The working vocabulary of the average 14-year-old has declined in the last 50 years from 25,000 words to 10,000. Language reflects the depth of our human experience. Because we think in words, are we losing the capacity to say what we feel?
Like, whatever.
Oh, to gaze out my window over the rolling hills of the Palouse. Gorgeous! It’s a winter wonderland out there. Even as I sit here writing next to my cozy fire, I can’t help but turn my imagination loose, letting it run wild down into those secretive valleys where thick pine groves harbor their sylvan secrets…
Did you catch it? The fancy word I’ve found for this week’s entry is one I can’t believe I’ve lived my whole life without: sylvan.
SWIVET: Something a swimming frog says? New handy-dandy carpentry tool for DIY homeowners? Swiffer attachment that swivels? Sniveling swine? Tearful sentiment? Amount of air sniffed up when sniffing? Petite snifter for women who drink whiskey?
Love, love, love SAYING this word … in addition to the fact that it fits certain behaviors. (You know what I’m talkin’ ’bout. Hmmmm, there’s skulduggery in the world?) Skulduggery. A type of crime? Or maybe a ship from The Pirates of the Caribbean? The kids in The Goonies sure get into some skulduggery on their way to finding buried treasures.
The Goonies movie poster, by Drew Struzanl. Courtesy of Wikipedia. Klow
Say it with me: Skulduggery \skəl-ˈdə-g(ə-)rē\ noun. Underhanded or unscrupulous behavior.
Those kids were up to nothing but skulduggery. (I’m sure you have at least once instance of skulduggery you can cite.)
Eileen Widman says: It is fun to say!!! I think of digging up skulls when I hear it but I know this is not a proper definition of the work.
Betty Stone says: Not only has their vocabulary gone downhill, but their spelling is atrocious.
So one review of The Book of Awesome and many gleaming words later, I stumbled upon a website that is also awesome, but with their vocabulary! The website called randomlyawesomewords.com is dedicated to complex phrases you might hear during a game of Balderdash, and these stumpers are sure to have you scratching your head.
Eileen Widman says: I learned that word several years ago when studying why weather causes some people to claim temporary insanity. In some countries the Foehns are a legal defense!! We have a similar wind here often referred to as the Chinook winds and they can cause a temporary mental instability in certain individuals.
I love to learn new things about language. The Foehns as well as the Chinook winds usually change the environmental ionization ratios temporarily bring in with them more Positively charged ions causing a dis-balance of positive to negative ions. We need the negative ions in our atmosphere! Just a little more trivia for you.
Crux. Crutch? Crunchy cereal? Or it is that black hole where all of the things you lose end up? Doesn’t that just drive you wild? You set your keys down right there, you swear you did! The cat must have hidden them, they must have “disaparated” (along with Harry Potter) … or most likely they slipped out of your pocket and are under the chair, carpet, or that shirt that was hastily tossed on the floor in your rush to make it out of the house. Let’s hope we can get to the crux of this problem.
Say it with me: Crux \ˈkru̇ks\ noun An essential point requiring resolution or resolving an outcome.
We are down now to the crux of the problem.
Ahh yes, the keys were in my pocket the whole time. I need a better system. Or … go back in time before locks were invented.
Flibbertigibbet. Flipper? Flubber? Chicken giblets? Flibbets from Banjo Kazooie? We may find it a funny sounding word now, but Shakespeare thought it deft enough for the play King Lear.
The History of King Lear. Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Jim62sch
Fine. Excellent. Well done. Going just right. Swell. *Snore.*
How wistfully do we tread through life, looking for better adjectives to battle-harden our vocabulary, and how often do we …
Mari Duffy says: I introduced a word a few weeks ago……..fastidious. My son who takes honors English had never heard it and enjoys learning ‘new’ words.
Sharon says: It’s no wonder vocab is going down – schools don’t care if kids spell correctly or not… “just get the idea down, we’ll worry about the spelling later”. Yeh, that’s a great idea! And now we have the worst spellers ever, totally reliant on spell check. What happens if your computer crashes or phone texting freezes and you have to send out an important document and it has to go out with your hooked-on-phonics 3rd grade spelling? (Okay, breathe… stepping off my soap box…)
Eileen Widman says: Very funny! I have a friend who overuses “that” word to the point of nausea!!
Just Sayin”
Sitting down to read my November issue of More Magazine, the title below caught my eye and in particular a word on page 78 as I read A DATE WITH THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY.
*This is the issue I’m featured in, page 148, for my work with Project F.A.R.M. (First-class American Rural Made). Make sure you pick up a copy, on newsstands now!
hi,I am headed to the store right now to purchase a copy so I will have something to read as I wait for my son H OSS at the hospital,he is getting IV fluids three times a day for infection in the bone of his foot from Diabetes.their is nothing ever good to read at the hospital,we have six more weeks of treatment.I take along my MaryJanesFarm mags too,I have worn them cover to cover.
Yesterday,the pharmacist,said,Last time I saw you,you had a cherry tomato stuck in your belt!Yea,I ,am a farm girl,I say with a smile!
Have a great week,carol B.
JJean says: I just finished reading the Nov. issue of More cover to cover on a flight. It was a first for me for this magazine and there were so many great articles. And thanks to you I now know what the word Ensorcelled means. Another good article is /second acts/ page 57 “I Didn’t Know I Had It In Me”
Cheers! Jean
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
Sylvan – from the Facebook post, I thought you were talking about Sylvan Learning Center with lead in. I really enjoy the Facebook posts.
When we first moved to the Bremerton area of Western Washington there was a street named Sylvan Way that at one time must have been a road through country farms and meadows. However it had turned into a city street with grocery stores and churches and now is host to other businesses as well. Just down the road from Sylvan Way there were indeed dairy farms at the time we moved there but now the big box stores have moved in with all the requisite gas and go stores too. By the time the town had moved out to where we built our house in the country we decided it was time to move farther out to a more isolated country space. I am still here in my Sylvan environment and loving it.