Words we don't know

[vranger]

I wonder if "deport" has a similar provenance, only with doors.

Or shipboard.

[bdcharles]

Or shipboard.

I like how everyday words often have totally different origins. Like get, as I understand it, originally meant a child, an offspring. Stuff actually means the material you stuff into teddy bears. Piece is a specific length of cloth. Thing is a meeting, a hustings. Decimate, etc. I love how all these specific terms get normalised.

One day I will work all this into something ... one day ...

EDIT: ooh, ooh - from etymonline.com: "ship (n.) Old English scip "ship, boat," from Proto-Germanic *skipa-" ==> "All right, skipper?"

[vranger]

I like how everyday words often have totally different origins. Like get, as I understand it, originally meant a child, an offspring. Stuff actually means the material you stuff into teddy bears. Piece is a specific length of cloth. Thing is a meeting, a hustings. Decimate, etc. I love how all these specific terms get normalised.

One day I will work all this into something ... one day ...

EDIT: ooh, ooh - from etymonline.com: "ship (n.) Old English scip "ship, boat," from Proto-Germanic *skipa-" ==> "All right, skipper?"

Decimate is a good one. The word means that an army takes 10% casualties, which is more than it typically takes for a unit to lose morale and flee. But the sense of the word, for a LONG time, means complete annihilation.

[Jk_Sl]

I love Meraki - To do everything with soul and passion , to put everything you have into something you love with absolute devotion, and undivided attention.

J.

[bdcharles]

Always, specially when it is the overwriting on a palimpsest...

I'll see your palimpsest and raise you a ziggurat.

[ehbowen]

Decimate is a good one. The word means that an army takes 10% casualties, which is more than it typically takes for a unit to lose morale and flee. But the sense of the word, for a LONG time, means complete annihilation.

Actually, to "decimate" was one of the harshest punishments for soldiers in the Roman army. A unit which had performed poorly, or rebelled, or otherwise earned the ire of its superiors would be lined up, in rows...and every tenth man would be executed on the spot. Pour encourager les autres, you understand.

[EmmaSohan]

What about words I don't know because they are new? In one small article reporting tweets I ran into:

kpoppies

welcome to kpop stan twt

welp

Kpoppies was easy to figure out. Was twt a typo? Ah, probably short for tweet. Stan and welp are still beyond me (though I have finally grasped that stans are not countries south of Russia). But those words are now in common use.

This is a thrilling time to be a word lover. Scraping data! Firenados! Community infection just appeared one day and now it's common. The article was about hijacking a hashtag.

[EternalGreen]

"Welp" is not new. It's something old farmers say.

When you're talking to someone and you need to get on your way, you might swing your hands together and say "Welp," or more commonly, "Welt."

[indianroads]

I'll go out on a limb by saying that uncommon words should be used in context so the reader can figure out the meaning if they don't know it.

Someone, somewhere, decades ago told me that most Americans only have an 8th grade vocabulary. Which is pretty sad. Even worse though is that 27% of Americans don't read books at all according to the Pew Research Center. So if we make our books too daunting, we'll likely drive them away.

[EternalGreen]

As long as you aren't torturing the reader with thesaurus words, I doubt most will mind.