Definitions

Danger Jane · Jul 28, 2008

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm one of those people who uses words other people don't know in everyday conversation. Don't mean to be. Just am. Unfortunately, when people ask me, "What does that mean?" I can barely explain it, and not because I don't know...because I just don't think of words that way. At best, I looked it up once and can recite the definition. Or maybe I can think of some close synonyms. But often enough, I just can't explain myself. I don't think of words in terms of other words, even though I know how to use them properly.

Is this common? Can you never explain what a word means when people ask?

alleycat · Jul 28, 2008

I can usually give someone a rough idea of what I'm talking about if I use something they don't understand. Most of the time when something like that happens, I'm more surprised that the person doesn't know the word or phrase or reference.

I'll use something like "eclectic" and someone will ask "electric what?" Maybe it's my accent. ;-)

geardrops · Jul 28, 2008

Try to use a different word for it, a simpler word.

ME: I don't really like this. It's kind of ostentatious.

SOMEONE: Austin Tayshus?

ME: Er... flashy. Gaudy.

But yes, there are times when I can't explain a word for balls.

stormie · Jul 28, 2008

Okay, you should see the look on some people's faces when I use the word "exacerbate." Interesting! But in that case, I can give the definition. I have to, or people will exclude me from all conversation from then on.

But yeah, there are times when it's hard to give the definition. Ever notice in a dictionary they'll give synonyms instead?

Danger Jane · Jul 28, 2008

I do try to give more common synonyms. Just very often, I can't think of one, not one that is close enough to work. Of course, when writing, I can usually think of enough synonyms to make my head ache with every other word. I just have a very hard time defining words, and when someone puts me on the spot with a word I thought everyone knew, my brain empties out on the spot.

I think I must categorize words weirdly. I have synesthesia, and I seem to categorize just about EVERYTHING based on a "feeling", sometimes with an accompanying color. I guess it makes extra connections between a word and a close synonym or something?

Anyway, I've been thinking on this for a while now, so it's interesting to see what other people have to say.

JoNightshade · Jul 28, 2008

I'm the same way, Danger Jane. I just know which words fit where and it's very difficult to give a definition. For me, it's all about context. Often I won't "know" what a word means at all, but I will know what context to use it in. So if someone asks me "what does X mean?' I'll go totally blank, but if I see it in a paragraph, I totally get it. And I'll use it when I'm writing and the appropriate time comes up.

So when I try to explain words to people, I'll try to think of another context, or perhaps a little story that illustrates the use of the word.

And yeah, I'm one of those people who uses words like "navigable" in daily conversation (that's the most recent example).

JeanneTGC · Jul 28, 2008

The Dictionary, DJ, is your friend. Buy a really good one and whenever you hit a word you "know but don't know", look it up.

I was surprised to find that "bemused" didn't mean what I'd thought it meant, for example.

alleycat · Jul 28, 2008

Danger Jane said:
I do try to give more common synonyms. Just very often, I can't think of one, not one that is close enough to work.

Maybe you could act it out . . . like charades! ;-)

stormie · Jul 28, 2008

alleycat said:
Maybe you could act it out . . . like charades! ;-)

Danger Jane · Jul 28, 2008

JeanneTGC said:
The Dictionary, DJ, is your friend. Buy a really good one and whenever you hit a word you "know but don't know", look it up.

I was surprised to find that "bemused" didn't mean what I'd thought it meant, for example.

I should probably write them down, yea. I mean, words really do mean what I think they mean (if they don't, nobody seems to correct me), and if I'm uncertain whether I'm using it wrong, I look it up, but it'd be nice to not have to say, "I dunno, I can't really say," when people ask me, "What's that word mean?"

Charades is also a good option

kuwisdelu · Jul 28, 2008

I do that all the time.

Actually, when asked what a word means, I often resort to charades.

I also do the exact opposite, sometimes: I won't be able to think of a word at all--so I'll resort to charades and clumsy hand motions and ask people "what's the word...that means this....with the thing....when you know....??"

And sometimes I take it further and think of a word that seems appropriate just by the sound, don't even know what it means, don't even know if it's a real word, so I'll look it up to find that it is. Once in a while it isn't a real word, but sometimes I'll use it anyway.

Albedo · Jul 28, 2008

My spoken vocabulary seems to expand to the size of my written vocabulary when I'm drunk. However, my diction declines pretty rapidly past that point, so it's no good for impressing people with...

Quossum · Jul 28, 2008

I'm the opposite and *can* explain what words mean. But then, I get a lot of practice as I have to do so often in front of a classroom of 8th graders. I try to explain in terms of how the emotional content of a word makes it differ from similar words.

"Pensive? It means something like 'thoughtful,' but there's a connotation there of being in really deep thought, almost sort of dreamy, maybe a little bit sad."

I'm bad about not knowing how to properly pronounce words that I know the meanings of good and well. Comes from seeing them in print far and away more often than hearing them spoken.

--Q

NicoleMD · Jul 28, 2008

Say "What do I look like, a dictionary?" and then storm off.

