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8 of My Favorite Underused Words

January 19, 2016 By Mindy Kroll Leave a Comment

The other day, I came across this article on a friend’s Facebook page. It asks us to use fewer emojis this year in favor of a handful of words that deserve to be used more in conversation. It’s a magnificent list— I particularly like “anathema” and “rumpus”— and I also learned two new words: “absquatulate” (to leave a gathering discretely without informing the host—tell me that won’t come in handy) and “sockdolager” (something that settles a matter decisively).

But that made me think: if I were to compile my own list of words to use more often, what would it contain? Here are my top 8 contenders.

  1. Denizen. I’m not sure where I first encountered this word, but I do know when I began to love it—during a vampire-themed episode of “Beavis and Butthead” where Beavis proclaims, “I will be a denizen of the night!” Good stuff.
  2. Equipoise. I associate this word with my good friend, Stefanie, who uses it all the time. I think of it as “her word,” and maybe that’s why I don’t use it much—I typically just say “equilibrium.” But “equipoise” is vastly superior.
  3. Tchotchke. I’ve always liked the sound of “tchotchke,” but when I learned it started with a “t,” it rose to the top of my list. (Same thing with “segue”—I managed to go the first 20 years of my life thinking it was spelled like the self-balancing electric vehicle.) Sometimes the spelling makes all the difference.
  4. Gallimaufry. When my manager, Teresa, used this word to describe a marketing initiative that had gone a bit off the rails, I fell in love with it. It was my word of 2014, and I still use it all the time.
  5. Truculent. I was reminded of this great, underused word when my friend, Amanda, mentioned her dad used it recently, and she found it hilarious (apparently it’s not a word he pulls out often). But it should be. It’s a great word to describe excessively hostile people.
  6. Epitome. I’ve been using this word ever since I first encountered it in my “Wordly Wise” vocabulary book in eighth grade. I used it so much it even became part of a rather lengthy “nickname” I had back in high school: “the epitome of musical knowledge.” I may have lost that title once or twice over the years, but I always get it back.
  7. Extirpation. My husband is a phenomenal guitarist. He used to do a lot of instrumental writing, and he’d frequently consult a thesaurus for song titles. My favorite title of his: “The Extirpation of the Primrose.” Why “extirpation”? Why “primrose”? No one knows, but it sounds cool.
  8. Prodigious. I once received a performance appraisal from Plante Moran’s HR Director with the following comment: “Mindy is a prodigious doer.” I think that’s the most accurate statement anyone has ever made about me (at least professionally), and “prodigious” has been a favorite word of mine ever since.

How about you? What words do you think we should use more? And are you on board with Wayne State’s request that we use fewer emojis?

The 40-Year Old Sesquipedalian

June 2, 2015 By Mindy Kroll Leave a Comment

Between teaching at Eastern and starting at Plante Moran, I endured a five-month stint as a waitress at Senate Coney Island in Livonia. I was a terrible waitress—frenetic and easily overwhelmed—and I had occasional lapses in focus. For example, one evening I was waiting on a couple. I took their order and headed over to retrieve their drinks. Somewhere between point A and point B, I decided that I, too, was thirsty, so I got myself a Pepsi and proceeded to drink it. That was when I noticed my table—my only table at the time—staring at me incredulously. I walked back with their drinks and said something to the effect of, “That gives new meaning to the word ‘apathy.’” The guy laughed, and at the end of the meal, he came up to me with a $10 bill. “You don’t often hear a waitress use the word ‘apathy,’” he said.

I’d argue that you don’t often hear anyone use the word “apathy,” but whatever—in this guy’s mind, poor service + a three-syllable word = big bucks/no whammies, and that was just fine with me. But when someone has the vocabulary of, say, Frasier Crane (who once sent me to the dictionary after he used the word “jejune”), it tends to have a polarizing effect. Some people, like my customer, are impressed. Others are irritated. I’m reminded of an instance where a friend of mine was working as a pharmacy assistant. A customer was trying to access a drug without a prescription, and at some point Shadia used the word “acquiesce.” “Ac-quee-what did you say?” he asked. “You think you’re smarter than me, using big words like that?”

Now, Shadia didn’t use that word to put on airs or make him feel inferior. She used it because “acquiesce” rolls off her tongue as easily as “roll” or “tongue.” She earned that word like she’s earned so many others—through years of combing through various books and conversations with similarly articulate people.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with smaller words. Here I have to, again, quote Stephen King: “One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones.” The same goes for speaking.

Do you remember that “In Living Color” skit featuring Damon Wayans as Oswald Bates, a guy who attempted to sound intelligent via big words but actually just came off as ridiculous? If not, here it is. This is an extreme example, but I think most of us can think of a time when we’ve heard a colleague or friend use a word that was clearly incorrect. For example, I have a friend who often says “exasperate” when he means “exacerbate.” I’ve never corrected him, but it’s all I can do not to quote “The Princess Bride”: “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

My vocabulary is constantly increasing, but each word is earned. I like the word “jejune”—I like it a lot, actually—but I don’t use it. Why? Because the only time I’ve encountered it is via an episode of “Frasier.” It would sound stilted and awkward coming out of my mouth, not to mention a little pretentious. A vocabulary is built over a lifetime, and the introduction of new words is earned over repeated encounters—not via word-of-the-day calendars (though those can be fun).

What do you think? Are you a sesquipedalian? Do you have an example of a time a friend or colleague used one word when he/she clearly meant another? And how great was “In Living Color”?

Word of the Week: Sesquipedalian
Song of the Week: More Than Words, Extreme

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