college-level vocab?

[Christinko]

Here are the 81 words I'm asking my Engl Composition freshmen to know by the end of the semester....what do you think? How did you do?

Can you use it correctly in a sentence that shows you know what it means?

1. Ubiquitous
2. Cursory
3. Penchant
4. Cavort
5. Carouse
6. Cajole
7. Yokel
8. Harridan
9. Derelict
10. Wanton
11. Titillating
12. Debauched
13. Pander
14. Ostracize
15. Impugn
16. Frippery
17. Festoon
18. Flourish (noun)
19. Bower
20. Berth
21. Hovel
22. Dirge
23. Horde
24. Largess
25. Dearth
26. Bereft
27. Rife
28. Foray
29. Rancor
30. Bellicose
31. Ennui
32. Bourgeois
33. Coterie
34. Cuckold
35. Minion
36. Dowager
37. Sallow
38. Florid
39. Hirsute
40. Feign
41. Deign
42. Fawn (verb)
43. Squalid
44. Onerous
45. Odious
46. Sanguine
47. Indolent
48. Aloof
49. Inveigle
50. Exacerbate
51. Surmise
52. Throes
53. Travail
54. Malaise
55. Preen
56. Sashay
57. Rail (verb)
58. Churlish
59. Winsome
60. Piquant
61. Bravado
62. Hubris
63. Idyll
64. Urbane
65. Magnanimous
66. Hedonistic
67. Salient
68. Tacit
69. Esoteric
70. Mar
71. Teem
72. Rile
73. Dalliance
74. Revelry
75. Chicanery
76. Impunity
77. Bailiwick
78. Scion
79. Purport
80. Peruse
81. Pontificate

[innit Geezer]

Your breasts are titillating but please get them out of my wanton soup and don't ostracize me, I'm hungry.

[Ardbeg... innit]

WHAT, no "obfuscate"? Lest I pontificate, ostracize, or appear churlish, the onerous omission or wanton snubbery of this salient word defies belief.


BTW- Hirsute down there?

[Chicago Jake]

I'll bet not one in a hundred Americans could get all of those words. But I'll bet a goodly chunk of our board members could......Jake

[Kawaii Kaiju]

I read that list and thought "Heh, read many romance novels?" but then I remembered "Oh yes, it's Chris, of COURSE she reads cheesy romance novels!"

Zilla (who got the whole list, but almost screwed up bower. "Bo-er? what the fuck? Oh! Bow-er!" It caught me like "lead" does when out of context.)

[nolaflacav]

I must have a family of nerds. I would guess that all 3 of my kids could nail a large percentage of those words.

It has always been a family game to try and toss in an obscure word into our casual conversation and act like it is the norm when we are all together. It always raises an eyebrow when they use a word like erudite and a stranger overhears us.

[Kawaii Kaiju]

Aug 25, 2008 14:39:10 GMT -6 Ardbeg... innit said:

WHAT, no "obfuscate"? Lest I pontificate, ostracize, or appear churlish, the onerous omission or wanton snubbery of this salient word defies belief.


BTW- Hirsute down there?

Grammar Nazi Ordinance 307V.42 clearly states you cannot assign the word "obfuscate" or "obfuscation" without also assigning the word "eschew", unless you are dealing with code protection. Chris was just making sure she didn't violate this safety protocol.

Zilla (who has a special place in my heart for the word "cajole")

[Christinko]

What's funniest to me is that I see these words in print every day whenever I read anything--and yes, though I'm a romance hound, I found almost all these words in Newsweek and the historical novel I'm reading about the Everleigh sisters who ran a classy brothel in Chicago at the turn of century.

[pixiedust]

Aug 25, 2008 14:45:39 GMT -6 Chicago Jake said:

I'll bet not one in a hundred Americans could get all of those words. But I'll bet a goodly chunk of our board members could......Jake

I agree - and being one who could do this you'd be amazed to know I never graduated from College.... ;D ;D

Colleen

[Exildo Wonsetler Briggs III]

"inveigle?" What the HELL does that mean??

