Free Essays - Of Farctate and Roadkill :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

Of Farctate and Roadkill   Being a writer and reader, I cheat delivery-not only what they mean, but also how they sound. So I rely on my trusty Websters New Universal Unabridged. Its over four inches thick and chuck-full of tens of thousands of glorious words. Some people have trouble with dictionaries because they cant spell the words theyre looking for. Me, I just get lost.   Whenever I set bug come in to look up a word, I often get sidetracked by other words. For instance, the other day I was headed for farthingale, but farctatestopped me in my tracks. I dont care that its a botanical term meaning stuffed, crammed, or full. But the word itself-farctate-what a fun word to say   other time, while in search of synergy, my eye fell upon susurrate, meaning to whisper, murmur, rustle. It close to sounds like what it means-they all do, in fact. Maybe not close comme il faut to be true examples of onomotopoeia-but, hey, thats another great word   And lets not entomb sastruga, habanera, and Zwinglianism, to pick only a few. Even without knowing what they mean, theyre delicious on the palate. They al to the highest degree have a taste, like exotic spices among the salt and peppercorn of everyday language.   Great words pop up in the most unexpected places. Years ago, I was waiting in a doctors office, my news report gown sussurating around me. Flipping through a magazine to pass the time, I came across a beautiful ad with the word nimiety in it. I was entranced. Lest I should forget this new treasure, I tore out the page and hid it in my purse. I checked the dictionary when I got pedestal What an elegant way to say the state of being too frequently excess redundancy.   Consider now the writing of business and government.