Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
Now
12 months ago
on Wordie.
How to build my vocabulary
It made me
happy 
"I am confident that I can read anything in the English language and know what it means. The utility in such a skill can't be overestimated."
How I did it: You can do this is by reading. It's a lifelong endeavor, and perhaps not something you can even do consciously.
You also do this by persuing your natural interests. Your vocabulary will naturally expand as you seek to learn more about the thing you are interested in. Your vocabulary will grow when you aren't intentionally trying to expand it.
Talking to people will also build your vocabulary. Consider how a baby learns words. It seems that it doesn't matter at all whether the people you talk to are "smart" (whatever that means) or not. They could have a very limited vocabulary (for example, if they are just learning english), but by simple virtue of the fact that they have unique life experiences, they may use new words, perhaps from another language. They may use words you already know, but they might use them in some unexpected way.
It doesn't matter how exactly you go about expanding your vocabulary. It's the "thrill of the chase" that will inspire you to learn more, not the specific method of learning you start out with.
Lessons & tips: 1. When you come to a word you don't know, don't simply internally say to yourself, "don't know it... will move on." Look it up or ask for its meaning. Force yourself to get over the embarassment of asking. Nobody knows everything.
2. Discontinue television viewing.
3. Shakespeare, Swift, Chaucer, Milton. You may think that you "just aren't interested" in these people or their writing. Give up on the notion that your disinterest in them was a personal choice of yours. Acquiant yourself with the idea that beginning in childhood, you were, dare I say, brainwashed, debriefed, reprogrammed systematically and purposefully. You were mentally reduced to a level that made you unable to concentrate very long on anything, even when you wanted to. The knowledge contained within the works of these authors is so powerful that if the masses grasped its full gravity, all aspects of daily life would be dramatically different. An explosive growth in vocabulary would be only the beginning.
Resources: an old english dictionary
www.m-w.com
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Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
reify
12 months ago
This word was mentioned at the dharma talk on Wednesday night but I don’t have an example of its use to hand. The Gestalt use of this word is interesting though.
Wordielike Flickr but without the photos looks like it might be interesting.
Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
Aposiopesis
12 months ago
I like knowing the names for rhetorical devices or figures of speech even if I don’t think that I’ll be using them much in day to day conversation.
Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
apoplanesis
12 months ago
a rhetorical device whereby one effectively dodges the issue by means of a digression.
Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
boondoggle
12 months ago
From last week’s The Economist.
Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
agrise
12 months ago
to tremble; to make tremble, to terrify
The kynges herte of pitee gan agryse,Whan he saugh so benigne a creature
Chaucer, The Man Of Law’s Tale
BeautifulNitemare As a Child
Finding ways to build...
12 months ago
I want to build my vocabulary. I am a very smart person, also a good writer. I believe if I had a better vocabulary I could be great. I just have to find ways to help me build it. I know Reading is one…I am searching for more ways! Also ways that can be fun as well as educational!
Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
Should
12 months ago
read more Nabokov for this goal.
Mikhail Nikolayevich If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them
suzerain
12 months ago
The Economist again.
