Apparently some wise guys from Boston with too much time on their hands have compiled a list which is supposed to tell you how well you master the English language by the end of High School. If you know what the word means and how to use it correctly in a sentence, you get 1 point. My personal count is no less than 39/100, which I’m very satisfied with indeed. What’s you score?
abjure
abrogate
abstemious
acumen
antebellum
auspicious
belie
bellicose
bowdlerize
chicanery
chromosome
churlish
circumlocution
circumnavigate
deciduous
deleterious
diffident
enervate
enfranchise
epiphany
equinox
euro
evanescent
expurgate
facetious
fatuous
feckless
fiduciary
filibuster
gamete
gauche
gerrymander
hegemony
hemoglobin
homogeneous
hubris
hypotenuse
impeach
incognito
incontrovertible
inculcate
infrastructure
interpolate
irony
jejune
kinetic
kowtow
laissez faire
lexicon
loquacious
lugubrious
metamorphosis
mitosis
moiety
nanotechnology
nihilism
nomenclature
nonsectarian
notarize
obsequious
oligarchy
omnipotent
orthography
oxidize
parabola
paradigm
parameter
pecuniary
photosynthesis
plagiarize
plasma
polymer
precipitous
quasar
quotidian
recapitulate
reciprocal
reparation
respiration
sanguine
soliloquy
subjugate
suffragist
supercilious
tautology
taxonomy
tectonic
tempestuous
thermodynamics
totalitarian
unctuous
usurp
vacuous
vehement
vortex
winnow
wrought
xenophobe
yeoman
ziggurat
Posts
59, I think was my count.
14. June 2007 @ 23:39 ( Permalink )
Sure you know the words, but can you use them?
Ex: Our president’s supercilious unctuousness makes me loathe the mother fucker.
15. June 2007 @ 03:40 ( Permalink )
Yes, I believe I can. I’ve checked every single word on the list and I counted 39 with which I both knew the meaning and how to use them.
15. June 2007 @ 07:33 ( Permalink )
How is it possible to know a word without knowing how to use it? O.o
15. June 2007 @ 13:13 ( Permalink )
Got 57, but gave myself the benefit of doubt on some of them (after all, I know that a ziggurat is a specific kind of building, and I think it usually was religious in nature, but I’m not 100 % sure of that).
15. June 2007 @ 13:31 ( Permalink )
“How is it possible to know a word without knowing how to use it? O.o”
Good point. I guess you really can’t, but I had to check that aspect as well when I was doing the research, so why not include it here?
Not at all surprising that both of you knew more words than me. It means that all is right in the world
15. June 2007 @ 15:51 ( Permalink )
I think I got about 40 - 45, however if it hadn’t been for the medical terms I would have done much worse…
15. June 2007 @ 15:57 ( Permalink )
A ziggurat is basically like a pyramid (in appearance), only with four corners instead of three, and that’s how the word is used. I think the original source of the word is some kind of temple-buildings in Mesopotamia, but I’m not sure about that.
15. June 2007 @ 16:09 ( Permalink )
“Ziggurat (zig-oo-rat): (among the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians) a temple of Sumerian origin in the form of a pyramidal tower, consisting of a number of stories and having about the outside a broad ascent winding round the structure, presenting the appearance of a series of terraces.” - Dictionary.com
So, yeah.
15. June 2007 @ 17:28 ( Permalink )