Hey, dat's dat mouse dat comes tuh save da day...
Posted on 07/23/2007 7:30:03 PM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative
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abjure
abrogate abstemious acumen antebellum auspicious belie bellicose bowdlerize chicanery chromosome churlish circumlocution circumnavigate deciduous deleterious diffident enervate enfranchise epiphany equinox euro evanescent expurgate facetious fatuous feckless fiduciary filibuster gamete gauche gerrymander hegemony hemoglobin homogeneous hubris hypotenuse impeach incognito incontrovertible inculcate infrastructure interpolate irony jejune kinetic kowtow laissez faire lexicon loquacious |
lugubrious
metamorphosis mitosis moiety nanotechnology nihilism nomenclature nonsectarian notarize obsequious oligarchy omnipotent orthography oxidize parabola paradigm parameter pecuniary photosynthesis plagiarize plasma polymer precipitous quasar quotidian recapitulate reciprocal reparation respiration sanguine soliloquy subjugate suffragist supercilious tautology taxonomy tectonic tempestuous thermodynamics totalitarian unctuous usurp vacuous vehement vortex winnow wrought xenophobe yeoman ziggurat |
I am not sure about moiety and quotidian (had to look those up) but I generally agree that every American adult should know those words.
Totalitarian word Nazis show they have a moiety of a brain...
Sure, I talk about ziggurats all the time. Very important in the electronic age. Ziggurats came before Demorats. Ziggurat is a racist term, since a Z on its side is an N.
Also, know “thermodynamics” from “thermal dynamics”.
I mean, there were students I knew.... it wasn’t just me....
Because many believe that Western civilization traces back to Mesopotamia. Whether it really does or not is debatable.
By the way, check the picture of Rosie at the bottom of dictionary.com when you type in moiety in the search bar :)
Is that irony or what?
‘Mr Waugh is a great writer from England. He will tell you how to be great writers.’‘Well,’ I said, ‘well. I have spent fifty-four years trying to learn English and I still find I have recourse to the dictionary almost every day. English,’ I said, warming a little to my subject, ‘is incomparably the richest language in the world. There are two or three quite distinct words to express every concept and each has a subtle difference of nuance.’
This was clearly not quite what was required. Consternation was plainly written on all the faces of the aspiring clerks who had greeted me with so broad a welcome.
‘What Mr Waugh means,’ said the teacher, ‘is that English is very simple really. You will not learn all the words. You can make your meaning clear if you know a few of them.’
The students brightened a little. I left it at that.
— Evelyn Waugh, A Tourist in Africa.
“Feck” is used by Irish in the same way as “F*ck.” So, if a guy is feckless, he’s not doing well with the ladies.
“And I refuse to look it up untl I see it in a sentence somewhere. I’m not convinced I need to know it...unless, perhaps, I happend to be discussing the risible formularies of Moe Howard.”
Sointley...
I would also add cromulent and embiggens to the list.
Until I read Dorothy Parker...I could not use the word “horticulture” in a sentence.
“You can lead a “whore to culture” but you can’t make her think!”
I think it’s an excellent list. I knew most, but the following stumped me. I list the he words followed by my guesses at their meanings:
abjure — to withhold judgment?
abstemious — should know it but I’m blanking
bowdlerize — to debase? to give a lowbrow meaning to something fairly lofty?
fiduciary — something to do with money but I’m not sure what
evanescent — should know this one too. New, on the rise, in early stages?
lugubrious — smarmily charming?
obsequious — another one I should know. Coy, indirect?
moiety — have no idea
Some of the words I’m a little weak on, but I actually see a pretty good mix here — some natural science, some math/physical science, some history, some “English,” economics, etc.
I skimmed through the list and found a fair amount of the words to be of little value unless you are trying to impress someone.
What two would you take off the list? There can only be 100.
It’s in the video game “Age of Wonders.”
Hey, dat's dat mouse dat comes tuh save da day...
That's a sad commentary on the state of contemporary education.
why am I not surprised “Impeach” is in there.
Along with “Filibuster.”
Well, the whole point WAS to point out how very much smarter than the rest of us they are.
I'd be much more satisfied if people could learn to figure out when to use the word "fewer" instead of always using "less".
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