Words are wondrous. Somehow in fourth grade I read a biography of Noah Webster, who compiled and published the first dictionary of American English. That got me hooked. I have been a poet since my early 20s. Words are not to be used to be pedantic;  rather, they're chosen to be the 'precise" word, the exact word, to convey to the reader as chearly as possible what the poet wishes to convey. Words in a poem are chosen for their timbre, their tone, their color, their heft in a way similar to how Beethoven chose the exact note for the exact place in the work he was composing, the admixture eliciting the precise effect he wanted his work to have on his audience. I read dictionaries while others read detective stories. I am the only person I know of who reads a college book on English grammar for fun. Some of the words I enjoy using:  "meretricious" means ******;  '"veridical" means speaking the truth;  "threnody" means a song of lamentation;  "solipsistic" means egocentric;  "adjure" means to entreat;  "dithyramb" means a Dionysian choric hymn;  "mare's nest" means a hoax;  "phatic" means noise, but no substance;  "bootless" means futile;  "rebarbative" means grim;  "truculent" means surly;  "esprit d'escalier" means a witticism that comes after it could have been uttered;  "Stygian" means gloomy;  "surcease" (as a noun) means cessation;  "rubric" a category;  "meliorist" means a person who believes the world can be made better;  and "obloquy" means verbal abuse. Just memember, there's still the Oxdord English Dictionary (20 volumes).

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks