So, I'm signed up to receive the Word of the Day from the Merriam-Webster website, and I love it. It's so interesting to me. Not only do they give you the definition of the word and a sentence using the word, but they also give you a short history of hit: it's Latin root, relative words, how it's changed throughout history, etc. I feel smarter every time I read my word-of-the-day email.
Today's word was indubitable (\in-DOO-buh-tuh-bul\), meaning "too evident to be doubted: unquestionable." Not the most exciting word in the English language, but for some reason I can't stop saying it. It's so fun to say! Try it. Say it over and over again, and you'll see what I mean. Saying it fast is even more fun. In fact, I find it indubitable that you would dislike saying that word. How'd you like that tricky use of the word of the day, huh? I know, I'm pretty sly.
Words are neat. I've always thought so but have never had a wide enough vocabulary to be able to truly say the things in my head. I feel like a painter trying to paint a sunset, but I'm limited to varying shades of brown as my color palette, creating a dull, monochromatic canvas that completely misses the mark of what I was aiming to do. I want to liven it up with splashes of color so people can see what I'm really trying say. My goal is to increase my vocabulary one word at a time, and hopefully in the future I will wow you all with my aesthetic, lyrical, and brilliant uses of the English language. I wouldn't hold my breath, though, if I were you. It may take me awhile.
*Before you all praise me for those adjectives in bold, I cheated and used the Thesaurus- another fun thing that makes me thrill.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Word of the Day
Posted by Marianne at 6:19 PM
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3 comments:
Your last paragraph was really fun to read. I love how you used an artist and his color palette and canvas to explain how it feels to try and make other understand what you are truly trying to say.
What movie is it where the character says, "Indubitably?" I can hear it in my head, but can't think what it is. Anyway, that's the voice I hear when I think of that word. Ty is not nearly as fascinated by words as I, and teases me when I get really excited about them. A few weeks ago the speaker in sacrament meeting used a word I hadn't heard or thought of for many years, and I really liked it and couldn't stop saying it over and over in my mind. When I started discussing it with Ty (in a whisper of course) he said, "You'll have to work it into your next blog somehow." We laughed, but it's kind of true. Blogs are an excellent resource to practice the use of (written) language. And if you don't use the words you know, you forget them, so blog on Marianne!
p.s. that word I rediscovered...I didn't use it, and now I have forgotten it. It is driving me mad trying to scour the recesses of my mind for it.
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