Thursday, November 20, 2008

Vocab Quiz

Is it me or has the vocab in recent novels kicked it up a notch? I can't tell you how many times I've read the word "truculent" in the past couple of weeks, when I'd never heard it before in my life. And always--ALWAYS--in reference to a teenager. The current word of the week is "coruscant." What gives?

I'm all for good vocab words. My favorite part of Reader's Digest is the vocab quiz, but when I see repeated verbiage while reading it pulls me right out of a story. I'm more likely to put the book down than go search for a dictionary...

~heather

4 comments:

  1. LOL what kind of highly educational novels are you reading lately? Haven't noticed that...but can see where you'd be tempted to stop reading.

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  2. Try reading "A Clockwork Orange". The vocabulary will leave you crying like a little girl.

    BTW, that hack Kubrick ruined the movie.

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  3. I haven't noticed it, but my editor asked me "WTF is this?" pointing to a word.
    I think some authors use their thesaurus program so that their writing 'sounds' smarter. No giggling, I had to review a book where every fifth word was one I hadn't seen since high school when my English teacher gave out vocab lists for tests.

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  4. Melissa, I wish they were highly educational, maybe then it would make sense! They're just normal, everyday women's fiction.

    Just finished Jane Green's Second Chance last night--saw two of "truculence". Ack!

    Theo, no thanks.

    Marissa, LOL on your editor. I understand. Came across "bifurcate" the other day in a Lindsay Graves book. And had much the same reaction. LOL. Maybe I need to brush up on my SAT words. :)

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