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Long ago and far away, I taught 10th grade English. I was a busy, busy girl. I taught creative writing (one essay a week, every Wednesday, graded and returned by Friday), the 5 genres of literature (novel, short story, essay, poem, play), grammar, reading comprehension, and vocabulary (vocab test every Friday)—-they also had to do a daily journal, but this was mainly a device to keep them quiet while I took roll (did you know that the attendance record is a legal document?) and to train them to be unafraid of The Blank Page. We all know how common a fear that is, right up there with Public Speaking. And Cockroaches.
I used a book called Collegiate Word Power for vocabulary (each student had one) and I was so seriously in love with that book that I bought a copy to take with me when I quit that job. I still have it. It’s sitting right next to me as I type this; I’m petting it. Seriously.
The book’s organization is brilliant. There are four lines: A, B, C, D and six words on each line. I’d assign line B, two pages, test. Week after week. There are 160 pages in the book and by the end of the year we’d be on line B, page 160. At the end of the school year, I’d give a final exam on every word we’d studied—I’m cruel that way—and we’d review in this way: I’d write (from memory) a word on the chalkboard and point to a kid and ask for the definition and to use it in a sentence. We’d spend a day or two doing this, and I had fun, it was very interactive, not sure how the kids felt about it, but the thing that they always ended up saying was this:
How do you know so many words?
And I’d say: I know ALL the words.
The thing is this—I’m not sure I know all the words anymore. There’s a way people talk about vocabulary—passive and active. Passive is the words you understand the meaning of but rarely use. Active is the words you use regularly. Our passive vocabulary is far, far larger than our active vocabulary. It’s just the way it goes, not sure why, but we understand far more words than we use. The thing is, I used to use far more words than I do now.
What happened to my word power? When was the last time I used the word adumbrate? –page 157, line D– (Uh, never.)
So, just for fun, I’m going to give you a Word Power vocabulary quiz. Without looking them up, see how you do. See how active your passive vocabulary is right now. And then tell me if you feel like your vocabulary is stronger, broader, richer than it was in the past than it is now. And how do you feel about that?
10th Grade Vocabulary Quiz for Goddesses:
Surfeit
Repine
Prevaricate
Odious
Arduous
Claudia, I would have LOVED to have had you for a teacher. I always like the organized, strict ones and hated the just-guess-a-letter-and-be-quiet teachers.
I know all of your vocabulary words. I think my vocabulary is stronger now than it used to be but only because I’ve been reading a wider variety of books than I usually do. That exposes you to a wider variety of words and I’ve had to look up several. Crossword puzzles also keep me on edge vocabulary wise. I’ve learned a lot of words from that, too!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:43 am.
Let me say, right here and now, at full voice:
Readers have the strongest vocabulary out there!!! All those words, all the time, what can happen but that readers learn ALL the words?
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:20 am.
Ok – here my try goes:
Surfeit – too much of something. There’s a surfeit of food at Thanksgiving.
Repine – not happy; complainer
Prevaricate – lying
Odious – I use this along the lines of “he was an odious, disagreeable creature.” Something that is really bad
Arduous – something difficult. Climbing the mountain was arduous work.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:45 am.
No comment. I don’t want the other “kids” to cheat off your paper. LOL
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:24 am.
I couldn’t call up the meaning of repine, but got the rest. I think my vocabulary is as enormous as ever…but I often get the pronunciations wrong, as readers do.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:53 am.
I hate when I mispronounce a word! Or misspell it. Makes me feel like an idjit.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:24 am.
I have that problem with reading out aloud. I have had that problem since grade 1 where it was noted on my report card that while I have a lovely reading voice, I tended to skip a word rather than break up the flow of my reading. Now I will try to sound out a word provided I am comfortable and not with people who are likely to laugh at me if I bugger up.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:28 am.
Which is exactly what I would NEVER allow when I taught. The kids had to read aloud as part of the drill, as well as give 4 oral book reports a year (I thought public speaking was part of the English class package) and there was no ridicule or laughter or anything like that allowed. Ever. Upon pain of DEATH.
Things like that kill a child’s heart and creativity and confidence.
At the end of the year, I asked the kids to describe the atmosphere of the classroom. SAFE was the overwhelming response. They were 16 years old and they felt safe in my classroom and they APPRECIATED that.
I’ve never stopped being delighted by that.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:39 am.
I now wish that I had you for an English teacher. The strange thing is, I had absolutely no problem with doing oral things in high school, I was actually quite good at it, which was helped by the fact that I LOVED high school English. It is biblical names from the Old Testament that are now likely to have me stumbling over them so I just say Bob or That Dude and give a mildly dirty look to the person who attempts to correct me on it.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:06 am.
I knew 3 out of 5. I know my passive vocabulary is much larger than my present active vocabulary. Lately I know the word and can’t get it out my mouth or my fingers. I’ve discovered if I close my eyes and picture whatever it is, then it’ll come.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:58 am.
Oh, my gosh! This happens to me. I wonder what brain study we could be a part of? I’d love to know why this happens and why it works.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:22 am.
Lori, I’ll have to try that!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:25 am.
I am with Barbara. My passive vocab is huge, from reading all these years. It just happens without big effort. But I do feel as if my active vocabulary has become smaller. There are all kinds of words that are not line D or even line B that used to be used in conversation all the time that are not anymore. I also stalled on repine. I’m not sure I have ever read that word.
Years ago we used to subscribe to Newsweek, and back then I swear that the editors deliberately stuck in one “hard” word every week somewhere in one of the articles. It would be very obscure, and force readers to look it up (or just skip it, I guess.) I figured the editor-in-chief was on a crusade to improve middle America’s vocabulary.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:03 am.
I’m feeling kind of, I don’t know, old and feeble?, since realizing that my active vocab has shrunk. Of course, it may simply be that my Regency vocab has grown and pushed out all the modern words.
Hmm.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:26 am.
I think I know most of them. The only one I am not sure on is surfeit.
Repine- to complain.
Prevaricate- to be dishonest.
Odious- I am thinking along the lines of obnoxious.
Arduous- something that is difficult or hard to do.
I spend my days at home talking to a 2 year old, and I would say my active vocabulary has suffered.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:11 am.
LOL Oh, yeah! This is so true!! You just can’t keep the big words going when 90% of your dialogue is, “No more juice!” or “Go get your blanket.” LOL Fun days. I loved them, but I do think my vocab suffered.
Darn kids, sucking my brain cells like that.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:28 am.
I always tell my hubby that I need to read alot because it keeps my brain from turning to mush. He just doesn’t understand that being at home taking care of a 2 year old isn’t very mentally stimulating. lol.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:10 am.
At the moment I do not have a surfeit of energy. It is annoying me enough that I am one who tends to repine a lot – in my head. I swear that I am not prevaricating about this and so attending to my uni studies has become not only odious but also arduous. How is that for using all 5 words? Oddly enough I can remember doing proper pronouns in grade 7 and we had to know them by heart. Sadly I can still recite them now over a decade later. I, my, mine, me. We, our, ours, us. You, your, yours. He, his, him. She, her, hers. It, its. They, their, theirs, them.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:20 am.
ROFL!!! A+ to Kelly!
I had to memorize all the prepositions in 7th grade. I still know them all. Can’t remember the name of my neighbor, but I know my prepositions (by gum)! LOL
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:30 am.
I think it might have to do with what we use more in our daily lives. As a writer you probably think more about prepositions than you do your neighbour and so it is easier to remember them. I am hoping that by Wednesday next week I will be improved enough to be able to get this essay done and in so then I can get the rough draft of this essay on suicide done and off to dad so he can proof read it for me.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:52 am.
I really love how you keep making me feel less mentally feeble. Thank you.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:23 pm.
I THINK I know all those words. Repine is e only one I’m not sure about.
What’s funny to me is that sometimes there are words you THINK you know the meaning to, but you don’t. Lots of people don’t know what bemused means (hint: it’s not another word for amused).
I don’t THINK my vocabulary has shrunk. For me, it’s that I can’t think of the word I want sometimes when I want it. But I think that’s a side effect of menopause.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:24 am.
No! People think bemused is a synonym (notice how I threw in the English teacher lingo?) for amused? I had no idea!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:31 am.
Oh crap, I must be going through early menopause then because that happens all the time to me. Did you know that it is actually now a phenomenon along with the whole “you know what it is but just can’t remember it” thing.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:33 am.
I do what Lori does: relax and picture it. Then the word comes. I’m trying not to see this as early Alzheimers.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:35 am.
It’s menopause. I blame everything on that. So there.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:41 am.
