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Difficult words

 02-Sep-2008
Posted At : 2:37 PM | Posted By : Russell
Related Categories: Russells' Daily Grind
Mood: Curious
Now reading: Blandings Omnibus - P.G. Wodehouse


I've been reading a cancelled library copy of P.G. Wodehouse's 'Blandings Omnibus'. A previous reader has gone through and marked in pen any word he/she found too difficult, as well as changing all the 'pretty' as in 'pretty quiet' to 'very' as in 'very quiet'.

I wonder at the gall of someone who'd physically change the text of a master wordsmith. But I also thought hard about how readers might be alienated by the use of difficult words.

Here's the complete list of words s/he marked:

crammer's

haled (as in 'haled him home')

collateral

solecism

lard (as in 'with a needle lard each tenderloin')

ascertain

commissariat

omelette aux champignons

transmigration

insoluble

mot juste

gravamen

asseveration

messuages

supercilious

celerity

basilisk

en casserole

succes de scandale

perjured

morale

bradawl

votary

truite bleu

appetising

anticipate

coy

Plimsoll mark

inept

Paradise enow

moratorium

nub

aural

whilom

incessantly

heliograph

irruption

How many of these would you understand without having to look them up?

As Wodehouse says in his preface, 'The first thing an author must learn is that he can't please everyone.'

 

Comments (9)

Comments

I could say that they're all perfectly understandable, though I admit I had to think about 'bradawl'. Instead I will point out the appropriateness under the circumstances of 'solecism' being on that list :). (My brain came back today - I am giving everyone cheek.)

Posted By Gillian / Posted At 9/2/08 4:55 PM

Well I'm sixteen and I know the definitions of at least half of the list :). There are 37 words and I understand...26 of the words there, without using a dictionary, and there are a further 6 that I sort of know the meaning of LOL

I'm very suprised that words such as "collateral", "insoluble", "basilisk", "anticipate", "appetising" and "incessantly" are on the list...

Hehe this is my first comment on your blog *g*. I haven't read any of your works yet, but will start Across the Face of the World once I've finished Fiona McIntosh's Odalisque!!

Posted By Elliott Carless / Posted At 9/2/08 11:30 PM

I was also surprised by some of the underlined words! The reader may have been angry at Wodehouse's choice of words, not realising that Wodehouse, who wrote at the beginning of the twentieth century, was an expert on word play and loved using a wide choice of words.

Posted By russellk / Posted At 9/3/08 3:08 AM

My guess - the reader's first language was not English (or French!). There were 6 words I would have to look up to be certain I understood them.

Haled him home? Doesn't ring any bells with me.
Gravamen and bradawl don't mean anything to me either, unless a bradawl is a long way of writing awl.
Asseveration, whilom and messuages all look like archaic spellings of modern terms (are they though?).
Oh, and a seventh - I'm darned if I can remember what a heliograph does, although I know I should remember that. Is it the flag signalling thingies maybe?? I'll blame that one on a senior moment. Ok, Russell, what about you? Did you know them all?

And Gillian, you are far more erudite than most I feel sure!!

Posted By glenda / Posted At 9/3/08 4:24 AM

Easier for me, Glenda, as I read them in context.

A 'messuage' is, I'm fairly certain, an outbuilding. 'Gravamen' is a weighty grievance (from the root word for gravity). A 'bradawl' is a kind of awl, as you noted. An 'asseveration' is a solemn declaration. 'Whilom' is a synonym of 'erstwhile', I think. Almost right about the heliograph, which uses the sun's rays to signal.

The one that made me scratch my head is 'with a needle lard each tenderloin.' It means to insert bacon in meat prior to cooking. I'd never heard of it before.

Posted By russellk / Posted At 9/3/08 8:41 AM

I didn't actually realise to lard with a needle (skewer) meant using bacon. I thought it was just to spread lard over it to prevent crisping. Live and learn!

So is "to hale someone home" to haul them, or to entice them? As in inhale?? "Mealtimes haled him home" (Kipling).

Posted By glenda / Posted At 9/3/08 9:55 AM

Surely if the person didn't understand the words, they should have been understood in the context they were written. If not then maybe the author is at fault? Or is his style only suited to like minded people?

Posted By linda / Posted At 9/6/08 1:52 PM

I guess authors have be careful at what level they pitch their vocabulary. A reader doesn't want to be constantly looking up words in the dictionary. But if we all write for the lowest common denominator, some lovely and powerful words will be lost forever.

Posted By russellk / Posted At 9/6/08 2:41 PM

wow when i normally don,t know a word i write on a piese of papper than look it up and write down the meaning of it. And why would you anyone in there right mind write all over a book from the libary for others can not enjoy the book.

Posted By whitetrash / Posted At 9/12/08 3:33 AM