However, the average person's vocabulary can be anything between 20,000 - 50,000 words. That means, for every word you know, there are at least another four that you probably don't. OK, I mean a lot of them will be technical words or stuff you're never going to need, or dialect words. But even so, that means that there's a potload of great words that we're not using, I say we... Obviously I mean you guys - I'm all about the using three long words where one short one will do.
I was reading some Blogs this morning, on the toilet (don't judge me, you all do it too, probably) and I saw that it's not just me. A lot of Bloggers use 'flowery' language with the assumption that people will know what they mean. (Or to make themselves look intelligent) - That's not why I do it of course. I genuinely love words... (Although the first time I wrote that, it came out as 'I genuinely love worms' Which isn't the same thing at all)
So, I present below a few of my favourite words (Not worms) as may or may not have been on the Blog, and their rough meanings - Please try to shoe-horn as many as you can into random conversations over the weekend.
-oOo-
Agglomeration - A stuck-together jumble, or pile of cr*p
Anapestic Tetrameter - A style of writing where you stress every third syllable when you read it out (Like T'was the NIGHT be-fore CHRISTMAS)
Anthropomorphic - giving something that isn't human, human attributes, like imagining death as a guy with a hood, and a scythe and a horse, called Binky.
Benzoylmethylecgonine - The posh word for Cocaine
Brobdingnagian - Huge, gigantic, large to the point of uselessness, From Jonathan Swift's book, Gulliver's Travels.
Burgeoning - To grow, but quickly. Like the buds on a flower, or perhaps the belly of an under-aged mother to be.
Calderkin - A dialect word for flint (the type of rock)
Chimping - The act of pooping into your hand and throwing it at the object of your affection. (Yeah, seriously - It's a thing that people actually do.)
Debauchery - Giving it large with the wine and the women, things you wouldn't tell your Mum.
Decrepit - (Not decrepiD, as most people seem to say) Old and feeble.
Gorram - A shortened version of God-Damn, originally from the Joss Whedon program 'Firefly' - Which you should all go and watch now, it teaches you how to swear in Chinese.
Hvad? - Danish for 'What?' - I've been using this for years and it sounds just enough like the English equivalent for people not to notice... Make me chuckle internally every time though.
Invective - Sweary and unpleasant words.
Ipovlopsychophobia - A fear of having your photograph taken, Like, that whole 'You can't take my picture! - Why, do you think it will steal your soul? - No, you've left the lenscap on' thing.
Laconic - brief, able to be described in just a few words.
Leitmotif - A (very) short piece of music, associated with a particular character - Possibly just a few notes that gets played when, for instance, the villain enters.
Panoply - A lot of different things, displayed at the same time. (From a Greek word that means a full set of weapons and armour)
Pitchblende - The ore that we get Uranium from
Poltroon - Not an idiot, as some people might think, but specifically a coward.
Proclivities - things that you enjoy doing, usually things that other people might find odd, disgusting, or potentially illegal.
Quantum - Now this sounds like one of those frightfully scary scientific words, you hear it a lot in Star Trek and stuff like that. But it just means an amount of something, usually a small amount, but it doesn't have to be. (And you thought the title of the James Bond film Quantum of Solace was just gibberish? Well now you know)
Smorgasbord - (not SmorgasborG) Put simply, a buffet... But can be used to mean the same as a panoply. It actually means a table full of sandwiches.
Sociopath - Someone who not only doesn't have a conscience, but doesn't even know that such a thing exists.
-oOo-
So, hopefully you learned a few new words, or learned what some words you've been using wrongly in the past actually mean.
Have a fun weekend, I'm going to - You see, I might be misguided, but at least I'm determined.
Peace...
Out...
(Kisses my middle and index fingers and waves them at you)
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