Current Project: A Killer Pinot NoirStatus: 7,249 words
No, I'm not a big fat liar; I'm talking about vocabulary. The other day I was driving somewhere (can't remember where now) and noticed that there were several "For Sale" signs on a corner. The thought that popped into my head was: "Huh. That corner's festooned with real estate signs." And I realized, I would never actually say that to anyone. I'd never use the word festooned in conversation, not even with my closest friends.
I started thinking about how many times I edit myself when I speak. It isn't as though the people I know are uneducated dolts who wouldn't understand what I'm saying (far from it!), yet I'm constantly self-editing. It's an automatic reflex. I guess it's partly because I tend to play with words in my head. I think about how certain words sound and whether they mean exactly what I want them to mean, about what kind of people would use them or why people no longer talk in a particular way. But let's be honest here, it's also because I'm a big dork and tend to use uncommon words and speech patterns in my thoughts.I love words and the way they sound. Unusual words and common; multi-syllabic and short. Onomatopoeia, melifluous, skullduggery, and translucent. Cerulean, befuddle and extemporaneous. I love words that just plain sound fun: poppycock and lamebrain, higgledypiggledy and hoopla, razzledazzle and razzmatazz. I learned to love some words as a child through reading before I'd ever heard them pronounced. (Who knew macabre really wasn't pronounced mack-a-bray? huh.) And don't get me started on foreign languages. Latin. The Romance languages. British English! What's not to love? :-)
The desire to tell a great story is ultimately why I write. But part of the joy of writing for me is being able to indulge in my love of words--words that are rattling around in my brain, but that will rarely (or never) be heard tripping from my lips. So, what about you? Do you love words, too? Have any favorite words that you'd like to share?
9 comments:
Debbie -- LOL, I have the same tendency you have for using words like festooned with the difference I don't edit. I love using words like that and peppering my speech with them just because they're such specific words and thus paint such a bright picture.
In the first book I wrote, the editor said she wanted me to change the word "nonsense" when used as an exclamation by the heroine to an outrageous situation. She said nobody uses the word. I use the word! I changed it because I knew she was more or less right.
Fun blog.
Ha! I said mack-a-bray when I was younger, too.
I get a lot of laughs listening to my kids read out loud. Some of the pronunciations are hilarious. Usually I have to go look at the word to figure out what in the world they are trying to say. Yesterday it was vulgar. She said voo-lag-er.
Twenty years ago, I heard my father say orgy as or-gee. With a hard g. Obviously the conversation stuck in my head.
Kendra -- That reminds me of when we had a substitute teacher in high school. A friend was named David Ficker. The teacher was reading names aloud and when she got to his struggled with the pronunciation. "David Fiker? Fecker? Feeker--" and he called out, "Careful!"
LOL
Debbie, I love words, too. As I get older, though, I find my vocabulary is getting dated. The other day I said, You might want to forgo ..., and the person I was talking to said, "What does forgo mean?"
One of my favorite words, just for the sound of it, is lugubrious. For some reason, saying that out loud makes me giggle.
One of the reasons I like children's books is the way the authors play with the sounds of words. I love it when someone uses an unusual word to describe something. That's why I like "stones" and poetry. Anyway, feel free to say festooned around me--I'll love it.
What a fun blog, Debbie!
I'm not as creative as you and others in using words. I have a tendency to get one word stuck in my head--not necessarily an unusual or fun one--and use it repeatedly when speaking. When it gets to the point of annoying me, I switch words. LOL!
You've all given me some great words to use, and if I switch them around perhaps I won't be so annoying. :)
Alice, good to know I'm not alone! I'll have to remember that I don't have to "edit" myself around you guys. :-)
Kendra, you don't know how happy I am to hear I'm not the only one who pronounced macabre like that. And I love "voo-lag-er" -- sounds prettier than "vulgar", doesn't it?
Barbara, lugubrious is a great word, isn't it? :-) I can't believe someone didn't know "forgo", though!
Genene, I don't necessarily use the words I mentioned in my post in my writing, either. They're just stuck in my head. :-) I love reading clever word play, though, or coming across songs where the lyrics are interesting.
What?? You mean you don't pronounce it mackabray?? Since when?!! Those damn French words get me every time, dang it. ;-)
Okay, since I'm not Catholic and never get to confess anything, I'll confess here...
I love words too, and I especially love dialects. I often have a voice in my head that speaks very British. Sometimes it's proper and sometimes very cockney. Now, that's weird! Other times I have voices in my head that are very black womanish. I love doing those aloud with my kids. It freaks them out when I start doing it and add all the dramatic body and hand movements along with it.
And Debbie, I'm with you, I have great words in my head that I'd never try to use around my family or friends; however, I do use them with strangers because they have no pre-conceived ideas about me, of which I'm aware.
I wish I were as brave as Alice. I guess it comes from growing up with too many judgmental people in my life. Funny how we get used to acting a certain way with people we think expect one thing or another out of us. (I must need therapy. LOL)
Alice, maybe your editor was used to "bullshit" instead of "nonsense". Sorry, I hope that wasn't too voo-lag-er for anyone here. lololol (Ain't little kid's vocabs great?!!)
And since I'm in a confessing mood... I've written scathing letters to the editor on different subjects that were amazing and made me sound educated, and like my opinion really should count. LOL It shocked my husband the first time I did this sort of thing. I guess he didn't realize, back then, that I actually do have a brain inside this thick skull. tee hee hee
Fun blog to think about.
Now, I'm off to do women's work in the kitchen and I promise not to use any big words or think too much so as not to shock anyone. LOLOLOLOL
I think most writers have a love affair with words. I love them, too, and have to be careful about using them in my books. Which is why I usually have a slightly pretentious character in the mix to use as my mouth piece, LOL! I can't have my hero say "preposterous" because he'd never say a word like that. But my snooty villain might.
Debbie, I also pronounced macabre and ma-ka-bray. Yay for phonics. Another word I pronounced wrong is ancillary. I put the accent in the wrong place when I sounded it out in my head and it sounded a bit like celery to me. Wrong. It's more like ansil-larry. I got teased by my brainy coworkers, of course.
I'm having lots of fun with old fashioned words and phrases in my WIP. My world still uses a somewhat Victorian vocabulary, but it's the slang version. People say "keen" instead of "cool" and "wrathy" instead of "angry." Skells are homeless people. Alley bats are prostitutes who work the city's alleys.
Fun blog!
Hi all, been busy-
Debbie, I agree with everyone, if you're a writer you LOVE words. One I've loved since it appeared in Mary Poppins is Supercalifragiliciousexpealadosis (sp) I sang that song over and over! LOL and I liked Dr. Suess books for the rhyming which I am not good at but love to hear.
I notice in my historical westerns words I heard my grandmother speak come out in the character's dialogue. My mom even had some unusual phrases that I don't say myself, but they do come out in characters.
Fun Blog!
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