Hello! Did you just happen to discover this blog from a random search or unintended click-through from another site? What a fortunate accident! In fact, you might even say it was serendipity that got you here. The noun serendipity means an unplanned occurrence, discovery, or experience that brings you good fortune or benefits you in some way. This word was coined by the British author and politician Horace Walpole in 1754, based on an ancient Persian fairy tale about the three lucky princes of Serendip, which is the old Arabic name for present-day Sri Lanka.

Serendipity is often used to describe a lucky discovery of one thing that you find while you’re looking for something else entirely. For example, a person might be walking along a mountain stream, fishing for trout, and suddenly look down to see a nugget of gold. In fact, that’s more or less how the California Gold Rush started in 1848 in California – a man was building a lumber mill on the bank of a river (which was to be powered by a water wheel) and happened to find several small gold nuggets near the building site.

Several modern inventions came about by serendipity, including the nonstick coating Teflon (the inventor was trying to develop a gas to be used in refrigeration), the sugar substitute aspartame (the scientist was experimenting with anti-ulcer drugs), and the microwave oven (invented by a scientist who found a melted candy bar in his pocket after a session of working with radar waves in the laboratory).

Example: If my friend Libby hadn’t decided to get to work early, she wouldn’t have been stuck in the elevator with Charles, who was there to pack up his desk and move to his new job across the city, and they might never have met. It was pure serendipity that they got to know each other, and now they’ve been married for fourteen years.

Related words include the adjective serendipitous and the adverb serendipitously. Happenstance is a synonym sometimes used for serendipity, and the phrase a stroke of luck is also common.

Now that you’ve found us, be sure to bookmark this page and check back soon for our next word-related post!

Do you hear that loud buzzing sound in the background? It’s a chorus of vuvuzelas, announcing the fact that the Oxford Dictionary of English has added 2,000 new words to its official roster of English vocabulary in current use with its publication of the ODE Third Edition. After all the “buzz” about the vuvuzela (a large plastic trumpet-shaped horn) at this year’s World Cup, it’s not surprising that this word tops our list of new words from the ODE.

The stereotypical male has a hard time expressing his emotions, but with the ODE’s approval of the word bromance, he might find this a bit easier. It defines bromance as a close (but not sexual) relationship between two men. A “brotherly romance” like this is depicted in the Hollywood movies “I Love You, Man” and “Superbad.”

You might want to add a turducken to your holiday menu this year. A turducken is a rather complicated dish that consists of a whole deboned chicken that has been wrapped in a whole deboned duck, which in turn has been stuffed into the body cavity of a whole deboned turkey. Often a bread-based stuffing is added inside the chicken and between the layers of each bird. Once this pile of poultry has been assembled, it’s roasted in the oven and carved (to great fanfare, no doubt) at table.

If you need a recipe, you can use your netbook to look one up on the internet. A netbook is a small computer that’s much lighter than the average laptop because it has a stripped-down system that’s designed primarily to only use web-based applications.

Most recipe sites are free, but you might have to subscribe to some of them, like the gourmet-geared site “Cook’s Illustrated.” Those recipes are protected by a paywall – a web page that you can’t get past until you pay the subscription price.

Sit back, chillax, and enjoy these new additions to your vocabulary!

Note: The “Oxford Dictionary of English” (ODE) is a one-volume listing of words that are in current use in English, and was first published in 1998; the third volume was published in August 2010. The official Oxford English Dictionary (OED), begun in 1888, was first published in multi-volume format in 1928 and is a comprehensive listing of the English language; the current publication (second edition) is 20 volumes. As of August 2010, the editors have reached the letter “R” in their review of the eventual third edition.

If you’re in the northern hemisphere (below the Arctic Circle, at least), it’s probably pretty hot today, and you might find yourself dragging a bit, both physically and mentally, disinclined to do anything that requires any energy and uninterested in any situation that doesn’t involve a cool breeze, ice water, and a lot of sitting around. In these dog days¹ of August, many people experience this lassitude due to the high temperatures. Lassitude means a lack of energy or enthusiasm, and can be due to physical fatigue (from illness or overexertion, perhaps) or mental fatigue (a feeling of being burned out²). Synonyms for lassitude include listlessness and lethargy.

Example: The children ran around the yard playing all morning, but by afternoon they had succumbed to lassitude and spent the rest of the day sitting in the shade.

If you’ve been working hard on your studies, you might be feeling tired and lethargic, and ready for a break. Don’t be afraid of taking some time off now and then to refresh your mind and body. While it’s important to maintain a regular routine in order to guarantee a steady progress towards an improved and expanded vocabulary, it’s also important to balance that routine with rest and relaxation. Don’t forget that you can continue to increase your vocabulary knowledge by reading for fun – a good book enjoyed on the beach will add to your word base just like an hour-long targeted memorization drill does. Of course, we encourage you to slip a few flash cards into your beach bag as well, for a few minutes of quick review here and there!

