In not-really-penance for swearing a while ago, I put up Ask Oxford's word of the day for a week. Of the seven that I featured, four were English, and perhaps loge is also in standard use. However, they are still arriving in my inbox, sourced from the Oxford Dictionary of English, Many of them appear to be misplaced from the Oxford Dictionary of Foreign.
Khanga – the East African fabric – is arguably in-place, since people in
The point of subscribing to such a service is to expand your vocabulary, to then slip those new words into your speech/use of words. So I guess it's fine if you are happy to keep explaining the funny words you're using (although knowing what a tupic is from having befriended a Canadian Inuit is preferable...). Of course, as an armchair polyglot I'm not complaining, but there are loads of obscure English words - or foreign ones that are used - which could feature. But maybe they've all been used in the years before I clicked on the service.
3 comments:
You will recall that my rule-of-thumb for Scrabble was not to use any words that I wouldn't happily use in conversation. I have also applied the same rule to literature, being irritated when an unfamiliar non-technical word arises. I have looked up "rebarbative" a number of times, but can never remember what it means, thank you William Boyd in particular.
It sounds to me like a response that outwithers a withering commment. Beware the chemist with the rude retort!
(Status: Eating tupic, wearing kanga in my loge.)
Its a fine line though between using accessible and realistic vocabulary in fiction and introducing new words and enjoying and making enjoyable language. Both aspects should be covered in literature, although not always at the same time I guess.
Dodi Smith introduces the word metaphysical really well in the Starlight Barking if I remember it rightly, word and concept both.
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