--Nat
Word of the Day for Tuesday May 14, 2002:
inchoate \in-KOH-it\, adjective:
1. In an initial or early stage; just begun.
2. Imperfectly formed or formulated.
deracinate: To pluck up by the roots; to extirpate.
US drug policy has failed to deracinate or even stem the flow of narcotics into North America.
Re:I'll raise you another SAT word
gnat on 2002-05-15T03:02:52
Isn't the difference between recognition and use vast? I know what both your word and Elaine's mean, but I wouldn't use them in conversation. While writing fiction I find it hard to step beyond my 800 word functional English vocabulary. I have to consciously edit and add colourful words.I guess that's the difference between a prole and a poet--the poet can use the vocabulary without thinking. It's what amazes me with James Joyce, that the words are so obviously being carefully picked and yet he writes with such fluidity that it seems like they're just coming off his tongue as he thinks them. I'd love to be able to speak like that (well, perhaps not exactly like Finnegan's Wake
:-). --Nat
Re:I'll raise you another SAT word
jdavidb on 2002-05-15T12:36:09
I actually recognized "dassn't" from Huckleberry Finn. I've actually used it a time or two, but when I was trying to talk colorfully rather than be understood.
I once had a young cousin (~13) chew me out for using big words he said he couldn't understand.
:)
