10
votes
What words do you recommend?
What are some words that you find particularly useful when writing and would recommend to others? How do you use them?
What are some words that you find particularly useful when writing and would recommend to others? How do you use them?
Fortnight and Semiweekly - because biweekly bugs me by having two meanings, and you have to clarify what you mean instead of using one word that means what you want it to mean. Whenever I hear biweekly, I always have to ask the clarifying "do you mean twice a week or every two weeks?".
Conflate - I most often use this when cautioning about equating two concepts that are necessarily distinct (e.g. “let’s not conflate rights with privileges”). Because I’m a sucker for etymologies I looked it up and it’s essentially Latin for “with fire” as in to melt together.
Same root as conflagration, which is a dope-ass word for a high level fire spell.
wonder - great for putting a question out there without assigning homework or putting someone on the spot. Starting with "I wonder if" is especially good if you doubt anyone has the answer to a question, but it's worth pondering. And maybe someone will know?
I’ve been fascinated at the similarities between “wonder” and “wander” since they are conceptually similar (i.e. to wonder is to let your mind wander). The etymologies appear separate (though both of Germanic origin). The PIE root for “wander” at least gives some indication of its base abstraction which also forms the word “wind” (as in to turn / winding around). Makes sense, since you try to “wrap your mind” around a concept by wondering/wandering about various facets of it.
imagine - useful when speculating about the future or anything else you know little about. Starting off with "I imagine that" is great for not sounding like a know-it-all and not pushing your opinion on others. Crystal balls are hard to come by, but anyone can imagine things!
plausible - useful as a noncommittal way of responding to someone else's speculation. Even if you don't think it's particularly likely that it will happen that way, you can say sure, it could happen!
I do see a hierarchy of likelihood via various terms:
Now, when you string these hierarchies together (“it’s certainly possible…”, “it’s definitely likely”) it becomes a layer too deep for me to want to explore further.
Ah, man, vicissitudes!
porte-cochère, which is basically the awning you drive under at the front of a lot of commercial buildings. Bunch of my friends work in hotels and when I learned this word I couldn't believe I never had a name for such a common thing before. It's kind of pronounced like "puert-uh-cuh-shay".