or passionate
"Scott was a shrewd, ardent, sharp- witted linebacker for 11 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets."
The use of these two words back to back was slightly surprising. I have heard of the words before, but wasn't quite sure of their exact definitions.
Cerebrally: intellectual rather than physical or emotional
"The two are similar in a lot of ways. They approach football cerebrally. Brady..."
I'm familiar with the word because I knew that the cerebrum is a part of a brain, but I had never heard the word in this context.
It was slightly challenging to find great vocabulary in Woody Paige's writing, which is a trend I've noticed in sports writing.
"and they've become so ubiquitous there's even a book collecting some of the best examples..."
Ubiquitous: existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time; omnipresent. I really like how she used this word in context. It's also a good way to concise it's meaning to this one word.
"Just in time for Valentine's Day, Amazon, the behemoth online retailer and knower of all habits and tastes..."
Behemoth: any creature or thing of monstrous size or power. Behemoth is usually used to describe a immense, powerful animal, but in this context, it is a smart way to describe how Amazon is the leading online store.
"With today's technology, everyone can be Photoshopped to chiaroscurist perfection."
Chiaroscurist: the artistic distribution of light and dark masses in a picture. I think this word best describes the perfect balance in lighting when one is try to take the perfect picture. It totally fits in the sentence next to the word Photoshopped. I thought this sentence was cleverly written.
1) These reasons grab attention in the media and roll nicely off the tongues of politicians and pundits.
2) (psychologically and culturally if not geographically)
3) What it took was the slaughter of 20 kids who, by so many measures, could have belonged to those who hold the reins of power.
Each of these four sentences contain dictation that stuck out to me. In the first, the word "pundit" was unfamiliar and called on me to look it up. I learned it means "an expert in a particular subject or field who is called frequently to give his or her opinion." I like the use of this word because inserting at this point makes Duam sound smart (like she know what she is talking about), but also gives a slight tone of mockery which works with her message.
In the second sentence, the use of these three words back to back created a nice punchy line. They together have a feminine rhyme with the consonance of "ally." The sound it creates is impactful and adds to the forcefulness of her argument.
In the third sentence, Duam's choice of "slaughter" is a great one. It works because it's connotation is much more gruesome then something like "shooting." It brings up much more vivid imagery that makes the act she is talking about seem even more wrong. It's a good choice that drives home her opinion.
1) These reasons grab attention in the media and roll nicely off the tongues of politicians and pundits.
2) (psychologically and culturally if not geographically)
3) What it took was the slaughter of 20 kids who, by so many measures, could have belonged to those who hold the reins of power.
Each of these four sentences contain dictation that stuck out to me. In the first, the word "pundit" was unfamiliar and called on me to look it up. I learned it means "an expert in a particular subject or field who is called frequently to give his or her opinion." I like the use of this word because inserting at this point makes Duam sound smart (like she know what she is talking about), but also gives a slight tone of mockery which works with her message.
In the second sentence, the use of these three words back to back created a nice punchy line. They together have a feminine rhyme with the consonance of "ally." The sound it creates is impactful and adds to the forcefulness of her argument.
In the third sentence, Duam's choice of "slaughter" is a great one. It works because it's connotation is much more gruesome then something like "shooting." It brings up much more vivid imagery that makes the act she is talking about seem even more wrong. It's a good choice that drives home her opinion.
Honestly, I think that I picked out the only somewhat interesting use of vocabulary for our last vocabulary post. I scrolled through many pages of the archives and found nothing that made me reach for a dictionary. But, I think that I find that particular kind of writing to be better than writing that over uses complex vocabulary because I admit that I am a very lazy reader. However, I do think that Slade could spice it up just a little bit my adding an occasional flair word.
dynamism: the quality of being characterized by vigorous activity and progress
"Immigration boosts economic dynamism, and more immigration would boost it more."
Dynamism is a fairly uncommon word that perfectly describes the boost that economies feel when new markets, new businesses, and new workers flood into them.
Flashpoint: a place, event, or time at which trouble, such as violence or anger, flares up
" The most interesting and problematic flashpoint may be between immigrants and African-Americans."
Using the word "flashpoint" there keeps the sentence short and maintains the punch Brooks was trying to convey.
Lick: defeat (someone) comprehensively.
"I watch Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck take a brutal lick now and..."
Assuage: make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense.
"...but that blood money doesn't assuage my small sense of shame..."
Swath: a broad strip or area of something.
"...Mexico City when I saw a man breathe a huge swath of fire for tips from cars."
