I have been listening to NPR a lot lately. It has made me think I need to improve my vocabulary–specifically my adjectives. While I often do better than an awesome or amazing, I fail to scale the rocky wall that leads to fulsome or prescient. I used the word adroit in a query letter the other day. The time I spent flipping through my thesaurus to find that descriptive nugget might have been better spent writing two more queries.
Some words are worth the trouble. Using them is like twirling wax on the tips of your handlebar mustache. If I were you, I’d get walloping, thick-witted, and emulous out for the holidays. Place them somewhere safe but obvious. Cats love nothing more than to shatter words like these. I have seen it happen a million times. It’s the reason I can no longer say fallacious. I have to dust off fake and get on with my day. I got my husband recalcitrant for his birthday in December. Amazon had it, but it was a lot less expensive on Ebay.
As I mentioned. Some adjectives are better for different times of year. I am regretting not making better use of spectral around Halloween. Except I wouldn’t have used it like you think. No, I’d make it sound a little Robert Di Nero: Listen here, you spectral son-of-a-bitch. Ashen is good for the winter months, but, as it warms up, try out dulcet and tantamount. One final rule of thumb: never use zaftig on a first date. Trust me.
