Do you like|hate books with words or places you need to look up?

I don't like it only if I have to resort to the dictionary every page.

Miss Strawberrii said:

I don't like it only if I have to resort to the dictionary every page.

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Agreed. I think this is why most classic lit turns me off.

I have no problem with an author using unfamiliar words, especially when they provide a nuance of meaning that another word would not provide. However, simply using the "fancy" word for the sake of sounding more literary always annoys me. I recall reading a short story by a well-known American author in which one the characters is described as being the "cynosure of attention". In context, it meant exactly the same as the phrase "the center of attention". The word "cynosure" added nothing, and did nothing more than draw attention to itself and throw me completely out of the story. That is just irritating.

Roxxsmom said:

Writing prompt, everyone: write an erotica story with the words "puissant," "tenebrous," and, "hob."

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His eyes glowed and his tenebrous member throbbed puissantly as he deposited Lady Moonlyte on the coldening stove. She purred and wiggled her pert buttocks on the still-warmish hob. "Carpe noctem, carpe me!" she squealed.

Now, back on track - No, I do not have a problem with authors using unfamiliar words...as long as the author actually knows the meaning of the words and uses them correctly.

CrastersBabies said:

It's how I scored near the top on my vocabulary for the GRE. Reading books with a lot of "higher" vocab. I don't mind it. I love words, though, so learning a new one isn't that big of a deal. Besides, I have a Kindle, so I can just highlight the world and have it defined for me.

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Plus, those tests were multiple choice, and most of the five dollar words had roots and prefixes/suffixes that made it pretty easy for me to guess their meaning when allowed to choose. My Spanish classes, plus my biology background gave me a decent feel for Latin and Greek word roots.

As long as the author knows the difference between flout and flaunt, I'm happy*.


*Not a guarantee

Helix said:

As long as the author knows the difference between flout and flaunt, I'm happy*.


*Not a guarantee

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Or billowed and bellowed. Sigh.

Roxxsmom said:

Or billowed and bellowed. Sigh.

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Or tenet and tenant

Don't get me started.

I love exposure to new words (though it doesn't happen much anymore). I can usually parse them in context, but I often look them up anyway. For me, the big thrill comes when I find it's the exact right word for the situation. I'm always in awe of the author who pulls that off.

As to places, I'm all about reading about new places, but I do miss the old days when I had a book in my hand and could conveniently turn to maps to follow the progress/action of the story. Much harder to do on an e-reader.

I'm in the middle. I don't care. I've heard of authors being taken to task, for making people look up words, and that attitude (of the people telling off the author) seems very ignorant.

I just saw a You Tube video that was a poignant commemoration of a tragic event from almost thirty years ago. Or at least it was meant to be. The inability to spell the word "their" properly (it was spelled "there" every single time) and "bellowing" smoke etc. diminished its impact.

Whenever one of my British writing buddies gets snooty about how much more articulate and coherent their people are than mine, I shall have to show it to them, as I'm pretty sure the maker of said video was from the UK.

I will admit, though, that I struggle sometimes with palate, pallet, and palette. When all three are before me, I recall that the first is the roof of the mouth, the second is a crude bed or mattress on the floor, and the third is where an artist mixes her paints. But when I'm writing, I sometimes fail to conjure up the correct one in my mind.

Not heard the middle pallet used that way. To me it's a stackable wooden base capable of being lifted by forks, used for storage and transit of goods. I can see connection to bed though.

WriterDude said:

Not heard the middle pallet used that way. To me it's a stackable wooden base capable of being lifted by forks, used for storage and transit of goods. I can see connection to bed though.

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That's another use of the word, for those wooden thingies used to move goods around with forklifts. I write fantasy, which is long on crude beds and short of forklifts, however. So in my writing, pallet is a straw-filled mattress on the floor.

Oddly enough, the OED and AH dictionaries have the bed use of the word as #2, while merriam webster puts it first.

Helix said:

As long as the author knows the difference between flout and flaunt, I'm happy*.


*Not a guarantee

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Ah, but what about flounce?

I don't run to a dictionary when I come across words I haven't heard before, unless it's a word that stopping me from understanding what's going on in the story. I usually manage to figure it out from context sooner or later. It doesn't always work - one story set in an American high school had me wondering why there were so many Scottish kids seeing as it was set in America. (Jocks!) But mostly I get them right. And I will go to the dictionary if it really doesn't make sense. If I have to constantly go to the dictionary then there'd be far more wrong with the writing than the vocabulary.

