# Vocabulary **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 24, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356 "2013-07-24T04:02:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/21 "2013-07-26T05:53:47Z")
He’s making a joke that your knowledge of vocabulary has not helped you understand Cecil’s comment. ---
**Author:** ![Calitri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@Calitri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calitri)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/22 "2013-07-26T06:20:37Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > He’s making a joke that your knowledge of vocabulary has not helped you understand Cecil’s comment. I understood, I read it too quickly and I immediately assumed the common error. ---
**Author:** ![Calitri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@Calitri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calitri)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/23 "2013-07-26T06:46:58Z")
In fact, the general IQ of this country has been going up for at least the last [80 years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect). [/QUOTE] That fact is arguable and perhaps incorrect. How can IQ go up when test scores have gone down. The results of the National Standardized Vocabulary tests are stagnant and at low levels. I would think a good vocabulary would be a crucial indicator of a high IQ. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/24 "2013-07-26T07:03:08Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > MOD INTERJECTION: **guizot** , you know better than that. Personal insults are NOT permitted in this forum. Stop it. Stop it NOW. I was ready to issue an Official Warning, but I need more coffee, so I’m giving you an (undeserved) break. > > **Calitri** is new here, and welcomed. I apologize to everyone, and especially **Calitri**. I didn’t stop to consider how nasty it came off, and really didn’t mean to be personal. [QUOTE=Calitri] Your analogy is misguided and illogical, for a large vocabulary is predominately acquired by reading. Furthermore a large vocabulary facilitates the reading and comprehension of abstruse literature. [/quote] You are absolutely correct. That’s exactly how a large vocabulary is acquired–in the _true_ sense. I was referring to people who seek out “big” words simply for the sake of it (plucking them from a dictionary or thesaurus, for example), and then inject them into their discourse inorganically, precisely because they believe that it will add some kind of authority, or simply make themselves look better. Cecil was either making fun of that kind of person, or musing that (in fact) an entomologist had actually been consulted. The distinction is important, because most of our vocabulary we don’t truly learn from dictionaries, which index words out of context. We need to parse an unfamiliar lexical item in context (studies indicate 7-9 times on average) through extensive reading (or listening) to acquire the full connotation, register, etc. And yet, I often hear stories of parents who–when their child asks the meaning of a word–will sternly say nothing other than, “Go look it up,” thinking that is the best way to make the child somehow more “educated.” This is contrary to what we know about language acquisition, and also denies the whole social dimension of how words acquire their meaning through usage. Again, **Calitri** , my apologies, and let me also extend a warm welcome to the board. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/25 "2013-07-26T14:20:09Z")
> [@Calitri](#): > > In fact, the general IQ of this country has been going up for at least the last [80 years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect). That fact is arguable and perhaps incorrect. How can IQ go up when test scores have gone down. The results of the National Standardized Vocabulary tests are stagnant and at low levels. I would think a good vocabulary would be a crucial indicator of a high IQ. [/QUOTE] You’re welcome to come up with a countercite. Otherwise, that’s just opinion. In other words, worthless in this context. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/26 "2013-07-26T16:01:41Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > While not rigorously grammatical, it appears that you figured out the meaning just fine. Dangling participle, misplaced modifier, or neither of the above? ---
**Author:** ![Calitri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@Calitri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calitri)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/27 "2013-07-26T17:57:54Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I apologize to everyone, and especially **Calitri**. I didn’t stop to consider how nasty it came off, and really didn’t mean to be personal. > > Again, **Calitri** , my apologies, and let me also extend a warm welcome to the board. Quizot, thank you for the apology, but you are correct. I immediately targeted just, _entomologists_, because the word has been misused quite often. In fact, I recently corrected its misusage in an article in the LA Times, but in my haste I missed the irony in Cecil’s statement. I absolutely agree that one cannot completely absorb a word’s definition by just looking it up in a dictionary. I find that transcribing a word by hand further inculcates it into the brain. However, if one does not repeatedly vocalize a word in conversation it tends to lie dormant, and is only revitalized and useful in a multiple-choice vocabulary quiz. I tend to dumb down my vocabulary on many occasions; I question the personal advantages to this. ---
**Author:** ![Calitri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@Calitri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calitri)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/28 "2013-07-26T18:29:56Z")
You’re welcome to come up with a countercite. Otherwise, that’s just opinion. In other words, worthless in this context. [/QUOTE] You’re claims are also based on an opinion. IQ tests are found not to be as reliable as they once were thought to be. As Walter Lippmann said: " We cannot measure intelligence when we have not defined it." Many studies suggest that the results of an IQ test is largely dependent on the motivation of the person taking it. There are levels of intelligence that can’t be measured by IQ tests. Regardless, if you are looking for data or evidence I suggest you read, " The Dumbest Generation" by Mark Bauerlein. He delineates, quite effectively, how the popular culture of young people is essentially dumbed-down. In addition, there are many academics who support his position. A link below also substantiates the problem. [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/digital-age-is-dumbing-down-our-children/story-e6frgd0x-1226436959981](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/digital-age-is-dumbing-down-our-children/story-e6frgd0x-1226436959981) ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/29 "2013-07-26T19:36:10Z")
If the average IQ has been going up for 80 years then the test is flawed. IQ is meant to evaluate raw, as opposed to acquired, intelligence and unless you believe that humanity has gone through a rather profound evolution in terms of brain power the tests should show equivalent results. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/30 "2013-07-26T20:38:53Z")
IQs keep going down because no one today taking the test knows whether a steam locomotive heading for Chicago’s slaughter houses burning 200 tons of coal is to cows losing weight on a cross-country cattle drive or to Mississippi river banks eroding because of speeding stern wheelers. ---
**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/31 "2013-07-27T01:31:57Z")
I think the vocabulary is the same…just the words have changed. For example, I’m old, and grew up on a farm. I know a lot of words that were relevant a hundred years ago to virtually everyone. Mostly about horses. Today those words are irrelevant. But new words (hashtag, drive became a noun, computer, webpages, etc) have taken their place. If you compare vocabulary based on a list of words from the 50’s, yes vocabulary has decreased. But it’s not a fair comparison. Many of those words have no value any more. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/32 "2013-07-27T01:53:36Z")
It is generally agreed that whatever is measured on I.Q. tests has been going up for the past 80 years about three points per decade. This is called the Flynn effect, and there really isn’t any credible way to get around the fact that scores on I.Q. tests have been increasing. (More precisely, someone who gets a score of 100 on current I.Q. tests would have gotten a score of 103 on tests given ten years ago. Obviously the tests are frequently renormed to make sure the average stays at 100.) What isn’t clear is what this means. It seems pretty unlikely that this means that anything is changing genetically, because it doesn’t change that fast. It’s something environmental, but what in the physical or cultural environment isn’t clear. Some theories are given in the Wikipedia article. I don’t know of any good scientific study showing that the average vocabulary is going up or down. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/33 "2013-07-27T02:01:50Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Dangling participle, misplaced modifier, or neither of the above? Misplaced modifier, not that it matters in the slightest. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356/34 "2013-07-27T04:09:16Z")
Sometimes it can even be funny. “At four years old, my grandma passed away.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocabulary/664356.md?page=1)