WORD POWER
Apr. 23rd, 2011 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
uiscerosI'm currently studying for my GRE exam. And while verbal is my strong section in general, I decided to study that more than math... It's some type of weird form of procrastination - like when I learned the Greek alphabet instead of studying for physics class.
Right now I'm working on GRE vocab. Which is an amusing and enlightening experience for me. I LOVE words. I love learning new words, I love finding synonyms for words, I love researching word roots (this especially - etymology is one of my favorite things. I was the only person in my 8th grade class that was excited by the etymology lessons. This also applies to Chinese characters - I love finding similar characters, and researching their roots)... I just really love words.
Like the other day I found out that the Latin root "bell(i)" denotes something relating to war. So now words like belligerent, bellicose, rebellion, and antebellum make a shitload more sense.
Another thing I just learned - complacent and complaisant are VERY close to being synonyms (they both mean obliging). Except complacent refers more to a prideful contentment, whereas complaisant is more like a good natured obligingness. Subtle differences, but can refer to entirely different circumstances. I LOVE shit like that. I like ambiguity and variety in language. It makes things a lot more fun.
ANYWAY, since this is what is currently occupying my time, I felt the need to write about it...
Right now I'm working on GRE vocab. Which is an amusing and enlightening experience for me. I LOVE words. I love learning new words, I love finding synonyms for words, I love researching word roots (this especially - etymology is one of my favorite things. I was the only person in my 8th grade class that was excited by the etymology lessons. This also applies to Chinese characters - I love finding similar characters, and researching their roots)... I just really love words.
Like the other day I found out that the Latin root "bell(i)" denotes something relating to war. So now words like belligerent, bellicose, rebellion, and antebellum make a shitload more sense.
Another thing I just learned - complacent and complaisant are VERY close to being synonyms (they both mean obliging). Except complacent refers more to a prideful contentment, whereas complaisant is more like a good natured obligingness. Subtle differences, but can refer to entirely different circumstances. I LOVE shit like that. I like ambiguity and variety in language. It makes things a lot more fun.
ANYWAY, since this is what is currently occupying my time, I felt the need to write about it...
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-23 07:51 am (UTC)I love etymology too but these days, I am more fascinated with our own language and its etymology. It's fascinating, learning these REALLY deep Tagalog words that's purely ours and not just some byproduct of the 300 years of Spanish colonization.
Anyhoo, I don't mean to spam here but it seems like twitter REALLY hates me at the moment: I tweeted you earlier but then I checked out my tweets and it wasn't there among with my other tweets to four more people in my t-list. I just want to say I replied to your email and would like to know what you've decided.