¹ According to legend, the Romans first referred to these hot summer days as the “dog days” (dies caniculares) because of the prominence of the star Sirius, the “Dog Star” and the brightest star in the sky during this time.

² The idiomatic expression “to burn out” means to reach the end of one’s energy (again, either physical or mental) for a given period of time or a specific project.

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – it’s the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning. – Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), October 1888

As we pointed out in the last post, having a large and varied vocabulary allows you to choose and use words that precisely convey the information you need to communicate, in the tone and style that is most effective for each occasion. The more words you know, the more flexibility you have, and your conversations and presentations will always fit the situation.

There are other ways to add interest to your written and spoken communication, including onomatopoeia, alliteration, and metaphor. These tools are used by professional writers to improve the quality of their writing, to catch and hold the reader’s interest, and to add a rich dimension to the text by bringing in the reader’s other senses with mental imagery. Although you might associate these techniques with fiction and poetry, and think they have no place in a professional presentation, if you use them skillfully and subtly, your audience will be attracted to your speech without even realizing why.

Onomatopoeia means the use of a word that sounds like what it is describing (from the Greek roots onoma, “name,” and poieo, “to make”). For example, think about the sound that the leaves and branches of a tree make when the wind blows through them. What words come to mind? We thought of the words rustle and swish. When you say them out loud, your voice imitates the sound of the leaves brushing against each other in the breeze. Using onomatopoeia – especially in a spoken presentation – will paint an aural picture of the topic or scene you’re describing, and your audience will listen more closely.

Alliteration is a technique frequently used by poets, but it can be very effective in any text. Adept application of advanced approaches such as alliteration will accelerate you towards attaining your goal as an author. And that’s alliteration: using words in sequence that start with the same sound, to add rhythm and emphasis.

Think about the last conference you attended where multiple people were speaking. What attracted you to a specific speaker? Especially in corporate or academic settings, a good speech is an oasis of refreshment in the middle of a wasteland of dry, uninteresting presentations. That’s an example of metaphor: creating a visual image for the reader (or listener) that compares one thing to something completely different, without using the words “like” or “as” (which would make the comparison a simile). Just as a pool of cool, clear water refreshes the traveler in the desert, metaphors will provide contrast and relief in what otherwise might be a technically dense or plainly factual presentation.

What techniques do you use to spice up your speeches?

In the last post, you learned that clowder is a term (a “collective noun,” to give it the proper linguistic name) for a group of cats. While saying “a group of cats” is certainly accurate, it’s a generic phrase, and not very interesting to your audience, though it does convey the information you’re trying to communicate. Because you can refer to “a group of” many different things, it’s useful to have specific, descriptive words for such groups, to add color and interest to your conversations and presentations. Here are a few others you might find useful and fun:

• cavalcade: a group of people riding on horseback (and their horses)
• gaggle: a group of geese (not flying)
• skein: a group of geese (flying)
• pantheon: a group of gods and/or goddesses

Other nouns that describe groups of things include agglomeration (a group of unrelated objects piled together), phalanx (a group of people standing close together), and smorgasbord (a varied group of things from which you can pick and choose).

Collective nouns are only one class of descriptive words and phrases that you can use to enliven your communications. The English language is filled with adjectives that you can use to give colorful details.

• Are you describing someone who is very sad? That person can be anguished, wretched, or sorrowful.
• Do you have a difficult task? Then it’s probably burdensome or worrisome, and you might even find it traumatic.
• Is your assistant a hard worker? They’re zealous, thorough, competent, and productive.

We’ve discussed similes before, but it’s worth repeating: a presentation that doesn’t take advantage of these descriptive phrases can be as uninteresting as a bowl of cold oatmeal. Using comparisons and similes will catch your audience’s attention, and give them another perspective on your topic. In addition, you’ll often be adding a visual element (if only an imagined one) that will engage their senses and increase their focus on what you’re saying, or what you’ve written.

In the next post, we’ll talk about some other poetic devices that you can use to create engaging and entertaining presentations, add interest to your conversations, and improve and develop your writing style.

Did you take yesterday’s just-for-fun vocabulary quiz? If you didn’t, click here and give it a try before reading the rest of this post.

