# Expanding my vocabulary **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546 "2024-11-01T16:17:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/1 "2024-11-01T16:17:31Z")
Certain odd words, common enough that I come across them in my reading every few months, drive me to the dictionary where I read the entry, go “Oh, yeah, that’s what it means.” But then I always forget the definition the next time I encounter the word. Some examples are _recherche_, _vicissitude_, _nonplussed_, and _gainsay_. Would using them in my everyday sentences reinforce the meaning? Can you find a context that would allow them to be spoken without sounding silly? Give me a good sentence using each one, or describe your own such odd words. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/2 "2024-11-01T16:23:15Z")
Here’s one …" Argument’s an intellectual process. Contradiction’s just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says. " ---
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/3 "2024-11-01T16:26:08Z")
So “gainsaying” means something like “superficial negation”? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/4 "2024-11-01T16:26:36Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > Would using them in my everyday sentences reinforce the meaning? Can you find a context that would allow them to be spoken without sounding silly? I think the problem is no one else will understand what you are saying. For example, most people think “nonplussed” means unfazed but its definition is almost the opposite (surprised). So, it is difficult to use it as it was meant in everyday conversation because almost no one will get what you are saying. ---
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/5 "2024-11-01T16:28:51Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > almost no one will get what you are saying. That’s okay. I don’t mind explaining a pedantic point to the confused if it helps me feel comfortable with the word. My aim is to incorporate it into my vocabulary so it doesn’t send me to the dictionary again. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/6 "2024-11-01T16:29:07Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > So “gainsaying” means something like “superficial negation”? No it isn’t. 😉 In case you don’t get the reference, the sentence posted by **pjd** was from a Monty Python sketch called “The Argument Clinic”. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/7 "2024-11-01T16:29:28Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > gainsay Yes, pretty much. iow, _contradiction._ ---
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/8 "2024-11-01T16:30:37Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > In case you don’t get the reference No, I got it. (Your turn.) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/9 "2024-11-01T20:35:27Z")
I am nonplussed that anyone would gainsay the idea that regularly using such recherché words could ameliorate the vicissitudes of fortune. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/10 "2024-11-02T02:24:14Z")
Fie, Sirrah! Fie I say! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/11 "2024-12-29T07:54:21Z")
If you’re eager to add a word to your vocabulary, just pretend that someone used it to kick your butt in a game of Scrabble. “What does that word mean?” your friend will ask. Then you’ll have a dandy excuse to supply the definition. Of course, you wouldn’t be able to use this strategy too often, lest your friends ask you to cool it with all the damn Scrabble you’ve been playing lately. So be sure to pick and choose when you decide to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/12 "2024-12-29T14:38:58Z")
Very thaumaturgic! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/13 "2024-12-30T18:01:45Z")
Here are some podcasts relating to vocabulary. Wayword Radio, (linked to A Way With Words), Vocal Fries, and The Allusionist. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expanding-my-vocabulary/1009546/14 "2024-12-30T21:31:04Z")
Way with Words - Sundays 1 - 2 pm in my area