I loved seeing these words in his article about concussions and how the NFL is dealing with it because first off, I have never seen these words or heard these words before besides "lick". But for "lick", he doesn't use it in terms of using a tongue he means a big hit. Secondly, rather than using normal boring words to describe something, he brings out these words and brings excitement into words and strengthens peoples vocabulary.
"another goalfest at the Etihad as Alvaro Negredo goal and Samir Nasri brace gives city the win against Swansea."
Goalfest is a very simple word but it is not used often. There is no definition for it in the dictionary proves even more how rare it is. It means like a party of goals, having an abundance of them.
"he thwarted as many Leverkusen attacks as he started for United"
thwarted - prevent something from accomplishing somone
Gene is a sports writer and thereby his vocab is very simple. He never uses big words, which is suitable for his audience. Athletes and football fans only want to read about scores and the analysis on games. However, he uses football terms.
"he spent much of Saturday night's 49-17 blowout loss at Oklahoma State overthrowing receivers, throwing into coverage, tripping untouched just short of the end zone and losing count of downs."
"Yes, Baylor was playing without some key offensive players. But however you want to measure it, Petty's performance in the Bears' most important game of the season wasn't Heisman quality."
"Swooning websites, security snoops run amok — there’d be some comfort in believing that it’s all historically inevitable."
One word stand out in this sentence. That word is "swooning."
To swoon is be emotionally affected by someone or something that one admires. I find Gail Collins' word choice interesting. Instead of using a more common word or phrase that most would understand, she uses a more concise way of explaining exactly what she means.
Mélange: a mixture; a medley.
This word jumped out at me because David Brooks doesn't always use the most colorful vocabulary in his writing. However, I liked the use of the world mélange in his phrase "a bland mélange America" because it is a more colorful and interesting way of saying mixture, and more completely captures the idea he was trying to get across.
Cusp: figurative, a point between two different situations or states, when a person or thing is poised between the two or just about to move from one to the other.
Cusp is not a complex word, but I like the use of it here. First, I like how cusp sounds, it’s very crisp and to the point. Also, it is a complex idea inside of such a small word and evokes large thoughts of change.
Twerk: well, I think everyone already knows what this is...
"This holiday season, instead of giving your mother that instructional video on twerking that you think she is pining for, what about giving her something that will really make her dance?"
The reason that 'twerk' stood out to me in this piece was more related to the writer than it was to the word itself. Kristof isn't normally super funny or sassy, but the way in which he uses 'twerk' make him more relatable and hilarious. 'Twerk' mainly zings from the page because of the context: it's pretty weird that a 54 year old man would utilize a common dance fad in an article about holiday giving...
There wasn't a lot of complex vocabulary in any of my pieces but here are a couple words that I thought were used in a funny way.
- leapfrogging: to move or cause to move as if in leapfrog
- but he put on quite a show, leapfrogging St. Louis’ undersized defenders like they were cracks in the sidewalk
- hulking: heavy and clumsy; bulky.
- Boone is one of the 49ers’ other hulking linemen
I enjoyed these two words in a couple of Desimone's articles this week. They made me laugh when I read them and I like it when Desimone adds some humor in his work.
"First off, those guys aren’t looking for the next spot on Google Street View. If they are Googling anything it’s “cool butt.” The others are probably searching for calzones and beer."
So this little excerpt came from an article from Freeskier about Stept's tour across America. The vocab chosen to be used in this excerpt is less than scholarly though I believe it evokes something special and personal to reader from the author. No this author is not trying to amaze anybody with his ability to use an online thesaurus and no he isn't going to drop some fancy words that spice up his writing even though he may not even know what they mean. He is just saying hit how it is and I don't think that there is any better way to do it. With the amazing amount of detail and descriptiveness the phrase "cool butt" brings out and the mouth watering use of the word "calzone" the author shows you whats going on in his mind without any bells or whistles.
I had a hard time finding a juicy new word in her posts. Although she is very descriptive and uses a lot of imagery the vocabulary is all familiar to me. One word that she used that I like though is delve. This is not a super tricky word, but it is one step up from the basics. Other than this, Jennifer often time combines or makes up new words. I love this because sometimes food is simply indescribable. We all knew what she means when she says, “nutty, caramel-y awesomeness” or “buttery, brown sugar-y, nutty crisp.”
I had a hard time finding a juicy new word in her posts. Although she is very descriptive and uses a lot of imagery the vocabulary is all familiar to me. One word that she used that I like though is delve. This is not a super tricky word, but it is one step up from the basics. Other than this, Jennifer often time combines or makes up new words. I love this because sometimes food is simply indescribable. We all knew what she means when she says, “nutty, caramel-y awesomeness” or “buttery, brown sugar-y, nutty crisp.”
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