Based on what I've seen from kids these days, just getting them to understand the difference between "your" and "you're" would be a great improvement.

Text messaging is destroying the English language, IMHO.

PS: I often find myself writing something and a word comes to mind that I often have no idea whether it is correct in the particular context or not. Most often I have no idea what the REAL meaning of the word is. More often than not, when I look it up, it turns out to be correct.

That just seems spooky to me.

.............Bob <---------who would love to enveigle Chris over for a night of passion and language study! (did I do that right?) ;D

[Chicago Jake]

Just remember the old rule of thumb: Never use a big word when a diminutive one will work just as well.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Aug 25, 2008 16:21:58 GMT -6 Kawaii Kaiju said:

Aug 25, 2008 14:39:10 GMT -6 Ardbeg... innit said:

WHAT, no "obfuscate"? Lest I pontificate, ostracize, or appear churlish, the onerous omission or wanton snubbery of this salient word defies belief.


BTW- Hirsute down there?

Grammar Nazi Ordinance 307V.42 clearly states you cannot assign the word "obfuscate" or "obfuscation" without also assigning the word "eschew", unless you are dealing with code protection. Chris was just making sure she didn't violate this safety protocol.

Zilla (who has a special place in my heart for the word "cajole")

Aug 25, 2008 23:53:05 GMT -6 Chicago Jake said:

Just remember the old rule of thumb: Never use a big word when a diminutive one will work just as well.

I beg to differ. I eschew eschewing, and espouse and excogitate methodologies to augment my obfuscation.

Never utilize diminutive linguistic elements when the byzantine are available.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Normally I would give this article its own thread with an obtuse title... but what the hell, it seems to fit in here quite nicely (note my eschewing obfuscation)

Link

Good news for bad spellers - you're just too clever

THERE'S good news if you're one of those people who can't spell. Researchers say it's because you are too clever in the first place.


For example, the English word most commonly spelt incorrectly in published documents and on the internet is supersede.

Many of us wrongly come up with supercede because of our knowledge of other words, including intercede or precede.

The word comes from the Latin supersedere, meaning to desist from.

The same temptation to refer to our experience of other words has caused us to come a cropper with consensus, liquefy and sacrilegious.

They are among scores of examples found by researchers for Collins Dictionary, who ran thousands of documents on the internet through a software program designed to pick up mistakes.

Ian Brookes, managing editor of dictionaries at Collins, said: "The real spelling problems occur when people have learnt the rules or have a bit of knowledge, but then make mistakes in how they apply this."

The five most difficult words to spell, based on wrong assumptions relating to content, are supersede (precede), inoculate (innocuous), sacrilegious (religious), consensus (census) and liquefy (liquid).

Another common reason for misspelling occurs when words are spelt differently from their pronunciation.

The top five misspelt words in this category are conscience, indict, foreign, mortgage and phlegm.

Meanwhile, the five most difficult words based on a foreign language root begin with broccoli (Italian), followed by haemorrhage (ancient Greek), connoisseur, manoeuvre and lieutenant (French).

[New Mama]

That was interesting. I had to look up 9. Look at all the money I saved by not going to collage. I'm only 9 words behind a collage education.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Anita, I think we could all educate you in collage this November if youre willing to stand long enough, I can bring the magazines and paste ;D

[Exildo Wonsetler Briggs III]

Aug 26, 2008 12:54:47 GMT -6 New Mama said:

That was interesting. I had to look up 9. Look at all the money I saved by not going to collage. I'm only 9 words behind a collage education.

Make that 10!

[Christinko]

Oh, Bob--That was good! Sorry, Anita, he gotcha on that one!

[Alice]

I just had my 15 yo son go over the list. He knew 27 and heard of but didn't know the meaning of 9 of the words. Not to bad for a high school junior.

[edie2u]

There were four that I had to look up.