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Words, Words, Words
Mostly forgotten good ones
By
Tom Hanratty
June 27, 2019
I’m a writer so I use words to bring a scene to life, put characters into action on a two dimensional surface (paper, screen), convey ideas, and tell a story.
It’s what you and I do. It’s our stock in trade.
But the name of the game in writing is to simplify, and ten-dollar words are seldom, if ever used. Penny words are best.
My reading, however, introduces me to new words constantly, but with my memory being what it is, I can learn the definition of a word, use it in a story if it applies, and forget its meaning a couple of months later. It’s annoying because the words are so enchanting.
Here are some of the words I’ve used and forgotten. Then I saw them is some article or book and had to look them up. Again.
Tendentious — I saw this recently in a newspaper story. It means, “Calculated to promote a particular cause or point of view.”
Not to be confused with Tenacious or Tendency. When I read Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly, in a literature class, I wrote that Victor Frankenstein’s autobiography was “tendentious”, calculated to assuage him of guilt in building a monster.
