For your first post, please respond to the following quote from p. 95, Fugitive Pieces:
"Language. The numb tongue attaches itself, orphan, to any sound it can: it sticks, tongue to cold metal. Then, finally, many years later, tears painfully away.
There's a heavy black outline around things separated from their names. My lame vocabulary consisted of the variety of staples--bread, cheese, table, coat, meat--as well as a more idiosyncratic store. From Athos I'd learned the words for rock strata, infinity, and evolution--but not for bank account or landlord. I could carry my own in a discussion of volcanoes, glaciers, or clouds in Greek or English, but didn't know what was ,eant by a "cocktail" or a 'Kleenex.'"
What words are "staples" in your vocabulary? What words are "special" in your vocabulary?
What words remain elusive for you? As a writer, what special significance does language have for you?
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13 comments:
Most of the staple words in my vocabulary are ones most people would find familiar. All of the standard everyday words most would use. No need to really specify as I'm sure we all know what words we use most.
Some of the more "idiosyncratic" words in my vocabulary revolve around my hobbies and sciences. The average person would have no idea what i was talking about if I mentioned "The Faerunian Pantheon" or the character "Drizz't Do'odur". Only the well informed would know what "string theory" or "quarks" were.
^^ Posted by William Keller
A few good examples of staple words that I exercise a lot in every-day life would be "food" or "homework", or something plain and boring to that effect. There's no way to really pin-point all of the average staple words in the human language, but the "idiosyncratic" words in life generally differ per person. For me, I don't necessarily have any specific jargon for my interests, but I do use more complex words such as "inept" or "incongruency" or "juxtaposition" or "antidisestablishmentarianism" (just kidding). I think that everyone's individual word bank really describes a lot about them, and I guess you could say that because of the events of my life, the words I use are more proper and deep rather than mere filler words that make for a boring vocabulary.
Well first off I come with a different background. So alot of the words that I do know that those around me do not know are in arabic. Being a cultured Muslim I was taught much about the culture of Islam and the language. Like English there is the "proper" and the "slang" what I speak is the slang. I know some of the proper but the slang just comes natural when I speak the Arabic language. As a writer these words make me special in that not everyone else are able to use the vocabulary that I use. SO that's cool I guess.
My vocabulary is not really spectaular, but it helps me do good on a everyday basis. Sometimes i use ebonics around my friends or peers. Then there are other times I increase my vocabulary with the poeple that surround me. I get use to talking ebonics so much that sometimes I use it around "important" poeple. When I'm going to an interview I like to use "proper" langauge. I dont really use special words, I just speak what is on my mind. The significance of language to writers is important because without use of good langauge you wouldnt have a good book. Also there are some language you use for different books.
Rasheed Williams
I think that one of my favorite subjects is art and art history. I don't know that there are particular words that go along with that topic, but there are names and styles that I am familiar with that others my own age perhaps are not. For example, "Renoir's impressionism" or "Picasso's perpective".
Another "word-skill" that I have is my ability to link "fancy words" to thier Latin roots. I like to find the derivatives and links between modern words and thier ancient ancestors.
~ Pendle
my staple words are like everyone else's, but there are some I use more than others. like "macaroni and cheese" and "intense". especially intense because for some reason it's one of my favorite adjectives.
I've always wanted to learn Italian. I know Italian staple words like "arrivederci" and "buena cera" and "vita bella", as well as the (more or less) correct pronounciation of most pastas.
my life pretty much (well not pretty much, more like almost completely) revolves around crew. so I have this rowing jargon that rivals a webster's dictionary. Some of my idosyncratic words include "Empacher" "octuple" "coxswain" "gunnels" "skeg" and phrases such as "let it run" "the catch" "the drive" "power (10, 20, 30, ect..)" and "we'll do a piece by all eight for ten with every other minute on the delayed feather focusing on the catch and controlling the rush at 95%. sit ready at the finish, ready, row. get that TAP dowwnnn, feathering with Kelsey..."
