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Re: poll ideas quest 2016 (lookup word definition)

by chacham (Prior)
on May 17, 2016 at 16:16 UTC ( [id://1163236]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to poll ideas quest 2016

I am most likely to lookup the definition of a word when:

  • I am in the mood
  • I am proofreading
  • The usage seems wrong
  • I don't know what it means
  • I am not sure what it means
  • I'm not positive what it means
  • I am afraid i used it incorrectly
  • Someone challenges my use of it
  • Context might change its meaning
  • I want to see how it is pronounced
  • It confuses what the sentence means
  • I happen to have a dictionary nearby
  • I want to know the word's etymology
  • The dictionary plugin/app is working
  • I want to see it contrasted to other words
  • Never. I can (almost) always tell from context
  • If i don't know what it means, it must not be important

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: poll ideas quest 2016
by davies (Prior) on May 17, 2016 at 22:26 UTC

    ... I want to know the etymology

    Regards,

    John Davies

      > ... I want to know the etymology

      Etymology

      From Middle English etimologie, from Old French ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Ancient Greek ἐτυμολογία ‎(etumología), from ἔτυμον ‎(étumon,“true sense”) and -λογία ‎(-logía, “study of”) (from λόγος ‎(lógos, “word; explanation”)).

      ;)

      Cheers Rolf
      (addicted to the Perl Programming Language and ☆☆☆☆ :)
      Je suis Charlie!

      I can't believe i missed that. And i do check for that too. Added.

Re^2: poll ideas quest 2016
by jaredor (Priest) on May 19, 2016 at 04:13 UTC

    When someone tells me I really should look it up.

    More subtly: When someone tells me it was a very cromulent word that I used.

    (BTW, I find that programmers love wordplay, which perplexes, even vexes, self-proclaimed "writers".)

      Nice one. Added as "Someone challenges my use of a it".

        Thanks. Since you have that sentence copied verbatim into the list above, might I suggest that I think you have an extra indefinite article in it? :-)

        You could probably drop those last three words and achieve the same effect: "Someone challenges my use." Or, if that is too poetic for you, "Someone challenges my usage."

        Forgive me for adding yet another non sequitur to another response to you (I blame the late hour for the fuzzier focus) but I notice that you mention "dictionary" in your list, but not Google. I use browser word lookup a lot. Being able to just type a word in the address bar and get a definition back as a top result has really changed the way I write (and maybe not always for the better). It isn't just that there is the internet available. I remember back in the day (with the Internet, capital I!) it took me an hour with Alta Vista to find the definition and etymology of the word "skosh".

Re^2: poll ideas quest 2016
by jaredor (Priest) on May 19, 2016 at 04:02 UTC

    I have sent it off in a text/msg/email and then am struck with worry that I don't know the exact meaning of the word.

      struck with worry that I don't know the exact meaning

      I believe that is included in "I am not positive what it means".

        More worrisome: "I am not positive what it means in the current context"


        Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn

        True, but my emphasis is on the post-hoc nature of the act. Looking up words before sending the note is so pedestrian; I was trying to succinctly capture the act of looking up the word after it is too late to correct.

        I just have to share my favorite malapropism here: At a small social gathering the wife of my friend was trying to find either the word "ravenous" or "famished" but instead went on for some time that she was "ravished, absolutely ravished." She liked to say things in a dramatic way, which really skewed the interpretation of her narrative to the more salacious meanings of the word. It was fun watching her husband, who was torn between correcting her or saying nothing, hoping that the topic would die a natural death.

        I learned from her eventual embarassment, so needless to say, I have always used "ravished" correctly in my personal communications since then. :-)

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