Abnegation. Blithering. Concomitant. Discombobulated. Experiential. Flibbertigibbet. Galumphing. Hinterlands. Insurrection. Jollify. Kedgeree. Lollygag. Mitochondria. Nullification. Oblate. Phantasmagoria. Quiddity. Rapscallion. Synchronize. Tintinnabulation. Unbeknownst. Varicocele. Whirligig. Xeric. Ytterbium. Zany.

How many of these words do you know? They’re fun to say – and they’re even more fun to use. You can enjoy words because of their sounds and rhythms as well as their meanings, whether you’re speaking prose or poetry. Take pleasure in finding words that are new to you and incorporating them into your conversations. If you use words that mean exactly what you want to express, but in a creative way, you’ll impress the people you’re speaking with and intrigue them with your manner of expression, especially if the words are new to them as well. You might have to define words for people if they ask, but that’s a marvelous opportunity to start a conversation about the English language, or the book you read in which you found that word, or any other topic related to the vocabulary you’re using.

You can even make up words, if you want! The English language has grown over the years due to the incorporation of neologisms, or “new words” that have been created because someone found that they needed to be able to define or describe a concept, material, technique, item, or idea that had never been expressed before in English (or possibly in any other language). Whether a neologism becomes part of the official English language depends on how many people use it and over what period of time it’s used, but there are as many words that are no longer common as are being added to contemporary language every year.

Keep exploring the meaning of words, and you’ll always be able to say what you mean.

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory’,” Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t – till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’”

“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. “They’ve a temper, some of them – particularly verbs, they’re the proudest – adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs – however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That’s what I say!”

– from “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll (1872)