Vocabulary!

Quandry. If interesting words are your thing there are a couple of cool sites that provide you with just such a thing. There is Word-E at http://word-e.blogspot.com/ This site is cool because it not only gives you rarefied vocabulary, but also the definition, history, synonyms and usage. Also Random Word Generator Plus is cool at http://watchout4snakes.com/CreativityTools/RandomWord/RandomWordPlus.aspx You have to look up the definitions yourself, but you can choose which part of speech you are looking for and also you can set the complexity from "very common" all of the way down to "obscure." If you are looking to deliberately bump into a more complex vocabulary, or to get a few words to seed a poem, these are cool sites.

Quandry said:
Actually

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/regula?s=t

regula
noun, plural regulae
(in a Doric entablature) a fillet, continuing a triglyph beneath the taenia, from which guttae are suspended.

See? Not random garbage. If something doesn't look like a real word, throw it in the dictionary and paste the definition here--if it's not there, then say so specifically. It's kind of a big list, yeah, but so what? I dare you to make a bigger one!

I never said anything about those words being random garbage. I was suggesting that that particular word could have been regular, not that it was. It was simply a judgement call. Did I learn something new today? Yes. Is it of any consequence to my writing or my life? No.

This thread did at first interest me, hence why I bothered to comment, but your attitude doesn't. I'll stick to regular dictionaries when in need of definitions to words whose meanings leave me befuddled.

A rivederci.

abstemious
dowdy
florid
foist
gauche
inculate
pernicious
salient
satiate
specious
clangor
deleterous
incisive
prosaic
scintillanting
winsome
abet
aver
broach
carousal
collate
connoisseur
foment
herculean
nonplussed
rejoinder
expatiate
infirmity
jejune
obdurate
potpourri
sententious
supplicate
surfeit
turgid
mollify
onus
presentiment
profligate
remit
sartorial
aplomb
aspersion
axiomatic
choleric
cloy
collate
corpulent
debonair
epithet
equine
erudite
exhort
filch
inculate
insular
inveign
leonine
ophidian
paean
pecurate
perfidy
porcine
prate
recondite
retrograde
sardonic
soporfic
taurine
varnish
antacedent
biopic
desirous
festooned
besprinkled
folios
quartos
duodecimer
obscurest
gilt
brocade
arrayed
damask
inbibe
magnolas
decennial
impious
conscientious

Indie said:
Did I learn something new today? Yes. Is it of any consequence to my writing or my life? No.

This thread did at first interest me, hence why I bothered to comment, but your attitude doesn't.


Okay dude, not my loss. Don't take things so personally, man. I mean, there's no reason to be histronic; if anything, I indirectly inferred that you thought it was "random garbage". Having the word "regula" equalling "regular" and being misunderstood should be forgivable enough. . . Just come back and contribute anytime, home-dog. No one wants to attack you, or anything, haha.

And thanks, Steve; I'll make sure to check out those sites and post the results pronto!

Well ya gotta know a big vocab to make your peoms sound more legit

Long, difficult or obscure words do not improve anyone's writing one iota - using the right word for the job does. I think it's important, especially for a writer, to extend one's vocabulary as much as possible, but this is best done through reading. By all means browse the dictionary from time to time (I recommend the Complete Oxford), but don't stick long words into your writing just for the sake of it, it won't help. Having said that, I just remembered a poem I wrote many years ago to a bullying boss who used to write his staff sarcastic letters full of unnecessarily complicated vocabulary in order to imply his superiority over them. The obscure words I used in this were for the purpose of mockery.

Verbiage

Habitual verbosity
Displays one’s own pomposity,
And the sesquipedalian word
Is patently absurd
When merely used for show,
As even you should know.
For scholars of ability
Are men of some humility,
But pedantry’s a bore
Which all of us abhor,
And mere rodomontade
Can make life very hard
For those who have to suffer
The boasting of a bluffer
Who feels he’s got to show
The things he’s proud to know.

No doubt you often use
A word like ‘arquebus’,
And terms like ‘vacillation’
And ‘tintinnabulation’,
And good old ‘boustrophedon’
Is one we like to read on
Walls, and then there’s ‘palimpsest’
And ‘lacuna’ and all the rest,
But these, of course, you’ll know,
Or maybe not. If so,
You really must take care
In future to forbear
From making the assumption
That others lack the gumption
To understand your meaning.
Beware of overweening
Pride. As for your letter,
Quite frankly, I’ve read better.

Ramification   - Etym:  Rami (rough)  - Fic (f#ck- Germany)   - Ation (abbr: Vacation)
   
(rough sex vacation)