$20 Words

[Writer61]

Paying attention to words in a story is like paying attention to brush-strokes in a painting. You need to get them right, but what you're creating is a story, not a bunch of words.

When I first looked closely at a Turner painting, I was surprised to discover that what my mind had interpreted from a distance as a shepherd was a single squiggly brush stroke.

 

[StillStunned]

Paying attention to words in a story is like paying attention to brush-strokes in a painting. You need to get them right, but what you're creating is a story, not a bunch of words.

When I first looked closely at a Turner painting, I was surprised to discover that what my mind had interpreted from a distance as a shepherd was a single squiggly brush stroke.

And like with painting, the right combination of words can create a picture in the reader's mind without actually spelling it out.

 

[nice90sguy]

And like with painting, the right combination of words can create a picture in the reader's mind without actually spelling it out.

...and, in reference to the O.P, and switching metaphors, a "$20 word", if it's jarring, is as bad as a bum note in a piece of music.

And there's "difficult" music, and "easy" music, which can both be great, or awful.

 

[alohadave]

But, US pals, what about "Oklahoma" and "the surrey with the fringe on top", hmmm?

A surrey is a carriage. Fringe on inanimate objects is a normal usage in the US. For hair, it's bangs.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I believe It very much depends on what's the native language of your reader. Those who speak languages that borrow copiously from Latin, like Italian or French, would likely be able to decipher many English words that share the same roots. But once you move to Germanic languages, they don't borrow nearly as much, probably as a combination of bigger Norse influence and the higher ability to coin new words on the fly ...

So ... Old Norse was a Germanic language, as are its descendants like Danish.

English (another Germanic language) has a majority (!) of Latin-descended words, due to England being conquered by Old French-speaking Vikings (after finally driving out the Danes who controlled part of it for centuries). It doesn't feel like a Romance language because most common words are still derived from Anglo-Saxon.

--Annie

 

[TheLobster]

So ... Old Norse was a Germanic language, as are its descendants like Danish.

English (another Germanic language) has a majority (!) of Latin-descended words, due to England being conquered by Old French-speaking Vikings (after finally driving out the Danes who controlled part of it for centuries). It doesn't feel like a Romance language because most common words are still derived from Anglo-Saxon.

--Annie

Yup, this is all correct. I keep forgetting English is technically Germanic, because it has undergone so many shifts over the centuries that feels nothing like the other West and North Germanic languages.

I suppose what I meant when I said "Germanic" was to vaguely gesture at the imaginary, wide belt that starts in southern Germany and extends through Netherlands all the way through the majority of Scandinavian peninsula, and also catching strays like Austria and western Switzerland along the way. AFAIK all major languages that fall within this area share the German's ability to quickly make-up words (esp. nouns) on the fly, lessening the need to borrow roots from other languages.

 

[THBGato]

That's right -- a sleepwalker. Some friends are very false indeed.

Not so false: for centuries sleepwalking was thought to be a sign of madness or lunacy.

 

[AG31]

"Fringe" is way more common than "bangs" in the (Southern) UK.

But, US pals, what about "Oklahoma" and "the surrey with the fringe on top", hmmm?

We've got the word "fringe." It just doesn't usually apply to hair. But I guess you were just being funny?? Sort of??

 

[AG31]

Strange. I was pretty sure that “bangs” refer to the patches of hair encroaching down the sides of your face, along the ear, and threatening to merge with your beard if you got one. Nothing to do with the mane overhanging your forehead.

That's sideburns. Don't know why they're called that.

 

[AG31]

routes

roots... But I bet you knew that.

 

[alohadave]

That's sideburns. Don't know why they're called that.

Sideburns come from the Civil War. General Burnside wore big lamb chops and they got the name from him.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Sideburns come from the Civil War. General Burnside wore big lamb chops and they got the name from him.

Courtesy Wikipedia...

 

[Britva415]

When I first looked closely at a Turner painting, I was surprised to discover that what my mind had interpreted from a distance as a shepherd was a single squiggly brush stroke.

And that’s what employing exactly the right stroke (or word) can do.

 

[Britva415]

A surrey is a carriage. Fringe on inanimate objects is a normal usage in the US. For hair, it's bangs.

