It is interesting to me how words come in and out of usage. I was fortunate to be involved in an internet initiative with a large global company during the height of the dot com era of boom and bust. It was fun and exciting as I worked with some very smart people, who came from highly educated back grounds. Among my tasks was the job of giving vision and direction to our project, so I adopted many new words into my limited mid-western vocabulary, like synergy, alignment, and paradigm along with phrases like win – win and low hanging fruit. While there wasn’t much money left at the end of my brief run in the software world, I parted wiser and I am sure sounding a whole lot smarter with my expanded vocabulary. I think my favorite addition was the word plethora.
Plethora “large or excessive amount or number: a very large amount of something or number of things, especially an excessive amount
Since I starting running marathons 5 years ago I have run a plethora of miles in preparation for races. There is a plethora of weeds in our back yard right now. I get a plethora of work related emails daily. Unable to choose from the plethora of debates in politics and religion I have been unable to focus on one and maintain my blog the last 4 weeks. Each of those sentences work very well, and you understand the image I am trying to convey.
It wasn’t that I was totally unfamiliar with the new words, most of the time I understood the basic meaning or concept, it was adding them to my own usage that was interesting. These words became objects set on a fine table, set in its proper place, used at the proper time adding sophistication and elegance while providing a common understanding. Of course used improperly that same table becomes covered with spilled gravy.
Since I starting running marathons 5 years ago I have run a plethora of miles in preparation for races. There is a plethora of weeds in our back yard right now. I get a plethora of work related emails daily. Unable to choose from the plethora of debates in politics and religion I have been unable to focus on one and maintain my blog the last 4 weeks. Each of those sentences work very well, and you understand the image I am trying to convey.
It wasn’t that I was totally unfamiliar with the new words, most of the time I understood the basic meaning or concept, it was adding them to my own usage that was interesting. These words became objects set on a fine table, set in its proper place, used at the proper time adding sophistication and elegance while providing a common understanding. Of course used improperly that same table becomes covered with spilled gravy.
Today is DeAnn’s birthday. We have been married for quit sometime. During a conversation at church this week I was reminded that we got married while she was 19 years of age. She has been married to me a whole lot longer than she was single. However, telling someone that your wife has celebrated a plethora of birthdays is not wise use of that adjective.
Anybody know some good words for “sorry” that will make me sound smarter?
This week’s proverb.
Not all poor vocabulary choices include four letter words.
David
Happy Birthday DeAnn!
