On Vocabulary...

This morning I opened my old book 100,000 Synonyms and Antonyms, by Samuel Fallows, ©1883-1886.  Flipping through, I noticed a lot of words I've never heard of, and realized how impractical it is today, when many of the entries are foreign to us.  Several of the words I do know don't contain the synonyms I'd use in their stead.  For example, when I say compunction, I think guilt, yet this book omits the ugly Anglo-Saxon word guilt and provides more eloquent words like: remorse, penitence, regret and sorrow.  It changes my definition of the word, making the guilty person more affected by their transgression.

When this book was published, people didn't have easy access to vocabulary as we do today, yet they put time into expressing themselves in a scholarly manner and with beautiful handwriting.  One hundred years ago, communication was more intimate, shared with few.  It's ironic that communication back then was more concise and thought-out, and today, our every flippant and off-the-cuff thought is broadcast to millions without checking spelling or grammar (I myself shared this, then edited it countless times)- one of millions of missives of verbal vacuity (yeah, I found that one in the book) that remain in cyberspace as a part of a permanent chronicle of society's increasing lack of language. 

We've grown lazy in expressing ourselves, generalizing and homogenizing our feelings and expressions into less discriminate terms.  I, in my laziness, have come to rely on a few simple go-to words to stand for complex ideas.  I don't want to take the time to remember the word I want to express myself with, so I spit out "weird," "stupid," "amazing," or "beautiful," when I could use my brain -and this book, Google, an online thesaurus, right-click "synonym" and/or the vocabulary Mr. Scheuerman taught us in high school English- to say something is "eccentric," "obtuse," "lustrous," or "alluring.

I'm amazed- oops, no bewildered- by the change in definition of some of the words over the years.  For example, I think of egregious as bad- an egregious sin or act, so I looked it up. Synonyms for egregious 100 years ago include: remarkable, peculiar, excellent and consummate (I did use that word last week, meaning perfect, not egregious). How had this word gone from meaning one thing to something so different today?  One would be wise not to rely alone upon the synonyms listed in a 121-year-old book, as a word might mean something entirely different today.

Words similar to voluptuous include: sensual, luxurious, self-indulgent, licentious, and highly pleasant.  When I hear or say the word voluptuous today, I think of Reubenesque women, or, to simplify it further: "big boobs."  This alone illustrates the detriment of language and also of thought.

It's sad to think I have access to so many words to more adequately express myself, yet I rely on so few.  I'm going to keep this aged volume next to my writing chair, and refer to its worn and loose pages to broaden my language skills and my mind.