Twilight?

Imagine you know about 200 words of English and your 201st is firmament.

I bet that came in handy (rolls eyes.)

And sorry for misspelling your name!

Jill, if we all had to be as brilliant as Gaffney to write historical romance… there’s a scary thought.

As for which of Turgenev’s works Sebastian purchases for Rachel, it’s not specified in the book.

“Look.” He’d prized open one of the smaller crates and was lifting books out by the handful. “Turgenev, Trollope, Thackeray, Tennyson–this must be the T box. No, it’s not, because here’s Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and here’s Browning and Balzac. Have you read them all, my little bluestocking? You couldn’t have read this– Little Dorrit, Dickens–because it’s only just come out. Do you like plays? Poetry? We have Ibsen, we have Dostoevsky, Charlotte Bronte, Mrs. Gaskell. I know you think I’m an illiterate, but here’s one I’ve actually read myself–La Dame aux Camelias. Great pathos; reduced me to tears, I don’t mind admitting.”

You just have to open the damn book and look at the words.

Good words, used well = fabulous.

OTOH there’s, say, Cheryl Holt. Perfectly good words, swapped around without rhyme or reason. I honestly suspect there’s an automated thesaurus involved, with one simple rule: always add syllables.

@Sherry Thomas: Tsk! *Everyone* knows what a ‘fant’ is.

@Janet W: The word is ‘pedant’. I for one will proudly own it.

One of the earliest reading/education experiences I remember is when I learned how hors d’ouevres was pronounced. I knew the word in spoken language, and I knew it from reading, but I really didn’t know they were the same thing! I thought hors d’ouevres were a kind of canapé, from context clues, but I hadn’t had any French lessons yet.

All my kids have amazing vocabularies; I love to listen to them talk to each other. Some of that is from being around adults who use the words they know, but a lot of it is from reading.

I’ve challenged my son to a vocabulary word off and I know I’ll wipe the floor with him – he’s ducking me so far – and most of what I know, I’ve learned from romance books.

Me too. And proud of it!

Sheri, this reminds me of David Sedaris’ story of trying to learn French from medical textbooks

Hee, I wonder what he learned. I learned “firmament.” I don’t think I even managed a whole page of Genesis. Imagine you know about 200 words of English and your 201st is firmament.