I knew 3 out of 5, and have to sadly admit that the other two were Greek to me. I agree with Karen and think you would have been a lot of fun as a teacher. Although I think I have become even more Monk-ish as I’ve gotten older, your sense of order and structure would have appealed.
For example, we finally upgraded and got a DVR for cable yesterday. Since we had to rearrange all of our DVDs around our living room television, my Monk personality emerged, and I spent almost 90 minutes organizing them all. Family movies, film series, Disney, chick flicks, holiday films, and “the hub’s movies” all have their own little area, and then they were alphabetized. Then, when I was through, I realized that they will probably be all wonky by Monday…
My active vocabulary is decent simply because I read so many historicals, I think. People spoke so beautifully then, and so many of you lovely Goddesses have brought that to your historical novels, and I love the way they sound.
I have to admit my passive vocabulary is considerably larger, but I’m sure everyone’s is.
My vocabulary, active and passive, is much larger than the hub’s and damned if he still can’t whip me in Scrabble…lol. Probably because I will realize I can spell a particular word that would have high point value, only to then realize that it won’t fit anywhere on the board. It’s hard to try to get that word out of my head.
Happy Friday everyone!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:25 am.
You know, it’s funny you say that about my teaching style. The kids thought I was a monster to begin with, complained to their parents, who complained to the principal, who brought me in for a little “chat.”
I stood my ground. The kids ended up loving me (she said modestly). The principal brought me in for another chat at the 3/4 mark of the year and asked me how I did it. That was an interesting conversation.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:34 am.
Of course they loved you!
I’ve always liked having a schedule. I like knowing where, what time, etc. 
Kids are always a little punchy at first, but once they settle into a routine, they usually warm up to it.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:53 am.
Knowing where you stand is more relaxing that not knowing. Or that’s my take on the universe.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:24 pm.
That is absolutely true. Totally agree with you there.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 5:18 pm.
Hmm. Let’s see.
Surfeit: An excess of something
Repine: I’m not sure. I know that to “pine” for something is to long for it, but “repine”? Yikes. Discomfort? <–My best guess!
Prevaricate: To lie, make excuses, "buy time", etc
Odious: Disgusting, nasty, gross
Arduous: Very hard or tough, takes a lot of work
I love reading the Dictionary. The Thesaurus is my Precious. It makes my husband insane that I constantly say "I do not think that word means what you think it means.", but hey, it makes me twitch when people use vocab incorrectly!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:43 am.
It’s amazing how, even talking about passive vocabulary, we can lose words just by not hearing them. They just fade away! Scary.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:25 pm.
Claudia, I would have ADORED this. I am a total word whore. I suck them up like crack-laced candy. I’m going to give your challenge a shot! No cheating!
1. Surfeit- excess, too many of something.
Example: There was a surfeit of medical students in attendance during my first gynecological exam. (sadly, true story)
2. Repine- to regret (I think?)
Example: “I consumed too many cakes,” she repined.
3. Prevaricate- to lie or deceive
Example: His ability to prevaricate had saved his hide more than once in the past.
4. Odious- horrible, offensive.
Example: The odious duke had dared to offer her his protection!
5. Arduous- tedious, difficult and drawn out
Example: If Jaimes had to endure one more of Mrs. K’s arduous countess lessons, she’d cheerfully murder the little housekeeper.
How’d I do? This was so much fun!!!!
Gina Lamm
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:17 am.
Isn’t it fun to play with words! Best. Job. Ever.
I almost stopped reading at the surfeit of med students at your gyn exam.
Gag.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:27 pm.
Claudia, I think I love you.
I almost became a high school English teacher…and I know 4 of your 5 words, and actively use 3 of the 5.
I’m one of those that is always trying to expand my vocabulary–both passive and active. I have a notepad that I keep near me when I’m reading, and when I stumble across a word that I know, but never use and wish I’d start, I write it down, or if I don’t know it, I write it down and look it up. As a writer, I feel it is my responsibility to help readers grow their vocabularies, since that is how mine has been expanded over the years more than any other way. Now, that doesn’t mean I fill my writing with words that readers aren’t going to know, to where they’ll be looking things up every two lines. But I do tend to throw a few in each book that my CPs have to look up.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:19 am.
How marvelous!! Good for you. I think that’s such a lost habit, and it shows in the dwindling vocab skills out there.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:28 pm.
