Servetus: Now less embarrassed about her vocabulary

If you’ve read here for a while, you’ll be aware that people regularly tell me they had to look up the meaning of a word I used. I’ve seen at least three people say this to Richard Armitage about the word “self-aggrandizement” (that is the U.S. spelling, he spelled it with “s”). Feeling less alone.

~ by Servetus on June 25, 2016.

32 Responses to “Servetus: Now less embarrassed about her vocabulary”

  1. That’s not even an esoteric word! Sigh. (And he misspelled “lose.”) 😀

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    • Yeah, but that was a great pun. If they’re not in a union, they are all “loose.” LOL. Even if it was unintentional.

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      • you’re in good company then 🙂 suspect the prospect of GB breaking up as a result of this through internal independence referendums drove that post. But unlike the exited David C the others are no such fools. News today said the Scots would think on it within the next 2 years but she would only ask for it if she was sure of the outcome as she couldn’t afford another No. Some politicians less stupid than others… And the Irish in the North have just increased their requests of their already legal 2nd passport, Irish, which is and will remain European.

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  2. I looked it up too (I am one who is constantly looking up words from your posts though). I had always thought that it meant making yourself grand or self important so I looked it up when he tweeted it because I thought my perceived definition didn’t quite fit — I’m glad I looked it up.

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  3. I applaud folks who, like me, take the time to look up a word. It’s part of lifelong learning. Some words are so perfect for conveying a certain meaning, the expression of what was previously inexpressible, a puzzle piece falling into place, confession: a little joy flares in my heart.

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    • I love dictionaries. They are a major time suck for me.

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      • Especially the weighty hard-backed ones; makes knowledge transfer almost a physical exercise.

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        • I used to carry my German / Latin and German / English dictionaries (huge tomes) back and forth with me every summer from Europe. I’d always end up having to open my bag to have them scanned individually because they set off airport security: too dense. I admit that I was happy when I got the DVD version of the Latin one, lol. But I still lugged the German / English one around.

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  4. Hooray for well-developed vocabularies! And for those who love (and know how to use) dictionaries. 🙂 I was one of those moms who would reply “Look it up” when the kids asked what a word meant. (Something I learned from my Dad. :))

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    • I got a big dictionary as a graduation present from my mom. She got one, too, back in the day … sigh. Words, a source of infinite delight!

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  5. A major benefit of being in this fandom is quite simply linguistics. Love, love, love (pun intended).
    Here I find not only English (thankfully a type of English which goes beyond ‘you know’ and ‘like’), but also German and sometimes French. We’ve got our own little Union going on here, come to think of it.
    So, throw in a word or two which some of us are unfamiliar with. I personally love it❤️

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  6. People have been telling me that since I was in kindergarten, always with such a tone of accusation. It has kept me from developing friendships with people I would have liked to, because they treated talking to me like an exhausting chore.

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    • One kind of hopes people will just ask if they don’t understand. I do think there are people who use vocabulary to wound or demonstrate superiority, but I don’t think either you or I or, frankly, most people are among them. If people want to be snooty they will find many ways to do it.

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  7. My husband and I can spend an afternoon with the OED and the etymology dictionaries in our house. Today, we spent 20 minutes going over the histories and roots of the words ‘couture’ vs. ‘sew’. (I’m sewing a Regency gown, so. . . yeah. Nerdlove.)

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    • Love the OED. I’m guessing Armitage is familiar, too, given the kind of prep that actors who do Shakespeare often have to do to prepare.

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      • The OED should be standard issue for actors of any stripe – along with a quality compendium of Shakespeare’s words. They’re awesome for giving meaning and context as the words were used in the 16th/17th centuries, as well as scholarly speculation on Shakespeare’s intended use of the words (and how he altered or invented them).

        RA undoubtedly used both in his training, if not since.

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