Ten Favorite Words

I love reading, but I’m particularly drawn to books that use beautiful words. Eliabeth Goerge is one of those authors. I’ll forgive a lot of literay mistakes to learn a new word or two.

I have 468 books on my Goodreads list–only a small portion of what I’ve read. I cover 1-2 books a week, including many for my Amazon Vine gig. Here are ten more of the beautiful words I’ve collected (see the first ten here):

eolian–borne, deposited, eroded by wind. Gives you the sense of timelessness, of Nature’s power.
feral–wild, unchained. A look, a scent, a scense. When you run into something ‘feral’, you’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.
Heteroscedasticity–different variance in statistics. Doesn’t it sound smart? One word and you’ve convinced you’re readers the character is brilliant.
Hobson’s choice–choice without alternative; thing offered or nothing. This is the resolution to every crisis in writing
neologism: the use or creation of new words or expressions. I use them. Geeks (see ‘Ten Favorite Geek Words) create them. A synonym for ‘fun’.
pablum–dumbed-down language or ideas, i.e., for the ‘masses’. None of the words on this list qualify
philistine–smug or or hostile to artistic and cultural values. The opposite of Renaissance Man
precarious purchase. Doesn’t that sound frightening? Like hanging one-handed from a crumbling cliff?
presbyopia–blindness. Worse than myopia. Applies to sight and ability to see the solutions to problems.
schadenfreude–malicious satisfaction from the misfortunes of others. Use this, most of your readers won’t get it. Maybe that’s the plan…

More?

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.