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Words, Words, Words, I’m Never Sick Of Words

Feb 14, 2018
by Caroline Miller
computer writing programs, mansplaining, Rebecca Solnit, seldom used words, The Oxford English Dictionary
0 Comment

Rebecca Solnit courtesy of google.com

I have a program on my computer that critiques my writing.  All too frequently, it gives me a red mark for sentences that are too long or for a vocabulary it says might challenge the average reader.  The computer assumes I want to appeal to the average reader.  And, I do. The difference is, I don’t hold the average reader in the same low regard as my technical program.

What’s more, I delight in words.  The English language is lush and rich, so that I never fear of running out of learning experiences.  This week I came across  words I’d seldom heard:

Feuileton – a newspaper or magazine devoted to light literature.   

Samadat – a clandestine publication

Oleaginous – oily, unctuous flattery

Courtesy of google.com

To be honest, I learned the last word, oleaginous,  some time ago, but didn’t know how to pronounce it.  Then I discovered a device on my computer that allows me to hear the word as well as read the definition.   Discoveries like that make me forgive my computer for its many failures.

In June of 2015 I shared a word coined by writer Rebecca Solnit.  (Click)  She invented mansplaining to describe men who feel they must over clarify things to women. (Click)  Her word so resonated with her sisters, it became vernacular.  Happily, The Oxford English Dictionary has caught up with “womenspeak.”  The editors have added mansplaining to their dictionary — which makes me love our language even more. 

 

 

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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