Voicing Some Views on Vocabulary

Words have long been my favorite playthings.  I learned to read very early, and so read just about everything I could find with print on it when I was a kid.  I even read dictionaries.  For fun.
 My entire career at school, from elementary through university, my vocabulary was always larger than those of my classmates.  I often had to consider before I spoke whether the word I had chosen to use would be well received in present company.  This is what happens when you are the youngest child by several years in a household of readers.  Since my parents and  siblings read news stories aloud to me (and each other) at the breakfast table, and I cannot remember a time I could not read, though they tell me I was 3 when they realized I could,  it would seem I was destined to have a large collection of words at my beck and call. 
My composition professor at university always told me that I wrote in much the same way that I speak:  very long and complex sentences.  He reminded me that colons and semi colons were my friends, and I should not be afraid to call upon them.
Here then, are a few of the words that interest me.  Only a very few.  (Winking smiley).

There are words I almost never use in daily conversation and writing, but I love them.  The sound of them, the associated meanings of them, the way they fit a particular situation.
Words like Pyrrhic Victory, which refers to a victory won at too great a cost.  (After a Greek king who won  battles against the Romans, but lost great numbers of men and equipment and animals in the process.)

Slew, which comes from the Gaelic sluah, which means "many", or "a multitude".  A whole slew o' things, is a lot of them.  It's pretty common in the regions where my ancestors settled in this country.  (In the 1780s and '90s in the hills of Kentucky,  North Carolina, and later Arkansas.)
Many in my Mom's family, who are from farther South and in the flatter lands, say "a whole mess" of things instead of slew.  One meaning of mess, according to the Oxford American Dictionary is "an untidy collection of things."  So I guess my Mom's family was more concerned with the quality of the things than the number of them.

Truncated is a word I like because it does indeed give the impression of something cut short, cut off, left unfinished, perhaps.  I always will remember a lady who wouldn't believe the "may be truncated" on a list of book titles she was given referred to the fact that the book titles were likely cut short due to the size of the field in the database.  She believed it meant SHE could be cut off at any time, either her account or her call, I'm not sure which.  I think a manager FINALLY convinced her of the truth.

I also like trudge.  "To walk laboriously."  Good old Oxford.  Use a five syllable word to define a one syllable word!  (Big smile here!)  Many are the days I have trudged through simply because I felt heavy and weary, whether of spirit or body, or both.

Twitter is a word I like.  It does indeed sound like some of the sounds birds make.  It is also, of course, the name of a social media platform that is very popular.  So, now it has even more positive connotations for me than it did before.  Bird watching was a big hobby of mine while we were in Germany.  We saw many different kinds of woodpeckers, blackbirds, starlings, birds of prey, magpies, beautiful songbirds like goldfinches, cedar waxwings, and of course, European House Sparrows.  They are ubiquitous.  (Another word I love.)  "Being everywhere at the same time" well, yes, sparrows seem to be.  Just look around.  You'll see.

Mellifluous is another word I adore.  It means "Sweet sounding".  It brings to mind a song well sung.  I love to sing, I love it even more when I know I am singing well.  When it is mellifluous.

There are words I like that are considered odd by some.  Woolgather.  I like that word, because I find myself woolgathering a lot.  It means, of course, to drift a bit mentally, be bemused. Oxford American Dictionary says "Being in a dreamy or absent-minded state."  Pretty much describes me most of the time!

Vestments is a word that sometimes makes me smile.  I have to wear choir vestments every Sunday.  (And every Wednesday evening in Advent.)  They actually fit, having been made to measure for me, but now they are lots roomier since I have lost weight.  This makes me smile. 

Just as there are words I love, there are expressions I love.  One that I learned that is Italian in origin is "Fai attenzion.  E un venditore di fumo."  (Pay attention, or watch out, he's a smoke salesman. )  He's a fake, a con man.
A good con man could seem a lot like he was selling smoke, couldn't he?  It's a very colorful and powerful image. 
Just found a book today about expressions like this from around the world.  Will have to report in once I have a chance to delve into it.  I also have a book called Wordbirds to delve into.  Talking about words coined to deal with our 21st Century lives.  (Reminds me a lot of Sniglets, but maybe more useful and less completely funny.)

The hour grows late, my energy is waning, and I must arise early tomorrow and be about my business in a timely manner, so I will bid you all a fond farewell at this point.