Clair Dickson · Jul 28, 2008

To be honest, with some folks, I don't really worry about how close I am to the meaning of the word-- I come up with the best definition or synonym. With many of the people I talk to (like many of my motivationally challenged students) they don't really care. They want to know something, so I'll tell them 'it's like x, only more so or less so'. And they go back to texting on their phones. (Think I'm exagerrating, come sit in my classroom ;-)

Oberon · Jul 28, 2008

My mother, in her youth, read a lot but sometimes,never having heard words spoken, made some boo-boos. When someone asked how the newlyweds looked when they returned from a long journey, she said, "They were a little bed raggled."

stormie · Jul 29, 2008

Oberon said:
My mother, in her youth, read a lot but sometimes,never having heard words spoken, made some boo-boos. When someone asked how the newlyweds looked when they returned from a long journey, she said, "They were a little bed raggled."

Oh, cute! My mother only spoke Italian until she went to school. She learned English, read a lot too, but also mispronounced words.

tehuti88 · Jul 29, 2008

This happens to me at times, especially since I tend to use some of the flashier words when something simpler might suffice. I don't do it to impress people, really, because it would just seem to confuse them. It never occurs to me that the word might not be understandable because it's just the word my brain finds suitable. I can usually explain what they mean, but on the whole it's not a process I think about consciously that much.

Me: "I would have to acclimate myself to it!"

Dad: "You mean you'd have to get used to it."

Me on another occasion: "A few raindrops do not constitute a storm!"

Grandma: "This is why we don't talk much, I don't understand half the words coming out of your mouth!"

Danger Jane · Jul 29, 2008

I have been known to completely mispronounce a word or ten in my day, too. I might have never heard anyone else say it, but it's the right word NOW, dammit!

Just remembered an awesome Virginia Woolf quote: "Words do not live in dictionaries, they live in the mind."

She was talking about how a word means so much beyond its dictionary definition, because every word is colored by all its past uses, and some words conjure near-universal associations just because of one famous phrase. I bet if you walk up to somebody and say, "To be," their response will be something along the lines of, "Or not to be."

(Unless they think you're nuts....)

jannawrites · Jul 29, 2008

Count me in, too.

Danger Jane said:
I don't think of words in terms of other words, even though I know how to use them properly.

Some instances are better than others for me, but often I'm lefting grasping for a "clearer" way to describe what I'm talking about. My brain just goes to moosh. When I do adequately explain myself I rejoice!

ETA: This is a perfect, priceless example. My five-year-old daughter just.now asked, "What does cowabunga mean?" Ah... um... hmm... My first thought was cool or awesome, but somehow that lacks a certain something...

Danger Jane · Jul 29, 2008

jannawrites said:
Count me in, too.

Some instances are better than others for me, but often I'm lefting grasping for a "clearer" way to describe what I'm talking about. My brain just goes to moosh. When I do adequately explain myself I rejoice!

ETA: This is a perfect, priceless example. My five-year-old daughter just.now asked, "What does cowabunga mean?" Ah... um... hmm... My first thought was cool or awesome, but somehow that lacks a certain something...

Right. It's so hard to settle, you know? Words are themselves. I'm always shocked when I pull a dictionary-style definition out of the archives.

When I read that about "cowabunga", the first thought I had was that it means WOOOOOOOOOOOOH! YEEEEEEA!

Yea, like I'm gonna explain THAT one in the mall parking lot.

jannawrites · Jul 29, 2008

I guess being a mom sets me up for lots of instances... I was just remembering another circumstance. My oldest daughter (the same one) asked what an exclamation point meant. *shrugs* I told her it was like saying, "I really mean it!" So, a few days later, she noticed my bottle of Dr Pepper claimed to have 20! important ingredients (or whatever). And aloud she said, "Twenty, I really mean it!"

*snicker*

Phaeal · Jul 29, 2008

Heh, I mostly get people when I point out plants or animals by their taxonomical names. Like the other day, when I forgot the common name for Hesperis matronalis (Dame's Rocket is one), but I did remember Hesperis matronalis.

Sometimes I just do it for fun: "What's your favorite animal?" "Oh, Ophiophagus hannah, obviously."

BlueTexas · Jul 29, 2008

Danger Jane said:
Right. It's so hard to settle, you know? Words are themselves. I'm always shocked when I pull a dictionary-style definition out of the archives.

"Words are themselves" is the best way I've ever heard that concept articulated. Thank you! I've been searching for that phrase forever.

I have the same problem as everyone else in this thread, too. I'm forever using the word 'almost' to define whatever word someone else doesn't understand. Maddening!

Danger Jane · Jul 29, 2008

BlueTexas said:
"Words are themselves" is the best way I've ever heard that concept articulated. Thank you! I've been searching for that phrase forever.

I have the same problem as everyone else in this thread, too. I'm forever using the word 'almost' to define whatever word someone else doesn't understand. Maddening!

It's pretty remarkable how instantly we can determine this precise meaning of a word, I think--so quickly that we almost never realize we're doing it. And that makes it tough for us to say exactly what that word means, because of all the contextual meanings and connotations they pick up over the years.

Anyone read The Golden Compass? Well, to those who have--it's like Lyra and the Alethiometer. She sees the symbols it points to and intuitively understands which meaning each symbol means, of the thousands of possibilities, based on the emphasis on it and the surrounding symbols. Except her skill with the Alethiometer is unheard of, and all of us are fluent in one language or another.

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