I am embarrassed to admit this but there are times when I am reading and I come across a word I have never seen in my life. Even worse I have no idea how to pronounce it and for the life of me cannot give a definition. I'm sure this happens to everyone, but for me it makes me feel like less of a writer.
I can't even tell you how many times my boyfriend says something and I'm like what does that mean and every time it is the same response, "You're the writer." So does that mean just because I am a writer I should know every word in the English dictionary? Because I don't. I could bet you money that I don't know half of them.
That's what I love about reading. I discover new words that I never would have knew existed and am able to look them up. I can bank that word in my memory and be able to apply it to my own writing when necessary. I wish I would have done that when I was younger instead of skipping over those words.
Am I alone here? Or do you still come across words that stop you in your tracks? If you do, do you look them up or do you do as I once did just skip over them and forget about it?
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I'm going to shamelessly admit that often times I just skip over them and don't look them up. And I should look them up, I am a writer aren't I?
ReplyDeleteThere are still times when I do that. If I'm in the car or in a waiting room I don't go out of my way to remember the word to look up later. I probably should.
DeleteI know what you mean. I do try to look them up, but as Cristina said I skip over them. The hardest for me our names I can't pronounce.
ReplyDeleteI can't even tell you how many times I change names when I'm reading. If it's something really out there I'll shorten it or just call them by the first letter of the name. It messes up the flow of the story for me if I don't. Then I think whatever happened to easy names like John and Bob :)
DeleteI feel the same way. Lately, when I'm on the blogs I've been noticing that my vocabulary seems lacking in comparison to others'. I actually got to the point the other day where I got this crazy, hairbrained notion that reading the dictionary might help. That's how inadequate I was starting to feel. I don't think I'm going to actually do this, but still. I like learning new words. I just need to start using them more :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone and I am finding comfort in knowing that :)I tried to read the dictionary once. I got to the second page and was like yeah okay I'm done. lol. I've become great friends with my thesaurus though and that has helped introduce me to new words.
DeleteI'm the 'skipper'. I usually just use the context clues to figure out what it means.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should read with a dictionary :)
I do that too but sometimes I still can't figure it out and then I feel even worse. lol.
DeleteOh how I love Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider!
ReplyDeleteI keep a dictionary in my nightstand for those times I come across a new word. And now I also keep a sticky note on the front of a book I'm reading so I can write down any words I love to hopefully put into my regular vocabulary and some day my own writing :)
YES! Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider are full of awesomeness!
DeleteI love the sticky note idea. I'm Post It obsessed, why did I not think of this? lol.