Vocabulary smart…

Well wondering whether this is about Enghlish grammar. No it is nothing to do with the tenses, conjunction or preposition. I just shy away from the perfection of the perfect sentences these days nor it has anything do with any english grammar software reviews..

“The picture was a orgasmic delight” squeaked my friend over the phone. I was wondering if the movie was a xxx only to understand that the picture was good and she wanted to convey it using the new word that she caught one of her team member using.

Well many a times, we do come across new words that we need to use the universal almanac to check out the meanings, but we tend to use them in abandon without thinking if the particular word sets right in the sentence.

So what makes us use these big words that catch us unawares and get embedded into our vocabulary. Is it because the use of them becomes fascinating as well as addictive. Or is that it will ameliorate (improve) your image in front of your friends and nemesis??

Or does it give an ephemeral (short live) gratification.

Well few incidents remain in my memory when I think of the combination of smartness and vocabulary.

There was this girl who was working for a project under me, during my working days (12 years back). We were checking database structures and data I think. There were around 20 pages of printed data to be checked manually.

The girl said “Mam! The data is too voluptuous” I was shocked that she could think the data is sensual when it was so dryyyyyy and voluminous. Only later could understand she wanted to mean voluminous.

Another is a incident that happened with somebody at home. His office assistant came and told him “Sir you are a simpleton”, and he just asked the assistant to check it out online, and he came back and told “I am sorry, I meant you are so simple (straightforward)”.

I had joined a college that was not the la crème in those days.. There was this administrator who was not so good with his English, and he wanted to ask me, why I was roaming in the verandah.. and he did question me to that effect, the memory never stops bringing a tickle of a laugh.
He asked me. “Why are you rotating on the verandah..”

There is nothing wrong in using these great big words, or any word, for that matter, when you are trying to better your vocabulary. In fact, it is proved that reading and using of these words in abandon helps in broadening the spectrum.

Today, there are many vocabulary classes being conducted as a part of communication and personality development courses.

Here is a simple way I try to keep myself practicing. Just take note of the new words I come across be it a blog, newspaper, then if I cannot infer the meaning, refer to the universal almanac Oxford English Dictionary. Reading a lot helps. It is said that a baby can pick up words from the 6 month and has high grasping power for languages within 6 years.

I definitely feel that education is a perennial process. I also feel, to stop increasing our vocabulary is to stop intellectual growth ??
(is it taking it too far?)

I like to keep it simple. And once I have advised a dear friend in IL to limit the exhaustive usage of big words as she was making me have my OED open even to read a paragraph of what she wrote, and thank god she did not take much offence and did reduce to a extent.

But on the whole a larger vocabulary helps in maintaining a very clever, incisive and cerebral (I was contemplating of using erudite/cerebral) persona whether you are a kid, teen, or an adult as long as it does not take a colorful glossary to another trajectory.

Well my friend, do you think, vocabulary smartness is a necessary tool?.