I was much smarter in the 10th grade than I am now. And I would like to go on record as saying i have an excellent vocabulary. The trick is remembering all the words I know at the moment I need them. So when I use the word “thingy” please know that I really do know the word for it but cannot recall it.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:19 am.
EXACTLY!
Thingy is my favorite, most used word, usually accompanied by a pointing finger and a look of frustration.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:30 pm.
I alternate with thingamajig and doohickey, for variety.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 5:19 pm.
I know all five definitions but couldn’t come close to Kelly in using all of them in a sentence. Kudos to Kelly. As I write, I find myself using the thesaurus often to enhance simple words where I used to know a more appropriate word. They say as you get older. . .
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:44 am.
They say as you get older . . . you become more beautiful and wise beyond belief?
Is that what you were going to say? Is it? It was, right?
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:31 pm.
But of course!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 1:14 pm.
Two things I learned from this post…
1. I may have had you for a teacher. *G*
b. Thanks for reminding me that the mind is the first thing to go.
3. I need a new dictionary, the one in my head is no longer available.
Oh was that two things???
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:45 am.
ROFL
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:31 pm.
Repine was the only one I was unsure of. I think reading increases your ability to spell, and your vocabulary. I always joke that by reading historical romances, I know a lot of trivia from the revolutionary and civil war periods, which shows when I play along with “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader”…
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:08 pm.
Isn’t that the truth? I learn so much by reading historical fiction.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:32 pm.
5 out of 5. I do crossword puzzles in ink. Even the Sunday crosswords. My mom calls me long distance when she gets stuck. Reading does improve your vocabulary. Would have loved you for my teacher.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:11 pm.
My dad was the same. Crossword puzzles every day, in ink. He loved to keep his brain sparkly.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:33 pm.
I know them all without looking them up, but I think it’s fair to say that I didn’t in the 10th grade. My 10th grade vocabulary consisted of, “Where’s the party?” and “Sure I’m up for a keg stand. Who isn’t?”
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 12:58 pm.
LOL But you probably kept that from your English teacher. She/he had no idea.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 1:26 pm.
I love this blog! I, too, am a word whore! I read a book a day, most days! My husband bought me an iPad when they came out a few years ago, and one of my favorite things about it is the dictionary function. If you are reading something and come across a word that you are not sure of, just tap the word and you can get the definition right then and there! I didn’t realize how often I used it until today.. I am currently reading a printed book and came across a word I was unsure of and tried to highlight it with my fingertip! Hmmm, why didn’t the definition come up on the page?
Keep up the great writing, Goddesses!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 1:12 pm.
You get the dictionary function with the Kindle app also. Love it.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:22 pm.
I had no idea that iPads came with that function! That’s brilliant!!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 1:27 pm.
I love words and just gave a test on etymology on the Ruby Blog. The things we think we know!
Here they are, but without looking them up, the definition will reflect how I tend to use them–and yes, these are all part of my working vocabulary.
Surfeit–over-abundance
Repine–yearn aloud, fret
Prevaricate–dance around a question, avoid.
Odious–nasty, vulgar
Arduous–difficult
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 1:31 pm.
I think I use “odious” at least once a week when I’m writing. My vocab is pretty good — good enough that I’m not allowed to speak when “Wheel of Fortune” is on. *g*
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 2:26 pm.
Funny, the word I use most often when writing is ARDUOUS. Ha.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 2:28 pm.
Ooh, an etymology test! I ADORE etymology. I’ll scoot over there . . .
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 2:27 pm.
I didn’t know any of these words(boy,did I feel dumb) but after look at all the different responses here on the “The Goddess Blogs I feel smarter. I am a firm believer in learn something new every day:)
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 2:47 pm.
No dumb feelings allowed! Blame it on menopause, even if you are only 25.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:13 pm.
Fun! I always love doing the Word Power quizzes in Reader’s Digest. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten 100%, though. I didn’t on yours, either. I didn’t know repine. But then, I’m not outdoorsy, so I try to avoid anything with pine. I don’t even use pine-scented cleaners!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 2:56 pm.
ROFL!!!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:13 pm.
I always hated giving definitions. I knew what the word meant. I could use it correctly in a sentence, but my brain got stuck on the word, and couldn’t get past it. When I was in 10th grade my younger sister asked me what “corrupt” meant. I wasn’t much help. I started to say “corrupt means… corrupt.”
