What’s your hack for great vocab?
Anyone here puts in effort to become verbally athletic? I have always admired eloquent speakers and aspire to be one. While I know it’s a journey and not a destination, I’d like to learn about any hacks you follow to have a better command over the language. Here’s mine: I try to maintain a common place book to write down new words and alliterations
1. Read Diverse Genres: - Explore literature, science articles, and even poetry to encounter varied vocabulary. For instance, reading Shakespeare exposes you to archaic words.
2 Engage with Challenging Texts - Delve into classics like "1984" by George Orwell or philosophical works such as Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." Reads like these texts often contain intricate vocabulary. It’s tough to follow initially, but good trip if you get it right m.
3 Active Usage - Actively try to use your new words. I have people asked meanings of words 😉
4. Learn a word everyday - you will encounter many new words everyday, make a library of those and go through them once a week. If you have or interact with kids this will be a fun exercise.
5. Cultivate Curiosity - Explore etymology to understand word origins. For example, "lunatic" comes from the Latin word "luna" (moon), emphasizing the historical belief in a connection between madness and lunar phases.
6. Listen to Intellectual Conversations - Tune into intellectual discussions, such as those led by Jordan Peterson. His podcasts or lectures can expose you to articulate expressions of complex ideas, expanding your vocabulary through context and nuanced language.
All the best @Quintessential, it’s a very rewarding habit to have!
These are marvellous hacks. Although some are quite challenging to do, I’m sure it’s worth it.
Thanks much!
Also, do you happen to write ?
If I read a new word, I try to use it while writing/speaking to someone on that same day or week depending on the situation so that it stays in my mind. And, I would have used it in a practical scenario by myself.
(If it's an extremely difficult word I avoid using it while speaking so that I don't get slapped)
That’s a lovely idea. But at times we might come out as forced with this approach? Also tell me more about writing?
Do you practice writing ?
I used to blog regularly earlier. It gave me the freedom to write whatever I wanted. I was casually preparing for GRE too those days. So, learning new words was a mandatory. Now it has become very limited in terms of dedicating time to sit and write. I can always use them while chatting on forums/WhatsApp groups/work emails. One word at a time. Don't want to come off as pretentious by dumping a whole lot.
Rarely, while writing stinkers to the agencies and vendors many such words come in handy 😆
The core idea is to put to use what we learn so that it stays in the mind.
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