Words

I find people who use big words to be supercilious.

Solipsistic even.

The Oxford English Dictionary lists about 600,000 words. Add in medical terminology, slang and new coinages, it is estimated there are over 1,000,000 words available to us in the English language.

Most people use 3000-5000 on a regular basis.

I recognize and understand the definition of far more, but I seldom use them. I don’t want to appear vainglorious with my coterie.

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I’ve mentioned before my love for words. I love learning new ones, and just last week a friend introduced me to the word “onomatopoeia”.

It’s a word that “phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as oink, meow, roar, and chirp, among other sounds such as beep or hiccup.”

I was taping a TV show in DC years ago, and a professor on the panel used the word “kerfuffle”. It made me smile.

It’s used to describe “a fuss, commotion, or minor argument often resulting from conflicting views or noisy activity”.

The word makes me picture two grown men boxing…with feathers.

Speaking of boxing, and words, I remember when my boys were little and we were finishing our meal at a restaurant. The waitress said, “Do you wanna box for the leftovers?” I said, “Sure!” and I threw up my fists in a boxing pose.

She looked bewildered and my sons wanted to crawl under the table. I thought it was hilarious.

And I am pretty sure I could have won.

Even though I am not a pugilist.

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A dictionary was used in the writing of this article. :)