The other day I had a word stuck in my head and so I couldn’t remember the word “refrigerator.” After a few tries, and me feeling like an idiot, I ended up miming opening a refrigerator, while saying “you know, the place where you put the milk to keep it cold.” I don’t think I can blame this on menopause since its been happening since I was a kid.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 3:06 pm.
I still say you should blame it on menopause. If I ever murder anyone, I’m going to use the Menopause Defense. All I need is a jury of my female peers . . .
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:14 pm.
A vocabulary quiz – YAY!! One of my favorite words ever – parsimonious. I love how it just rolls out of my mouth, and of course, it sounds so much nicer than saying cheap.
Surfeit – excess
Repine – complain
Prevaricate – lying
Odious – nasty
Arduous – difficult
My 5th grader on his last report card tested above grade level for his vocabulary. We’ve never dumbed down the way we talk to our kids. I still remember when he was 3 and asked for his juice to be served in a chalice.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 3:13 pm.
Chalice!!! I ADORE THIS!!! That is the best story ever!
My daughter as a tiny tot wanted celery and peanut butter as a snack. She struggled to find the right words and finally came up with carrots and jam.
Menopause strikes again!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:16 pm.
Carrots and jams is AWESOME! What a great memory.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:11 pm.
Most of the glasses in our cupboard are stemmed, even the juice glasses. All the kids prefer them to regular glasses and for some unknown reason they are less likely to be broken than any of the other glasses we own.
Treasure your sons ability to speak intelligently, I wish our g-sons would.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:38 pm.
Without looking at the other comments, in other words, cheating (although I will go back after I post this and will blush at my poor vocab:
1. Surfeit — overabundance. There was a surfeit of red, white, and blue jello molds at the dessert table.
2. Repine — to grieve, to miss someone or something to the point of illness. I sit looking at her empty chair and repine.
3. Prevaricate — to lie by misdirection. Enough! Do not prevaricate anymore, I beg of you. Just tell me the truth!
4. Odious — awful, loathsome. Put that money back, you odious boy!
5. Arduous — difficult, hard, time consuming. Putting together the receipts for my tax return was an arduous business.
Okay, now I will post and check and turn red with embarrassment.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:00 pm.
I simply must use the phrase, “You odious boy.” in my next work. It sounds just like Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:17 pm.
*G*
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 5:48 pm.
Just for sh*ts & giggles I will give what I believe is the definition of these words. And then i will see how close to right I am.
Surfeit: More than enough.
Repine: Mourn for something
Prevaricate: Tell an untruth
Odious: Hard, awful (M-W def:arousing or deserving hatred or repugnance)
Arduous: Difficult.
Not bad for someone who hangs out with mostly teenagers who can only speak & spell in txt. lol
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 4:21 pm.
Isn’t it something how our language usage changes with age, peer group, tech gang? At least mine does!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 6:29 pm.
Coool I´ll have to get me that book :Ö)
Surfeit = ??? ahhh the opposite of forfeit?
Repine = ???
Prevaricate = ahm drag your feet/or postpone something?
Odious = smelly, mean?
Arduous = difficult?
Wow those are hard.
So I guess you know words like endemic, aetiology, apotropaic, revenant and diaspora by heart ha? :Ö) I had to look all those up :Ö/
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 5:04 pm.
And this is the 10th grade level! The 12th grade level has ADUMBRATE: TO SKETCH OR OUTLINE FAINTLY, TO INDICATE, TO FORESHADOW.
Learn something new every day.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 6:32 pm.
http://www.thesaurus.com is my favorite webpage ;Ö)I wish I had you for an English teacher in high school. I had a Texan who once made a girl say the word Italy gazillion times because she did not say it with the right “accent”. And made me hand in a paper four times because I could not be bothered to look up the word okay (OK, okei, okey, and finally, okay :Ö).
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 6:40 pm.
Belatedly, I knew all of the vocab words. I have a MUCH larger passive vocabulary than I do active vocabulary, but I spend a lot of time with librarians and college professors, so I am fairly certain that my active vocabulary is larger than the average person’s.
Also, I wish my English teachers had been as awesome as you.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 6:22 pm.
Ahh, Monica! Consider the source. LOL
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 6:32 pm.
I got all of them except repine. Don’t think I’ve ever seen the word repine before. I must not do much repining.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 6:48 pm.
And isn’t that a good thing? *G*
REPINE: TO FRET ONESELF; FEEL DISCONTENT; BE DEPRESSED
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 7:23 pm.
