In my last year of High School, my AP English teacher had us learn 10 new words a week. Her ambitious attempt to strengthen the class’s vocabulary didn’t just help me test better, it created a life-long love and appreciation for words.
To this day, I use the words I learned then when I write now. I understand them when I see them and I roll them over my tongue, a self-indulgent pleasure.
Whenever I see those definitions I learned 10 years ago, especially one in particular—”propensity”—my immediate response is to recite the definition, it’s like a compulsion. “Propensity: a natural inclination or tendency.”
My sister, who was helping me learn at the time by testing me, has experienced something similar. When I mentioned this funny little phenomenon to her today, she said that the same word had stuck with her, even though she had only been helping me. It made me wonder: why are some words or definitions stickier than others? What makes us remember a word, sometimes instantly? Is it a succinct definition (succinct was another of those words)? Is it that the word has a particularly appealing sound or shape when rolled on our tongue? Or perhaps it’s the natural fit and meaning the word has for us individually? Whatever the answer, I just know that some words are instantly memorable, while others will take hours of repetition and use to become a part of my “natural” vocabulary.
You may notice the title of this post contains two rather extraordinary sounding words: bumptious and lachrymose, neither of which I knew before today but both of which I had memorized within a few minutes.
Bumptious: (adj.)loud and assertive in a crude way.
“The club’s golf pro was fired due to his bumptious behavior on the links.”
Lachrymose: (adj.) describes someone who cries at the drop of a hat.
“She was so lachrymose, she cried at commercials for long-distance phone companies.”
In this case, both words were easy to remember because they sound like the thing they’re describing. And of course I know a few people I could definitely attach these words to!
This week is going to be taken up with learning new words thanks to a book I simply could not resist buying.
Today’s word of choice? It’s one that appeals, and if you studied French, you just may be able to guess it.
Bijouterie: (n.) A collection of trinkets or jewelry.
