The Joy of Vocabulary Acquisition

The Joy of Vocabulary Acquisition The Joy of Vocabulary Acquisition The Joy of Vocabulary Acquisition By Mark Nichol As a word nerd, I find it pleasurable to discover words I had not heretofore known about. Being introduced to utilitarian technical and scientific terminology generally doesn’t do much for me, but almost invariably, stumbling on a word that is new to me brings a smile to my face. The most recent joyful addition to my word-hoard is anagnorisis, adopted into English from Greek by way of Latin. The word means â€Å"recognition,† but with the sense of one’s dramatic discovery of one’s own character, identity, or nature, or that of someone else. Its use in literary criticism dates back to Aristotle, and the concept of anagnorisis is often associated with catharsis, the purging or purifying of one’s emotions or one’s renewal or restoration resulting in an abrupt change in emotion- catharsis is a favorite word of mine, too- as well as with peripeteia (another new word for me) which means â€Å"turning point.† How many words do I know now, after adding anagnorisis and peripeteia to my trove? I have no idea, but I can estimate. The active vocabulary of the average adult native speaker of English- that is, the number of words a person actually uses- is said to be about 20,000. (The average passive vocabulary- the number of words a person recognizes and knows the meaning of but does not use- is about twice that.) However, according to one source, a mere 25 words constitute about a third of our everyday writing, 100 words account for half of it, and 1,000 words constitutes nearly 90 percent of our writing vocabulary; our normal reading diet of journalistic and conversational written content may consist of as few as 3,000 words. Considering that I’m an editor and writer who enjoys studying etymology and reading the dictionary, I probably know several times that many words, but my total is likely still in the five-figure range. But why would anyone want to know that many words? I’ve never set out to learn about more words for the sake of achieving a vocabulary word count, but I appreciate being able to summon a specific term when a generic one just won’t do. But why would I ever use anagnorisis? In the context of discussing a literary work- whether one of the Great Classics or a comic book- I wouldn’t be satisfied with recognition, because it doesn’t quite capture the potency of self-discovery or of a cathartic peripetic moment in which one realizes that, for example, a supposed hero is a villain or (more intriguingly) vice-versa. English is replete with words we don’t use every day but we can summon to express a nuanced thought or to communicate an idea that otherwise must be explained in a phrase or with an entire sentence. (That is the great value of German words such as zeitgeist and weltanshauung.) Having such terms at hand is of great benefit when one attempts to write coherently and concisely. But, you might argue, most people don’t know what anagnorisis means, so hasn’t one failed to communicate when one uses such highfalutin vocabulary? My response: I’d most likely gloss, or briefly define, the word the first time I used it, and once I did, my readers would have an addition to their own word-hoard. In the same way, I benefit from reading content that may feature challenging wordcraft. There’s no shame in using basic vocabulary; many of the morphemic building blocks of this post and my others consist of one-syllable words any child knows, and it’s an interesting exercise to try to write a piece of content using only one-syllable words (though, if you want to emerge emotionally unscathed, start out with a two-syllable limit and work your way down). But finding just the right word for the job is a worthy goal for writers. (There has to be a word for that.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Types of Narrative ConflictHow Long Should a Paragraph Be?Dealing With A Character's Internal Thoughts

Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson in the Napoleonic Wars

Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson in the Napoleonic Wars Horatio Nelson - Birth: Horatio Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe, England on September 29, 1758, to Reverend Edmund Nelson and Catherine Nelson. He was the sixth of eleven children. Horatio Nelson - Rank Titles: At his death in 1805, Nelson held the rank of Vice Admiral of the White in the Royal Navy, as well as the titles of 1st Viscount Nelson of the Nile (English peerage) and Duke of Bronte (Neapolitan peerage). Horatio Nelson - Personal Life: Nelson married Frances Nisbet in 1787, while stationed in the Caribbean. The two did not produce any children and the relationship cooled. In 1799, Nelson met Emma Hamilton, the wife of the British ambassador to Naples. The two fell in love and, despite the scandal, lived openly together for the remainder of Nelsons life. They had one child, a daughter named Horatia. Horatio Nelson - Career: Entering the Royal Navy in 1771, Nelson swiftly rose through the ranks achieving the rank of captain by the time he was twenty. In 1797, he won great acclaim for his performance at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent where his audacious disobeying of orders led to a stunning British victory over the French.   Following the battle, Nelson was knighted and promoted to rear admiral. Later that year, he participated in an attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands and was wounded in the right arm, forcing its amputation. In 1798, Nelson, now a rear admiral, was given a fleet of fifteen ships and sent to destroy the French fleet supporting Napoleons invasion of Egypt. After weeks of searching, he found the French at anchor in Aboukir Bay near Alexandria. Sailing into uncharted waters at night, Nelsons squadron attacked and annihilated the French fleet, destroying all but two of their ships. This success followed by a promotion to vice admiral in January 1801.   A short time later, in April, Nelson decisively defeated the Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen. This victory broke up the French-leaning League of Armed Neutrality (Denmark, Russia, Prussia, Sweden) and ensured that a continuous supply of naval stores would reach Britain. After this triumph, Nelson sailed for the Mediterranean where he over saw the blockade of the French coast. In 1805, after a brief rest ashore, Nelson returned to sea after hearing that the French and Spanish fleets were concentrating at Cdiz. On October 21, the combined French and Spanish fleet was spotted off Cape Trafalgar. Using revolutionary new tactics that he had devised, the Nelsons fleet engaged the enemy and was in the process of achieving his greatest triumph when he was shot by a French marine. The bullet entered his left shoulder and pierced the lung, before lodging against his spine. Four hours later, the admiral died, just as his fleet was completing the victory. Horatio Nelson - Legacy: Nelson’s victories ensured that the British controlled the seas for the duration of the Napoleonic Wars and prevented the French from ever attempting to invade Britain. His strategic vision and tactical flexibility set him apart from his contemporaries and have been emulated in the centuries since his death. Nelson possessed an innate ability to inspire his men to achieve beyond what they thought possible. This â€Å"Nelson Touch† was a hallmark of his command style and has been sought by subsequent leaders.