We tried to make yesterday’s quiz similar to the types of “pick the correct definition” vocabulary tests you’ll encounter on typical examinations such as the SAT and GRE, with possible answers that sound like they might be right, or recall similar words that you are already familiar with. When you’re taking a test like this, keep in mind that the authors will write the questions in a way that deliberately tries to influence you to pick the incorrect answer. One of the best ways to avoid error is to study root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Being able to correctly identify even part of a word will help you eliminate the false answers and pick the true definition of the target word.

Here are the answers to yesterday’s quiz:

chimichurri: an herb sauce made of parsley or cilantro, garlic, and olive oil

A churro is a Mexican deep-fried pastry, the cha-cha-cha is a Cuban dance, and a capucin is a small South American monkey, but chimichurri is a traditional Argentinian sauce made by combining finely minced parsley (and/or cilantro), garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and vinegar and served with grilled meat.

cicatrice: a scar

If you live in a hot climate, you’re probably familiar with the sound of the swarming cicada, but you’ll never encounter the mythical cockatrice, no matter where you live. A cicatrice is a scar, specifically a scar on a person’s body left after a wound has healed (as opposed to a scar left in a wooden floor by a sharp object, for example).

conflagration: a large uncontrolled fire

This word comes from the Latin root word flagrare, meaning “to burn.” This is also the root of the word flagrant, defined as “obvious or evident” – that is, shining (or burning) brightly. The phrase in flagrante delicto translates to “with the crime still blazing [evident]” and we use it today to mean “caught red-handed” or “caught in the act” (of doing something illegal or wrong).

cartouche: an oval or oblong carving decorated with scrollwork

This word may sound like a sneeze, but it has nothing to do with sinuses. A cartouche is an frame, usually made of or decorated with scrollwork, that contains text or other images inside it. It can be drawn or etched on a surface, or raised and carved above the surface. Click here to see some examples.

crepuscular: dimly lit, like at twilight

Crepuscular is one of those words that sounds like it’s describing something ugly or horrible. Actually, it means that lovely blue-grey dimness that makes warm summer evenings so enjoyable to be out in. In French, the word for “twilight” is le crépuscule.

coterie: a group of people of a similar social standing

A dovecote is where you keep a group of birds, but a coterie is a group of people of the same (usually high) status, or who are together because they have the same goals or purpose.

clowder: a group of cats

This last word is one that’s just fun to know. While a group of cats might enjoy eating from a large dish of fish chowder, they’re described as a clowder. Other interesting terms for groups of animals include an unkindness of ravens, a muster of peacocks, and a shrewdness of apes.

You might have a particular reason for studying vocabulary – perhaps you’re learning a new terminology to advance your career or keep up with discoveries in your field, or focusing on a list of high-frequency SAT words in preparation for a test. You might also be picking up words that catch your eye because they seem interesting or beautiful, or weird enough that you wonder what they could possibly mean. There are so many words to choose from in English that you could be learning new vocabulary for the rest of your life, and still be surprised at each unique and descriptive word. Here are a few words that we’ve selected just for fun – because they’re fun to say, and fun to use in conversation. We hope you’ll have fun taking this quiz!

chimichurri

a) an herb sauce made of parsley or cilantro, garlic, and olive oil
b) a dance related to flamenco
c) a deep-fried pastry covered with powdered sugar
d) a small monkey found in Paraguay

cicatrice

a) a row of columns on an Egyptian temple
b) a scar
c) a mythological creature, half rooster and half lizard
d) a winged insect that tends to fly in large swarms

conflagration

a) getting caught in an act of adultery
b) a wild exaggeration
c) a large uncontrolled fire
d) taking part in a parade

cartouche

a) an oval or oblong carving decorated with scrollwork
b) an open-air marketplace
c) an infection of the sinuses
d) a Moroccan “bicycle taxi”

crepuscular

a) covered in a red rash
b) strong and powerful
c) slimy
d) dimly lit, like at twilight

coterie

a) a cage for doves or pigeons
b) a group of people of a similar social standing
c) altering or tailoring clothes
d) whitewash

clowder

a) a thick soup containing fish or seafood
b) a daisy-like perennial found in high mountain meadows
c) a group of cats
d) using lemon juice to curdle milk

Come back tomorrow for the answers.

As your vocabulary improves and expands, you’ll be able to speak with authority on many different topics. People will be impressed by your knowledge and insight, and will consider you to be quite perspicacious when you’re able to pick exactly the right words for every situation. Perspicacious means keen-witted and mentally sharp, able to see to the heart of a matter and discern the truth. The word comes from the Latin perspicax, meaning “able to see through,” which contains the Latin root specere, meaning “to look at.” Other words derived from this root word include specimen, introspection, and perspective – all words that have the connotation of “sight.” The noun perspicacity refers to perception or shrewdness. Some synonyms for perspicacious are discerning and insightful.