(by zoe, obviously.)
The majority of my vocabulary is very typical and ordinary. There are no real "specialty" areas of my life where there is a special jargon. However, I do know a lot of so-called "big" or more unusual words, though I use them more when I write than when I speak. And even though these words are rarely found in everyday life, they aren't necessarily ones that the average person would be completely unfamiliar with.
Zoe Johnson
I don't belive that my vocabulary is very expansive. I do pick up words through reading, or by listening to others but I'm not
sure that I have staples of vocabulary. I know that I do make up words or use them incorrectly but I think that we learn from the mistakes which is really great. I think latin is helpful to fingd the meaning of words, because all you have to do is speratethe word and just connect them together again to understand the meaning.Some of the idiosyncradic words or phrases that I have picked up are from television like "proxy" or "Munchhausen syndrome." I'd like to build my vocabulary itself because it makes everything so much richer, how the words roll off the tounge, how pleasing they sound. It's great how language effects us.
Most of the words i use in my day-to-day life are staple words. I find easier to talk to others if they can understand what I'm saying. Instead of having to stop every few seconds to explain to them what each word means i use words they can understand.
I use proper language when i have to. For example at a job interview, but when i with my friends i speak mostly slang.
My vocoabulary consists of many different varieties of words. From spanish to english,the languages sometimes tangle up and I struggle to keep up. I try to exceed in both languages but I sometimes end up with one more adavanced then the other and leave the other playing catch up. Words that everyone use on everyday terms I would be most familiar with, like "literature" or "homosexual", "pencil".
And for my "idiosyncratic" word in my vocabulary it would be things that have to do with my life at home. Like spanish or things that I love, like history. But still I continue to learn. Yeah. I don't know...
Sharliery Garcia
It is fitting that the question on language should come on the day when I came to class late after helping a German exchange student find her locker. Language is a strange thing in that we often take it for granted that others understand our meaning. However, it was new and refreshing to have a conversation where one has explains the distinction between 'tall' and 'height' or mimes the word 'communion.'
As vocabularies go, mine is average for any high schooler who appreciates reading, although I do try to spice it up with new words borrowed from poets and novelists along the way. In terms of idiosyncracy, I have the joy of posessing a fairly substantial sailing vocabulary. Phrases such as "skirt the jib," "helm's to lee," and "tail the main sheet" send my hands and feet scrambling into motion, grabbing lines and sails, working to harness the wind.
I would find it very fulfilling and enriching to one day learn another language. Whatever language that may be, I hope to one day visit a country where the language I learned is the native tongue. Unlike Latin, a language which remains largely within the covers of books, I would like to learn a spoken language, a language which can be brought to life in it's native context. To swim in the pools of foreign accents, tongues heavy with new sounds rolling around in ones mouth like thick molasses, sticking to the roof of your mouth, getting caught in the gaps between your teeth until you choke is how I desire to learn a foreign language. Maybe one day, I will even find myself in a conversation in French or German or Spanish or Portuguese in which someone will explain to me the nuances that differentiate the words 'tall' and 'height.'
My vocab I think is diverse, just like most aspects of me. My core or "staple" words are very basic I think compared to most. But, I really like that. I find, for me personally, it is easier to speak in simpler terms because I make more sense that way. Some days I am completely like a kindergartener but that's just me. Sometimes when I write my vocab is even more limited because I can't spell. Even though I read and write a lot that fact I doubt will never change. My more complex words are used when I speak, for the most part and are probably words that deal with topics that have been key in my life; like mental health and addiction. Those are things that I have come across most in my life so I learned words along the way. Maybe other people know a lot about that stuff to and its not that unique. I don't know, to each its own, or whatever that saying is. I definatly agree with Hayley that your vocab says a lot about you as an individual. So i guess I'm a 16-year-old kindergarter who can't spell to save their life who in some sick sense is addicted to mental health. I like me.
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