Vocabulary to Impress

Do you find yourself spending hours of your weekend reading the dictionary to learn new words? Do you feel a need to expand your vocabulary to impress others at work, parties, or cultish ceremonies? If so, we have some words and usage tips that are sure to improve your persona.

We’ll talk about a few categories of words which will be useful in many situations.

Sizes

First of all, the best words are always long, at least 10 letters. And they should have several syllables so they sound long, too. Of course, there are times when shorter, more “common” words of only 4 letters are necessary. But for those times when you are in polite company and need to impress someone who is more educated than yourself, a word like “gigantroscopic” comes in handy.

For instance, imagine you are eating lunch with a distinguished biologist. In typical biologist small talk, he might say something like, “Have you ever seen one of those paramecia with the cilia all over it?” And you can reply with confidence, “Yes, indeed. Why, just this morning I saw a really gigantroscopic one!”

Colours

Most people know the common names for several colours. Some people even know the names of the colours in the entire rainbow. But there are names for colours that only highly-educated people (such as interior designers and the guys at the paint store) use.

So, for those times1 when you’re having company over for tea and your company comments on the nicely coordinated colours of the walls, you need to have some special colour names ready. Rather than saying, “Yeah, I painted it this way because my wife likes green,” you might say something like, “I chose a quaint springtime yellowish-blue to match the colour of my wife’s eyes, since I only really look at it when she’s standing in front of it.”

Trees

If you know how to identify trees, you are already at an advantage over the average person. But even better than knowing how to identify them is knowing a better word to use than just “tree.”

Therefore, next time you’re in a forest for an outing with friends, and you feel like saying, “Wow, what a tree!” instead try something like, “I’ve never seen a decidu-conifer quite like this before!”

With these categories, you should be able to discuss most subjects of general interest. If not, leave us a comment, and we’ll try to address any other categories you are looking for.


“Illustrated catalogue of the remarkable collection of ancient Chinese bronzes, beautiful old porcelains, amber and stone carvings, sumptuous eighteenth century brocades, interesting old paintings on (14801498753),” Internet Archive Book Images (No restrictions) via Wikimedia Commons.

  1. Four o’clock GMT, usually.

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  1. P.S. If you’re wondering about those 4-letter words I mentioned, I mean ones like: rats, oops, ouch, whoa, and star. Usually they are followed by an exclamation point.

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