When “spontaneous combustion” does or does not work

Whenever I post something about my writing in difference to general things about the writer’s life, I try to also produce some thought about writing. So, I attempt to do that again here, with my latest writing movements.

The word with those connotations: ‘sly’

The Word for Today is ‘sly’. It means having a nature that is cunning and deceitful. The key here is in the nature, otherwise the meaning of the word would fall. Without cunning and deceitful emanating from a nature, sly would just be cunning and deceitful but that can’t exist by itself. Somone is cunning and deceitful. Someone is sly. Sly is an adjective so it describes an inner nature. Someone exists or lives in that nature. He is sly.

I always have a reservation about this word because it implies a bad or wrong centered nature. But is describes a reality. Sometimes there are people we may come across that are sly which is scary. But sly is a word I keep at a distance and use it rarely as the word must fit the character, the story, the sentence, etc.

Remaining

Remaining, still there, still present, surviving this is the meaning of “extant” an adjective describing that something still exists. The extant manuscript: it’s a favourite word in literary things.

Deep red

Crimson is a rich sounding word. It means rich as well, as in a “rich, deep red” inclining to purple (but not exactly purple). I asked myself, how would you use this word? When would you use this word? Crimson is an adjective so describes something. The word sounds so rich it could be used to describe the inner state of someone, as a metaphor. His heart bled crimson. One would have to know what a deep red would signify if using crimson as a metaphor. His heart bled crimson, but what does it mean?

This one is spelt with a ‘h’

There are some words one knows but doesn’t really. I know what whisked means instinctively, but would I know how to articulate what it means? If this is a question I ask, I add the word to my notebook of words I got to learn.

Whisked is easily remembered by me by recalling the word ‘suddenly’, as in a person or thing was suddenly taken away or “whisked” away. I took a second glance on how to spell it, not ‘wisked’, but with a ‘h’, as in whisked.

Reviewing the list of words in the notebook

One of the things I have been recommended to do is to keep a notebook of words. So, I have, as this helps me learn novel words. I write down the word with a memory jogger as to its definition. But I got to review these words every so often as some will slip through the memory and be forgotten. I recommend keeping a notebook of words that one can learn and to review them every so often so one won’t forget. It can only make one understand that much better.

 

It stood proud: the obelisk

To not confuse “obelisk” with “Obelix”, the word “obelisk” is a stone pillar of some sort.  Obelix is a character. This kind of stone pillar narrows towards the end or gets narrower towards the end. It is tapering towards the end. Tapering simply means to get narrower.

Understanding the nuances of the language

A way to be understood if someone cannot distinguish your speech. Say one is asking another person what spread she wants on her toast. One may say, “Do you want cheese?” The other person cannot distinguish the word cheese. They say, “Weeze?” To be understood, the first person says, “The mouse likes cheese.” The other person understands when you bring a context. Everyone knows mice like cheese! “Oh, you said cheese. No, I’ll have peanut butter.”