My new word
Being a college student requires that you learn and use all kinds of words that you probably didn't use much or at all before. Some words, especially adjectives, you might not have needed before, and others you might not fully understand but you use or have used them anyway. Some examples might be: autonomous, active vs. passive, objective vs. subjective, and so on. To some people these might seem very elementary, but to a dumb Berks County Dutchman they totally blow one's mind because they so efficiently describe something previously unfathomed.
Did you ever come across a new word that you really like? One that you start to use a lot after you learn what it means? I learned a new word, and though I have heard it many times before I could not have cared less what it meant. "Proactive". That's my new word. Proactive is definitely not a word for lazy people. It is sort of like preventive maintenance. I like it because, according to the definitions given, it sounds like a good thing to try to be. If you can be proactive you can save yourself a lot of trouble in the long run.
Proactive: a. Acting in advance to deal with an expected difficulty (American Heritage Dictionary) b. relating to, caused by, or being interference between previous learning and the recall or performance of later learning (Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary) c. serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation, esp. a negative or difficult one (Dictionary.com)
Do you have words like that? I mean real words that are in the dictionary, not just some word you or someone else made up, like reconnoiter, or yuwstacould. Real words that just sort of stick with you all of a sudden for no apparent reason are what I'm looking for?
Citations:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 02 Nov. 2006.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1). Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. 02 Nov. 2006.
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary. Retrieved November 02, 2006, from Dictionary.com website.
Did you ever come across a new word that you really like? One that you start to use a lot after you learn what it means? I learned a new word, and though I have heard it many times before I could not have cared less what it meant. "Proactive". That's my new word. Proactive is definitely not a word for lazy people. It is sort of like preventive maintenance. I like it because, according to the definitions given, it sounds like a good thing to try to be. If you can be proactive you can save yourself a lot of trouble in the long run.
Proactive: a. Acting in advance to deal with an expected difficulty (American Heritage Dictionary) b. relating to, caused by, or being interference between previous learning and the recall or performance of later learning (Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary) c. serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation, esp. a negative or difficult one (Dictionary.com)
Do you have words like that? I mean real words that are in the dictionary, not just some word you or someone else made up, like reconnoiter, or yuwstacould. Real words that just sort of stick with you all of a sudden for no apparent reason are what I'm looking for?
Citations:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 02 Nov. 2006.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1). Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. 02 Nov. 2006.
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary. Retrieved November 02, 2006, from Dictionary.com website.
posted by GKStauffer at 13:32
2 Comments:
My one favorite word is pontificate (to speak or behave with pompous authority). In other words, sound like you know what you are talking about when in reality you know nothing about the subject. I learned the word from a man who was the epitome of pontification. The word caught my attention because of who was using it and has remained one of my favorite words for at least ten years or so.
We were speaking of using such words in our World Civ class tonight. The professor was telling of a plagiarism case she had in another class and how dead give-aways are when the students use words that their writing doesn't normally contain such as the word "paradigm." Fortunately, I grew up using such words because my dad loves them.
Thanks for commenting on my blog. Feel free to any time. I'll have to keep tabs on yours now that I found another "medical professional" student out there. Hope it goes well for you. It's been quite a challenge for me.
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