To explain what I mean, take the poem "Jabberwocky" - that's full of made up words but there's enough context there and it's well written enough you can get the basic idea of what the made up words mean. Granted not a precise meaning but you can still follow the story. So if there's lots of unusual words in a story and the meanings of them are not discernable at all from the context then that in itself is a bigger problem than the use of the long words. Sometimes even with the context the meaning isn't clear enough to understand the sentence... that's not necessarily bad writing, but if that's happening on every other page then clearly there's something wrong.

I sometimes do look up words in the dictionary out of curiosity after figuring out the meaning from context. I often don't even notice that I've learned a new word and figured out the meaning from the context. I also sometimes read the dictionary for fun. Usually I look up one word then end up flicking through it and learning a few more, just out of interest because it's interesting.

Roxxsmom said:

I just saw a You Tube video that was a poignant commemoration of a tragic event from almost thirty years ago. Or at least it was meant to be. The inability to spell the word "their" properly (it was spelled "there" every single time) and "bellowing" smoke etc. diminished its impact.

Whenever one of my British writing buddies gets snooty about how much more articulate and coherent their people are than mine, I shall have to show it to them, as I'm pretty sure the maker of said video was from the UK.

I will admit, though, that I struggle sometimes with palate, pallet, and palette. When all three are before me, I recall that the first is the roof of the mouth, the second is a crude bed or mattress on the floor, and the third is where an artist mixes her paints. But when I'm writing, I sometimes fail to conjure up the correct one in my mind.

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Or just show them a copy of the Sun.... or the comments section on any tabloid newspaper website. There are plenty of barely-literate people in the UK...

Don't forget the signs made by the EDL* on their protest rallies

*or whatever name the NF/BNP racist morons go by nowadays...

neandermagnon said:

Or just show them a copy of the Sun.... or the comments section on any tabloid newspaper website. There are plenty of barely-literate people in the UK...

Don't forget the signs made by the EDL* on their protest rallies

*or whatever name the NF/BNP racist morons go by nowadays...

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Yes but we don't like to talk about those. Now let's never speak of this again.

Usually, I can guess the meaning from the context. If I can't, it's annoying. If I go three paragraphs, and there are twelve words I'm not sure about, I put the book down.

Southpaw said:

When reading a book that has a word you've not heard of before, does it annoy you that you have to look it up? Or do you like learning a new word?

--Does a little go a long way? Lookin' up a word or two is okay, but too many and it's a turn off?

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I just picked up my first Gene Wolfe novel, Shadow of the Torturer. He's got an amazing vocab. In fact, there's about one word per page I need to look up. As a writer I love having my dictionary next to me while reading this book. I'm totally geeky and I make flashcards out of words I don't know. I love adding these great words in my vocab and memorizing them. The writer side of me loves picking up new words this way.

As a reader, the constant interruption of the story is annoying. This book I'm reading has an amazing plot and awesome characters, so I really want to get through the book. I really have to concentrate on the story because of all the interruptions. I find myself rereading paragraphs quite frequently. I can't promise I would do that with every story, but I will slug through it for this one! Really want to find out what happens.

I like reading about new places. If I don't know a word, I usually get a good enough idea of what it means from the context. I doubt I'd need to put the book down right then and go look it up. But I might look it up later, out of curiosity.

I've got a good vocabulary, and good deductive reasoning, so its pretty hard to get me thinking outside the flow for a meaning. I'll usually wait till the end of the paragraph or chapter to actually look it up though, I like to stay with the story flow. I believe to build intelligence and vocabulary though, that one should never pass a word they do not understand, it will usually haze the rest of the passage or paragraph, sometimes more. So if I cant guess the meaning enough to know what's being written, I'll stop and clear it. Obviously, if I have to do this often in a say, single page, it could get old.

I don't mind at all, whether if it's a word (or two), person, or place. I love looking things up and getting lost in internet research. The only thing that bugs me is when there are lots of phrases in another language, without any context. I can plug it into Google Translate, but that thing's not perfect and sometimes I end up with garbled stuff.

Funaek, that was exactly the problem I had with the Lymond Chronicles (Dorothy Dunnett). I'm not the only one - this is from a review on this site: "The characters cheerfully say things in Latin, French (by which I mean old French - my high school classes didn't help me much here), German, Italian - which are not translated for the reader. "

greendragon said:

Funaek, that was exactly the problem I had with the Lymond Chronicles (Dorothy Dunnett). I'm not the only one - this is from a review on this site: "The characters cheerfully say things in Latin, French (by which I mean old French - my high school classes didn't help me much here), German, Italian - which are not translated for the reader. "

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That's the worst!! How do you even find a translation of old French? If that happens, I just skip over those lines and if the story suffers from me not knowing what they said, then I stop.