Agent Plus Environment » words http://agentplusenvironment.com A few perceptions of the world Mon, 07 May 2012 00:56:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Growing up http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/08/growing-up/ http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/08/growing-up/#comments Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:54:35 +0000 Jacqueline http://agentplusenvironment.com/?p=332 statue of a young girl holding a nest
You may have noticed the new tagline on this site’s header. If you were exceptionally observant, you may have noticed that the tagline, for about a day, said “… one girl’s interactions …” rather than “… one woman’s interactions ….” It only struck me later, after seeing the word “girl” at the top the webpage, that I had chosen the wrong word.

As I’m sure you’re aware, “girl” tends to be used to discuss younger female people. When does one switch to referring to those females as “women” instead? Certain criteria appear to be in place for the new title: an age requirement, a threshold level of maturity, specific biological changes. One might hold different standards for oneself than for other people, requiring a particular amount of self-assurance that one is, in fact, mature.

So, out of curiosity, when did you start referring to yourself, in your mental dialogue, as a woman rather than a girl, or as a man rather than a boy?

For me, “girl” would have still been the wrong word a year or two ago. Why did I initially select it anyway? Perhaps I’m still getting used to the idea that I’m growing up. Isn’t the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood a fascinating place to be?

]]> http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/08/growing-up/feed/ 6 Acquiring words, Part II http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/07/acquiring-words-part-ii/ http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/07/acquiring-words-part-ii/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:00:45 +0000 Jacqueline http://agentplusenvironment.com/?p=306 the novel perdido street station held open in the middle, viewed from the side, undoubtedly being consumed by a voracious reader

Words are still great.

Having devoured the remainder of China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station and started on The Scar, I thought I ought to share my continued collection of wordly wonders. (Don’t forget to check out the first half of the list!) Some novel, some familiar but infrequently encountered and marvelous, and all commendable to have in one’s vernacular.

  • palimpsest
  • bonhomie
  • jurisprudence
  • desquamate
  • abbatoir
  • ululate
  • prurient
  • efflorescence
  • phalanx
  • salvo
  • etiolate
  • scurrilous
  • conniption
  • rictus
  • ordure
  • priapic
  • agglutination
  • ossified
  • puissance
  • stygian
  • protuberant
  • obstreperously
  • pudenda
  • phlogistic
  • opprobrium
  • aggrandizement
  • tinnitus

Oh, and I have to ask: Do you have any favored words–unusual, rare, or just plain fun to say? I’d like to discover more!

]]> http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/07/acquiring-words-part-ii/feed/ 0 The best way to acquire words http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/06/the-best-way-to-acquire-words/ http://agentplusenvironment.com/blog/2010/06/the-best-way-to-acquire-words/#comments Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:38:32 +0000 Jacqueline http://agentplusenvironment.com/?p=275 the novel perdido street station held open in the middle, viewed from the side, undoubtedly being consumed by a voracious reader

Words are great.

The vocabulary I habitually utilize hardly taps the well of words available in the English language. This isn’t news: most people fail to employ the full range of lexical jewels stashed in their thesauruses. As such, I’m delighted to announce that the book I’m reading now is full of fantastic words.

I’m reading Perdido Street Station. No lie: The man who wrote this book, China Miéville, has a lexicon just as prodigious as the world he paints. Here are a few novel and infrequently seen words I’ve espied thus far:

  • detumescing
  • veldt
  • sciolist
  • eidolon
  • vertiginous
  • aesthete
  • bombastic
  • moribund
  • inveigled
  • oneiric
  • febrile
  • necrotic
  • pusillanimous
  • bivouac
  • chthonic
  • dissident
  • querulous
  • inchoate
  • paean
  • patina
  • desiccate
  • moniker
  • nacre
  • solipsistic
  • autotelic
  • liminal
  • deracinate
  • sepulchral

Aren’t these splendid? I didn’t start taking notes on words until a hundred pages in, and I’ve got several hundred pages to go. Just think what wordly wonders I may encounter next!

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