Yeah - “fringe” evokes nothing more than it evokes disco cowboy jackets.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I like to use words that fit the meaning. If you have to look it up, you've learned something.

I don't throw around big words to sound smart, but if there is a word that is above 6th grade reading level that is appropriate, I'll use it.

This! Entirely this!

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Many, many years ago, I remember reading a sci-fi novel (I wish I could remember details) in which humans met an alien race. The latter had never invented paint and were interested. Now, shipping paint, the protagonist said, is impractical between stars, so we sold them the idea of paint, the building and operating a paint facotory, with all instructions. The aliens studied it all and sent it home. In seven words.

“That’s impossible!” exclaimed a listener. “Seven words could not possibly be enough, not for that amount of detail!”

“yes, it would,” he smiled. “You just have to chose the right seven words!”

I learned something from that, I like to think.

 

[Writer61]

I learned something from that, I like to think.

Um, some words convey more meaning than others?

 

[M_K_Babalon]

My stories tend to revolve around regular, ordinary folks, so no. Using big words too often makes one sound like a try hard, or putting on airs. Or in forums, the latter, or smugness.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I like to use words that fit the meaning. If you have to look it up, you've learned something.

I don't throw around big words to sound smart, but if there is a word that is above 6th grade reading level that is appropriate, I'll use it.

How erudite of you.

 

[Writer61]

My stories tend to revolve around regular, ordinary folks, so no. Using big words too often makes one sound like a try hard, or putting on airs. Or in forums, the latter, or smugness.

That implies that educated people are not also 'regular, ordinary folks', which grates a little. I consider my wife and me, both university educated, to be 'regular, ordinary folks'.

That said, neither of us would use 'big words' unless confident that they would be understood.

 

[TheLobster]

How erudite of you.

I heard there was once a library which had been built inside a rocky cave. The walls were all made of erudite.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I thought I had a good vocabulary until I started reading @EmilyMiller's stories

Yeah, I bet her works are something Amy Farafowler would read to get off

 

[Katie_Mae]

It wouldn't cross my mind that someone wouldn't know "bangs." What word do you use for hair hanging down over the forehead?

I'm from the U.S. Where are you from?

As others have mentioned, fringe. Like how you'd call a fringe on clothing or furnishings

I'm not from the US.

But the "never crossed my mind someone wouldn't know it" is why I use it as an example. It wouldn't cross my mind that a native English speaker old enough to read here might not know every word in "music and memory are ubiquitous"

Just differing sense of "normal." So I go for what's normal for the narrator, while trying, where possible, to be considerate to my reader (thinking about who my audience might be).

"Bangs" is a very dated description of a hair style, I think. You'd far more likely say "fringe", these days.

I'd always seen it as one of those U.S. vs the world things.

I also considered it a U.S. vs rest of the English speaking world things, however, I hear bangs much more commonly now than in the past, but this could be because I hear American English a lot more now than in the past.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

That implies that educated people are not also 'regular, ordinary folks', which grates a little. I consider my wife and me, both university educated, to be 'regular, ordinary folks'.

That said, neither of us would use 'big words' unless confident that they would be understood.

No it doesn't. It means the average blue collar, maybe high school drop out, maybe community college, warehouse worker, fast food/steak house worker, not very cultured or well read, average Joe Blow type person. And you know that. Not to say that you and yours aren't regular folks, but the average person is always defined as like the guy who changes your motor oil, or the chick taking your order at Waffle House–not folks that could have a deep convo with Fraiser Crane or Sheldon Cooper.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

As others have mentioned, fringe. Like how you'd call a fringe on clothing or furnishings

I'm not from the US.

But the "never crossed my mind someone wouldn't know it" is why I use it as an example. It wouldn't cross my mind that a native English speaker old enough to read here might not know every word in "music and memory are ubiquitous"

Just differing sense of "normal." So I go for what's normal for the narrator, while trying, where possible, to be considerate to my reader (thinking about who my audience might be).





I also considered it a U.S. vs rest of the English speaking world things, however, I hear bangs much more commonly now than in the past, but this could be because I hear American English a lot more now than in the past.

It could be, like Boot vs Trunk, or cookie vs biscuit.