Well, this wasn’t going to happen was it? First of all, you lose count, then you miss a day, etc etc.
My son, ever the logical one, came up with a foolproof system. It didn’t really matter if I missed a few days, but as long as I learned 31 words. He suggested keeping count by each word beginning with each letter of the alphabet then the majority would be done. Easy.
So what do you do then? grab a dictionary and find a random word? No, that doesn’t work either.
I have never pretended that I know how to write eloquently, I know that my grammar, punctuation and content leaves much to be desired and I thank God for spell check. I am ashamed of how badly I did at school however nothing is going to change that now. We shouldn’t have regrets, we just move forward.
I write as I speak – utter garbage. So what am I doing, writing material for 2 blogs? Learning the hard way I guess.
Luckily I have some very wordy pals. I enlisted one of them to help. She agreed to text a word each day. As my friend texted me the words we began to realise fairly quickly (by the letter D) that often I knew the word, the problem lay in having the confidence or ability to use it.
A new challenge was born (by the letter F) Instead of learning 31 random unusable words. I have to try and get each of these words into a blog and more importantly in context. Here is how I did.
These are the words my friend texted me, the ones I used are in bold.
ameliorate
make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better.
Women on the verge of a Nervous Breakdown
burgeoning
begin to grow or increase rapidly; flourish.
My Night with Reg
cumulative
increasing or increased in quantity, degree, or force by successive additions.
Hayfever
Derogation
the perception or treatment of someone or something as being of little worth.
“the derogation of women”
Egregious
outstandingly bad; shocking.
The Mentalists
Fortification
provide (a place) with defensive works as protection against attack.
“the whole town was heavily fortified”
synonyms: build defences round, strengthen with defensive works, secure, protect, surround; More
Gregarious
fond of company; sociable.
My Night with Reg
Histrionics
melodramatic behaviour designed to attract attention.
Hayfever
Invidious
likely to arouse or incur resentment or anger in others.
The Ghost Train
Juxtaposed
place or deal with close together for contrasting effect.
My Night with Reg
Knurl
a small projecting knob or ridge, especially in a series around the edge of something
Loquacious
tending to talk a great deal; talkative.
Miss Havisham Expects
Malevolent
having or showing a wish to do evil to others.
Sikes and Nancy
Niggardly
ungenerous with money, time, etc.; mean.
“he accused the Government of being unbelievably niggardly”
Obsequious
obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
No Man’s Land
Pernicious
having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.
The Father
Querulous
complaining in a rather petulant or whining manner.
The Mousetrap
Repertory
A repertory theatre (also called repertory, rep or stock).
Interview With Sabina Franklin (bit of a cheat – she said it not me – but I did know how to use it *wink)
Salutary
(especially with reference to something unwelcome or unpleasant) producing good effects; beneficial.
“it failed to draw salutary lessons from Britain’s loss of its colonies”
Taciturn
(of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.
No Man’s Land
usurp
take (a position of power or importance) illegally or by force
Sibling Revelry
Vignette
a short scene in a movie or play
Oklahoma
and then we lost count….The challenge was complete but not ‘quite’ blogged about.
sammioneill 