Isn't it about time for a grammar or word-related post? I think so too. Behold:
Six words that fit their definitions.
- "Weird" is indeed a very weird-sounding word. Go ahead, say it out loud.
- "Awkward" is exceedingly awkward to spell.
- "Aardvark" sounds just as ugly as the animal is.
- "Grotesque" can hardly be uttered without an accompanying snarl.
- "Balloon" has a soft, round sound to it, don't you think?
- "Melodious" rolls off the tongue like a melody.
Six words that don't fit.
- "Abbreviate" is WAY too long. We like to use "abbreve" at our house instead.
- "Siesta" sounds way too peppy to mean "nap." Surely because it rhymes with "fiesta."
- "Penultimate" is far too grandiose to mean "second to last."
- "Hyberbole" sounds like something from geometry rather than meaning "exaggerating for effect." An example of hyperbole: "This project is going to take a million years to complete!"
- "Gesticulate." After encountering this word in a short story, my stepson thought it was a cross between "guess" and "speculate." (Quite a good gesticulation, right?) But it really means "to express by gesturing" or "to talk with one's hands." It is often followed by the adverb "wildly."
- "Stentorian" has such a dignified and academic feel that it can't really mean "extremely loud," can it?
"Did you hear that stentorian rock band the other night? It was off the hook!" Bad example, I know. But even if I heard, "His stentorian voice reverberated through the hall," I'd imagine an elderly gentleman pontificating in an 18th-century British accent.
There are oh so many more, but this is what comes to mind at the moment. I also think that "opaque" sounds like it should mean "transparent" instead of the exact opposite, but that's probably just me.
Would you like to add to my list?