Example: The witness tried to hide the truth, but the attorney’s perspicacious questions forced him to admit to his role in the bank robbery.

A related but less common word, perspicuous, means “obvious or apparent.” While perspicacious has the meaning of “seeing what is hidden,” perspicuous has the meaning “not hidden at all.” Even though somewhat reversed, the underlying sense from the root specere of “sight” is still evident.

Learning root words is very useful, because it helps you quickly get a sense of the probable definition of a new word. You can look at the word root(s), as well as any prefix or suffix, and piece together a translation for the word as a whole. Now that you know that the Latin root word specere means “sight,” how would you define these words?

• circumspect
• speculation
• conspicuous

Circumspect has two Latin roots, circum- (“around”) and specere (“to look”). Someone who is circumspect acts carefully after looking at, or considering, the situation.

The original meaning of speculation is “to look at or consider,” with the sense that a person is thinking about a topic seriously. The word is also used now to mean less than serious consideration; the phrase “idle speculation” refers to more random thought, or even guessing, about something.

Something that is conspicuous is very visible; the Latin prefix con- (or com-) means “together with” and is used in this case to show intensity or emphasis. A modern translation might be “visible squared.”

As you can see, being familiar with root words helps you get right down to the fundamental blocks making up a vocabulary word to quickly get a clear idea of what that word actually means. You might even say that learning word roots will help you be more perspicacious.

Here at Ultimate Vocabulary, we’re usually focused on ways to help you increase your vocabulary and improve your conversational skills by using those new and interesting vocabulary words. Sometimes, though, we need to talk about just exactly how you use those words. Your expanded vocabulary and facility (facility means “skill, ability”) with words won’t impress people nearly as much as they should if you have problems communicating clearly, especially on a professional level.

When you’re preparing for a presentation – unless you’re an excellent extemporaneous speaker (extemporaneous means “impromptu, without prior planning or preparation”) with a rock-solid knowledge of your topic and the likely questions you’ll get from the audience – you’ll benefit from taking the time to write at least an outline of your presentation. You might even want to write out key phrases and detailed points you’ll be covering, then review what you’ve written to make sure that you’re stating things clearly and concisely.

Write down important points, along with a general outline of your presentation, on note cards that you can refer to discreetly (discreetly means “quietly, inconspiciously”) to keep on track, and to ensure that you don’t forget anything. Even if you have visual aids such as a Powerpoint slideshow, it looks better to the audience if you’re facing them, rather than constantly turning your back on them to look at the overhead projection.

Spend some time practicing your presentation so that you have much of what you want to say memorized. If you rely too much on your notes, the audience may suspect that you aren’t comfortable with your topic, or that you don’t have the knowledge they expect from the speaker.

Prepare for questions from your audience by reviewing your planned presentation and thinking about what you might ask, if you were in the audience. If you have time, practice your presentation in front of friends or co-workers, and ask them for feedback. If you can find a group of people who match your prospective audience (prospective means “expected, future”) then you’ll be getting the type of feedback and questions that you can anticipate on the day of your presentation. These practice sessions will also help you overcome any nervousness you might have about your upcoming speech.

Are you afraid of public speaking? What has helped you give better presentations? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Yesterday we gave you an analogy that vocabulary-building was like constructing an office building, with a need for separate functions and outside connections and a solid foundation in the fundamentals of etymology (the history of words). One thing we didn’t mention yesterday is that it’s important to know the vocabulary of your field or profession – or the field or profession you want to join or advance in. Continuing in the theme of “building” today, here’s a list of words that will be useful to you if you’re interested in pursuing a career in architecture or construction, or if you just want to add some polish to your conversation in general. To see an image of what the word describes, click on the link.

balustrade: A row of short pillars with a railing along the top, used as a barricade across the edge of a balcony, ledge, or staircase.

cantilever: A horizontal projection that is supported at one end but not the other. This word can be either a noun or a verb.

escutcheon: A decorative flat plate or shield, often with a coat of arms, attached to a wall.

bollard: A short thick post that prevents vehicles from driving into a specific location.

girder: A long beam of metal or wood that is used as a horizontal support (for a roof or a floor, for example).

lintel: A horizontal flat or arched beam or block placed on top of two vertical columns such as door posts, which may be either load-bearing or decorative.

pilaster: A column that is not freestanding but rather embedded into a wall. While most often decorative, they can also support some of the structure.

batten: A thin strip of wood or metal used to hold objects together. The nautical phrase “batten down the hatches” means to secure the edges of a tarpaulin covering in this manner. Because this is something sailors would do before a storm, the expression is often used idiomatically to mean “look out for bad times ahead.” This word can be either a noun or a verb.