Armitage Besotted has something on her mind, and it’s been niggling at her for a couple of weeks. By the way, I heartily agree with her sentiments.
It started with a post she saw on Armitage Confessions:
and a comment on the post:
And now Armitage Besotted’s comment:
Yes, listen to ceallaig1 and don’t be intimidated. I have a huge vocabulary which I learned on my own through voracious reading — anything and everything (since age 5), just as she says. Funny thing is, I’m great in writing, but I don’t know how to pronounce half the words I know, so I get self-conscious about using them out loud. See, we all have our millstones! I often get around that, by the way, by just putting it out there. I’ve been known to interrupt myself with “fancy word coming up which I’m not sure how to pronounce….” Then I try a pronunciation and look at my listener expectantly for help. You get to a point in life when you decide that what you know is enough and to hell with anyone else who would try to make you feel otherwise.
Frenz’s thoughts:
As I said, I heartily agree and also think the heady company does wonders for my vocabulary. But honestly, it can require a trepidatious spirit to navigate the verbal forest of RA Universe. :D
Sheesh that was a terrible metaphor. I pictured something prickly on my tongue. My rambling ought to make the author of this particular confession feel good right about now.
note: you have to have a tumblr account to make a reply to a post. Methinks Armitage Besotted may eventually cave to that. Oh, and I titled the piece lest you think that Armitage Besotted has become replete with hubris (someone slap me).
additional note: Would Frenz possessive be Frenz’s or Frenz’? Someone please, please slap me.
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RAFrenzy 
Sometimes, it is easier to make words up. Like, who the heckity cares if you have a huge vocabulary? It is what is in your heart – and yes, your soul – that matters, not necessarily the $10 word that falls out of your mouth.
The greatest words are the simplest.
Try: Loyalty, honor, a willing heart. Add: love and kindness.
Just because the emotion feels so massive, doesn’t mean it requires a humongous word.
:D
That said, I love words. They make me happy.
I also love punctuation. It would be Frenz’s. I’d link you to something to prove that, but you might slap me.
:D :D ;D
I knew I was right! ;-) No, no, I wouldn’t slap you.
I love words too, and I agree with Armitage Besotted that the way to get a great vocabulary is to read and put yourself out there, i.e., trying them out even at the risk of looking stupid. Wait. Maybe I should rephrase that. :D .Okay, seriously, how many of us have made mistakes and learned more from them than from doing things “right?”
Yes, read, read, read. I find that telling people you have no idea how to say something usually results in them telling you (think of all those plant names I deal with) or them laughing and saying they have no idea either.
Mistakes are the best lessons, albeit occasionally painful.
when I originally read this confession it made me sad :( I have read others voicing the same fears. I agree that what is in your heart is what matters, not how you express it, and if certain people will not take you seriously or scoff at you because of that, then they’re the ones who are missing out ;) I think I’m able to “keep up” pretty well, but I have a secret *whispers* I’ve never been to university and I’m a stay-at-home mom/housewife. my “smarts” were acquired through reading and an intense love of learning. I seriously do not think any of the “intellectual” fans that I have met would judge someone unfairly that way though, this is most likely a case of one’s own fears. (and I routinely mispronounce things as well! my husband is always giving me strange looks and correcting me *blushes* but when he’s struggling for a word to convey what he’s trying to say, I always have one…I may not say it correctly, but I can write it! *laughs*)
If I mutt like me can blog, then anyone in this fandom can speak her mind. Most of the hesitance is fear of failure in my opinion, and i can relate. My fear of not being able to articulate my points perfectly (define perfectly LOL!) kept me from expressing myself for a long, long time, and this in spite of being a reader. We have to cut ourselves a break and let the desires of our hearts lead.
yes, “we have to cut ourselves a break”, I agree with that wholeheartedly! if someone can’t take the time to look past the “errors” and truly hear what someone is trying to say, then that’s not the type of person I want to converse with anyway ;)
Amen. Amen. And AMEN! A wise blogger once told me….keep it short, keep it simple. Words I blog by now ! :)
Big, fancy words that must be deciphered can drive me nuts but then I wonder if some of my Southernisms might drive others crazy??
But y’all are right…read. I can’t say that strongly …ok, emphatically ( don’t hit me) enough. And as for pronouncing stuff…a friend of Italian roots laughed at me when I was trying to say “focaccia” and advised me to just call that particular type of bread “that thin but yummy Italian sandwich bread”. Seems my pronunciation translated a bit risque. Ooops!
LOL! I really am laughing out loud. :D
:D You all make me so happy…
I’d never dream of slapping you! I enjoy your blog far too much!!! I’ve been a reader all my life (well just since I learned to read of course! :D ) and I *have* to buy them. No public libraries for me! I don’t have a Kindle or anything of that ilk – so far – as I like the feel of a book in my hands. I almost panic if I don’t have a new one lined up, although I will reread books that I love over and over, but as often as not I order new ones on-line. NOT good for the bank balance I can tell you!
I love reading books that make me feel I need a dictionary beside me. PD James comes to mind here! I started keeping a notebook of new words but since I moved I can’t for the life of me think where I put it. :(
BTW – a while back there was a discussion about which book that was to made into a movie might Richard have a role in. Forgive me if this was in another blog. (At least I think that is what was being discussed at the time) Someone mentioned “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”. Whoever it was, I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. I finished reading it last night and highly recommend it. Indeed a ” book-lover’s delight” as someone so aptly termed it!
It wasn’t on this blog, but there are several places devoted to talking about Richard Armitage playing Dawsey Adams including this one. :D
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks a million Frenz!! I had no idea! He would be perfect!! :D I think I fell for Dawsey myself when I read it. Now I’m positive! ;)
I’ve been a voracious reader almost all of my life and a large portion of my vocabulary is directly attributable to that–plus I also love words and enjoy seeing how many ways I can string them together in the course of a story. I just recently got a copy of “The Guernsey—-” but have not read it yet. Looking forward to it!
I love this thread… so many great comments. I was a voracious reader when younger, but slowed down a lot when I had to start working. I learned a very impressive vocabulary that way, but often have trouble putting my finger on just the right word (thank you, aging brain). So I do the very next best thing and make up my own words all the time. It saves trouble and no one can tell me I’m pronouncing them incorrectly. :D
All you need is chutzpah and a lot of style, and it helps to keep in mind that the English language is one big glommed-together mishmosh of everything it’s come in contact with for the last oh, 1500 years or more. All you’re doing is adding your own fresh touch. This isn’t the Sistine Chapel; it’s much more like Grand Central Station, or maybe even a Wal-Mart. ;)
I would love to see a blog piece on this!
My husband makes up words. I mean SO makes up words. LOL! I also have a kid who makes up words. She’s been doing it since she was a child — as kids often do. We just thought she would grow out of it. But she’s 22 now, and she seems to keep doing it. One of my favorites is tidiot for tiresome or tedious idiot. It’s pronounced with the first i short.
I too have a 20 year old that makes up words…and for her to be a journalism major in college, I find it very entertaining…just waiting for one or two of them to show up on her college station newscasts !!!! I’m going to share the ” tidiot” one with her if you don’t mind … :) That’s a great one !!!!!
I’m sure my daughter would laugh and say, “Sure!” Boobas (pronounced boob us) is another of her words. It’s also a noun like tidiot and means someone who is a bumbler but kind of loveable with it. I’m sure you may sense a pattern here. :D
She does have edifying words as well, but those are the ones that make the family howl when she says them.