Claudia, what a cool idea! My college students could’ve used some vocabulary expansion.
I love words, but now that I’m home so much, I don’t talk to as many people. I also try not to write words readers have to look up. I suspect both my active and passive vocabularies are shrinking.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 7:26 pm.
I feel exactly the same way, Nancy. I’m shrinking! It’s frightening and I feel I should do something about it.
Glad I bought that Word Power book! Maybe I’ll do a few pages a day, keep my brain limber.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:13 pm.
I do crossword puzzles and hope that produces mental agility.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:38 pm.
Surfeit… Plethora…
Repine…oh woe is me, my life is but a vast pit of emptiness…I have in fact, a surfeit of emptiness…
Prevaricate….Oh but no, I am not prevaricating about my level of woe…it is me…
Odious My woe is but about the surfeit of odeous and ardous tasks that await me when I go home.
Arduous Why the arduous task of combing my burnished locks 100 times with take me hours upon hours upon hours…and then there is all that mirror gazing…sigh…woe is me.
This has been an announcement from aggrieved teens everywhere…Remember there is nothing like an aggreived teen to let you know how awful life can be, just ask them…chores, homework, the fact that their best friend has a better phone than them….*long sigh, eyes left/top/side, long sigh*
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 7:28 pm.
Oh Pesky does your teen have a gay, sucky phone too? Maybe they should start a club. The Gay Sucky Phone Club for the repining teens with odious parents. And that’s no prevarication!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:07 pm.
Alas it is but my friend’s teen who thinks whining to me will catch her mother’s ear. My response of…
When I was your age I got a job to take care of problems like that.
Didn’t really seem to fulfill her wishes….
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:12 pm.
I remember getting a job to take care of my needs also. It seems todays teens full time job is reaching for our charge cards.
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 12:11 am.
Oh, yes, Pesky. Home is always and ever full of odious and arduous tasks.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:14 pm.
I got them, but I have to say my active vocabulary is waning! I am trying to stem the tide though, and reading the Goddess books helps a lot – eternally grateful to Julia Quinn for “bloviating buffoon ” for example. I love that one!!! By the way, my spell check wanted to change it to “blotting”………
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:01 pm.
Ha! I see the culprit! It’s spell check! Spell check needs to get a better active vocabulary!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:15 pm.
In all my years (and it’s a lot of them since I happen to actually be post-menopausal) and all my constant reading, I have never heard of “repine.” But it means I learned something new today so I’m good. And my active vocabulary is waning somewhat because I work in computers and mostly we talk jargon.
Rather than blame menopause or Alzheimer’s for my lapses, I say my brain is so full of information that it just takes longer for me to access it. Also, on Alzheimer’s, I read years ago that forgetting your keys doesn’t mean anything but when you forget what keys are for, then you have to worry. So far, I’m not worried.
Sounds like you were a great teacher, Claudia. This post and all the comments were very entertaining and thought-provoking. It’s also interesting that the Smart Bitches Trashy Books blog today has a video wherein a man says he likes a woman who reads. Plus, he’s a former English teacher who’s now going to schools and rapping to get them interested in poetry and literature. So WORDS were really big today! It’s a very good day.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:17 pm.
Karen, I heard the exact same explanation of Alzheimer’s, and it gives me comfort, but then I forget something basic and I’m nervous all over again!
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:16 pm.
How neat, Claudia! I have a copy of that same book somewhere on one of my bookshelves. Why? Because I learned from it in high school AND I taught from it when I taught high school English! I LOVE vocabulary books. I recently loaded English Synonyms and Antonyms by James Champlin Fernald published in 1896 onto my Kindle. I read it anytime I have a few minutes to kill. It is an absolutely amazing book giving a sort of evolutionary take on the use of each synonym. I LOVE words and I tend to collect them the way other people collect stamps.
And I knew the definitions of all of your vocab words without looking them up.
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:43 pm.
You are kidding me!! I’ve never met anyone who’s heard of that book. Isn’t it the best?
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:57 pm.
I know all of them, except REPINE. I could not call it up from the depths of my brain.
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:40 am.
My passive vocab. has expanded a LOT since I’ve grown up. As for my active vocab., I feel like it is stagnant, though I feel like I take a step forward but two steps forward.
Reading books REALLY helps. Really.
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:32 pm.