Vocabulary, Anyone?

lunasmom

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I swear that once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, I once was decent with my vocabulary.

I have noticed, however, that in the last few years...it's shot. I blame the "KISS" method (Keep It Simple, Stupid) from prior years, but that's just an excuse.

Today confirmed it, when I tried to make a joke and it failed. I was in a [boring] meeting that I sat to sit through until the end, even though my stuff was only going to take less than 30 seconds to get through. Basically the Host of the meeting said that he was "punishing" me because the other person on the same project as I left for a dental appointment.

Anyhoo, once my turn was done a couple of jokes were made towards "my punishment" and so I attempted to joke back by saying "I found the entire meeting so riveting that I think we should do this every week"

Well, they laughed, but because I used the word in the wrong context.


Anyone else have a stinky vocab??
 

calico2222

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When you said it, was it just dripping with sarcasm? If so, you used it correctly.

Per Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

Main Entry: riv·et·ing
Pronunciation: \\ˈri-və-tiŋ\\
Function: adjective
Date: 1677
: having the power to fix the attention : engrossing, fascinating <a riveting story>
— riv·et·ing·ly \\-lē\\ adverb

I actually think it was a good come back....as long as you didn't seem sincere
 

katachtig

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It sounds fine to me.

I had problems spelling the word subtlety. So I tried looking it up, found subtilty and used it. After I used it, I knew that it wasn't what I wanted. I think senility is setting in.
 

carolpetunia

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You were PERFECTLY correct in using the word in EXACTLY that way! Sheesh -- don't these people ever read?

You should print out this thread and post it on the bulletin board at work!
 
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lunasmom

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Maybe it didn't help that I stuttered when I said it


I don't think I was dripping with sarcasm when I said it, but I was trying to say it bright and bubbly.

Maybe I wasn't suppose to make a joke....bunch of weirdos...
 

marianjela

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I notice my colloquialism
getting worser by the day.



I dont know on how many different occasions I wanted to use a specific word only for my brain to fail me! Names of people included.

I think the thesaurus has become my new best friend in my old age
 

gailc

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While I don't have a thesaurus by my computer I do have a dictionary and consult it quite often.

There as a small article in the Wall Street Journal today stating that writing skills in 8th and 12th graders have shown a slight improvement. Believe it or not texting might be a factor in this imrpovement!!
 

twstychik

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I have a hard time believeing that texting (or txting as the kids would type it) is helping when it revolves around grammatical shortcuts.
 

tobi

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You know, when I text my friends "i tlk lk ths" but really it's just to save space and not end up paying for 2 messages instead of one =]
I'd like to believe I'm at least somewhat intelligent...

But I think that your use of sarcasm was perfect! Even if you did say it whilst being bright and bubbly - just makes it even more sarcastic! You never know, maybe they were laughing because they thought you made a good call
 

tierre0

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Chalk it up to the fact that their vocabularies are so deplorable that they just didn't get the joke...

I thought it was wonderful response, but yes you would have to drip a little sarcasm from it to get the proper impact.

Kudo's to you
 

pookie-poo

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I get the Dictionary.com Word Of The Day sent to my inbox every day. I rarely add the words to my vocabulary, but it's fun to learn the meanings of some interesting and obscure words! I also like Thesaurus.com, it helps me figure out exactly what word I'm looking for!
 

carolpetunia

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Originally Posted by Marianjela

I notice my colloquialism
getting worser by the day.
But colloquialism isn't always a bad thing! Nobody loves the English language more than I do, and nobody cringes like I do at careless misuse of it... but the King's English can afford to be toyed with a bit for the sake of personal expression, the setting of a mood or style, and just plain fun!

(And of course, anything goes online -- we need all the leeway we can get here if we're to help people "hear" us in their heads.)

I especially enjoy regional variations on English. Think how much linguistically poorer this country would be without Ah reckon and fixin' tew and y'all. And that's just the south!

_____

...Sheesh. I have to tell you: when I proofed that last paragraph, I discovered that my fingers had gotten ahead of themselves, and I'd typed "liguinistically." So I'll take that as a Sign From Above that I ought to mention the linguistic contributions of the Italian-American community...


 
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lunasmom

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Originally Posted by Pookie-poo

I get the Dictionary.com Word Of The Day sent to my inbox every day. I rarely add the words to my vocabulary, but it's fun to learn the meanings of some interesting and obscure words! I also like Thesaurus.com, it helps me figure out exactly what word I'm looking for!
That's a good idea...I Use to do something similar (except I think it was on aa web site), but I would always try to incorporate the word at least once during that day.
 

marianjela

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

But colloquialism isn't always a bad thing! Nobody loves the English language more than I do, and nobody cringes like I do at careless misuse of it... but the King's English can afford to be toyed with a bit for the sake of personal expression, the setting of a mood or style, and just plain fun! (And of course, anything goes online -- we need all the leeway we can get here if we're to help people "hear" us in their heads.)
Oh I'm the same way... my kids (and hubby especially get peeved with me when I correct them in their day to day language). Dont want none is a HUGE snafu in my house... please dont use double negatives - LOL My oldest daughter is constantly throwing me the evil eye for this - she is the worser of the offenders.
And DH is continually mispronounces words and gets upset when I correct him. LOL I explain that I'm only trying to help them for when they're outside of the house, but you know... deaf ears. Another faux pas with me is the misspelling of the words "a lot" as "alot". Dont ask me why... there are bigger fish to fry... but you know... we dont say "alittle" do we? Off my soap box now
As an aside, I used to live in the south... I'm not even going to go there, ya here!
 

mrblanche

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As a former English teacher, improper language bugs me, too. However, we all make typos (such as "mispronounces" for "mispronouncing"). I type pretty fast, and I'm often embarrassed to go back and look at some of the mistakes I've made.

When it comes to vocabulary, I'll tell this story on myself. In one of my underemployed periods some 20 years ago, I applied for a job at an aptitude testing organization. The first requirement of the process was to take their test myself. After I did, they graded it and called me into the interview room.

"Mr. Blanche, in all the time we've been giving this test, you have achieved the highest score we've ever seen anyone get on our verbal section. However, if you ever get a job where you have to deal with numbers, we suggest you get a secretary."

End of interview, needless to say.
 

marianjela

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Originally Posted by mrblanche

As a former English teacher, improper language bugs me, too. However, we all make typos (such as "mispronounces" for "mispronouncing"). I type pretty fast, and I'm often embarrassed to go back and look at some of the mistakes I've made.

Thanks for that correction! How bad is that to mistype in a thread like this???


Originally Posted by mrblanche

"Mr. Blanche, in all the time we've been giving this test, you have achieved the highest score we've ever seen anyone get on our verbal section. However, if you ever get a job where you have to deal with numbers, we suggest you get a secretary."
again
I am a math major - I'll do your homework if you do mine!
 

kluchetta

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Originally Posted by Marianjela

I notice my colloquialism
getting worser by the day.

LOL at that! My daughter is making her own dictionary complete with her favorite words like "worser" and "dranken". (As in, "I'm thirsty, because I haven't dranken much today.") She's going to present it to her English teacher at the end of the year!
 
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