Habits formed in your youth stay with you forever. When I attended Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, Florida, I had an English teacher, Mr. Atkinson that taught me to look words up in the dictionary. He used to give us an Edgar Allen Poe story to read for homework like "The Purloined Letter". The next day, he would give us a ten word vocabulary test. All the words were in the story. If you did not know what purloined means, you better look it up in the dictionary. Certainly, it would be on the vocabulary test. From that class, I formed the habit of looking up words that I read that I don't know the exact meaning of.
I also learned in elementary school NOT to write in library books. I don't remember when I started this habit. I think it was in college. When I see a word I have to look up in the dictionary, like egalitarian, I write the definition in the margin of the book. If I own the book, I suppose I might need to know it if I ever refer back to that book. If it is a library book, I figure the next guy will probably not know what it means either. This is my small contribution to my fellow readers. I hope my efforts are appreciated.
I have another habit. When people use big words in conversation, I often ask what it means. In the movie, "To Kill A Mockingbird" with Gregory Peck the prosecutor used the word obfuscation. The country judge ask him what that word meant. It is a pretty good bet that if the judge does not know what it means, no one else knows either.
As I have been studying writing, it seems to be good advise to write for the masses. Leave the big words for the high school reunion. This is good advice. Ditto for jargon.
Ron Climer www.climerrealestateschool.com Orlando, Florida
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