Are you up for a vocabulary quiz?
I am reading Careless in Red, a wonderful psychological whodunit British novel by American author Elizabeth George.
I’ve always believed I possess an above average command of the English language and a fairly broad vocabulary. In a matter of just a few pages, Jones destroyed my confidence.
In just a few pages, I came across an eye-popping list of eleven words that challenged my memory and understanding of etymology. How many more words will I add to the list? 2X? 3X? It’s entirely possible since I’m only one-third of the way through the book. Little did I know the expanse of words I don’t know.
Quiz time
Grab a paper and pen and write down each word in this list followed by your own short definition:
- lachrymose
- anachronicity
- execrable
- blithely
- niggard
- putatively
- joie de vivre
- obdurate
- casuistry
- fecundity
- panegyric
When you’ve finished writing the definition for each, click on word in this post and compare your description with the dictionary definition.
Your score
How did you do?
I failed miserably. I can honestly say four words and the French phrase were firsts for me. I had never seen these terms prior to crashing into them in the novel. Context should have helped me obtain a general sense of the meaning of these terms, but alas, I couldn’t conjure even an educated guess.
Perhaps reading at midnight had something to do with it. An exhausted brain has difficulty firing synapses to make critical connections.
Excuses excuses
No. I believe I have to expect an author and teacher with an English degree who writes novels based in Britain is going to have a rich vocabulary rife with words from the Queen’s English. Words I will learn and eventually work into my repertoire.
Watch out Scrabble opponents.
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