Words

I love words.  I think the American English language is absolutely the most fun.  I mean really!  There are just so many ways you can use our language, correctly and incorrectly, to convey whatever might be on your feeble little mind at any particular moment (maybe that's my feeble little mind, but you know what I mean).  Our language so readily lends itself to romance, sarcasm, irony and joyfulness or despair.


I mentioned in an earlier post that I look up definitions for words when I run across one I don't know.  I have done this for as long as I can remember.  I think it started when I would ask my mother what a particular word meant and her reply to me was invariably "go look it up".  I don't think she was saying that to get me to go away and leave her alone (though with all of us kids underfoot, it would have been understandable).  I believe she sincerely wanted me to learn new words and this was her way of encouraging me to seek out their meanings for myself as I would probably retain it more easily.  We always had a dictionary in the house, which is interesting since sometimes we were pretty short on a lot of other necessities.  Maybe my mother looked up words too.  I know she loved to read and that's where my love of books originated.  I wanted to be like my Mom, and she read whenever she had a minute to herself (which I can assure you was not often while raising a houseful of hooligans).   One dictionary (which I still have) we got at the grocery store.  Each week if you bought $20 or more in groceries, you could purchase another section of the dictionary for something like 99¢.  After 26 weeks you had a complete dictionary and they threw in the covers, table of contents and indexes for free.  The thing is huge and weighs a ton, but it's was a pretty good dictionary.  Unfortunately, it is now more than 40 years old and many new words have been added to the lexicon.


Now that  we are in the computer age, I subscribe to a free service provided by www.dictionary.com called Word of the Day.  Once each day, this site sends me a word and its definition.  This service actually comes up with numerous words I have never run across in my reading.  But it also raises the question, why do we need that particular word when there are so many others that mean exactly the same thing?  I think it is entirely possible American English (which is a totally different language than English as spoken in England) is becoming bloated.  It is already confusing enough.  I've heard it said English is the most difficult language to learn, and I believe there is probably some merit to that.  Once we get into grammar, it's a whole new ballgame.  For example, when conjugating the verb sink, you get sink, sank, sunk.  But when conjugating the verb think, you do NOT get think, thank, thunk.  I can see how that might confuse someone who is not native to our country since it seems to confuse a few who were born and raised here.  But once again, I have veered off topic.


Below are some of the recent words and definitions I have received in my Word of the Day emails, with my thoughts about each:

satori \suh-TOHR-ee\, noun:  

In Zen Buddhism, the state of sudden indescribable intuitive enlightenment. 

          I accept this as a word.  I don't know a lot about Zen Buddhism, 

          but this sounds like a word that is useful with a definition that is clear.

lucifugous \loo-see-FOO-guhs\, adjective:  Avoiding light.
          Huh?  I see this as one of those words you pull out when you are

          trying to impress someone with how brilliant you are.

mussitate \MUHS-i-teyt\, verb:  

To silently move the lips in simulation of audible speech.

          Somehow I have trouble picturing Pink Floyd using this word in their

          song Comfortably Numb.  "Your lips move but I can't hear what you're

          saying" loses something when changed to "You mussitate but I can't hear

          what you're saying". 

nympholepsy \NIM-fuh-lep-see\, noun:  1. A frenzy of emotion, as for something unattainable.  2. An ecstasy supposed by the ancients to be inspired by nymphs.

          I don't have to tell you what other word this brings to mind, and it appears

          they may have several things in common.  I suppose based on the second

          definition, it qualifies as a viable word. 

fossick \FOS-ik\, verb:  1. To search for any object by which to make gain. 2. Mining: To undermine another's digging; search for waste gold in relinquished workings, washing places, etc. 3. To hunt; seek; ferret out. 
          In the definition we get several words that could be used instead of this one:
          search, hunt, seek.  Maybe the second definition gives this word some
          credence, but it is unlikely I will ever use it in a sentence.

teem \TEEM\, verb:  1. To abound or swarm; be prolific or fertile. 2. To empty or pour out; discharge. 
         I have used this word, though obviously there are others with much the 
         same meaning.  It's such a little word, and it isn't at all pretentious, 
         so I have no objection to it.

And that is today's vocabulary lesson.  I didn't make 'em up, I just reported 'em.  Long live American English and let's keep adding new words to our language.  Although we don't need any new words that mean the same thing as the old ones.