Zeusblog

When I was at school, we had an english teacher, Mr. Patrick, who is memorable to me for three things.

1. “Bah! Cut the cackle!” was how he got us to be quiet.

2. He used to set us the task of copying out  a page of text. If we made a mistake, we had to start again from the beginning. This was a very frustrating task for us, as the more you wrote correctly, the more tense you would become about making mistakes, and so the more likely you were to make one. It was great for him though, allowing him to sit and read instead of having to try and get through to us troublesome schoolboys.

3. He used the Readers Digest “It pays to increase your word power” tests in class. These were 20 words, each with three possible definitions. It was a great way to improve your vocabulary.

Another great way to improve your vocabulary is to read anything by Will Self. I used to get annoyed by his use of obscure words, but now find the need to have a dictionary alongside amusing. This morning I was reading his book ‘Liver’ on the tube. Obviously I had no dictionary to hand, so I noted down some words that I needed to look up when I got into the office. At the risk of ridicule (I am a copywriter, so I should know loads of words) I’m listing them below. All nine were on just two pages of ‘Liver’. See how many you know. 

i. Moloch
ii. Gehenna
iii. jejeune
iv. dropsical
v. chthonic
vi. porphyritic
vii. necrotic
viii. lubricious
ix. frowsty

Answers tomorrow.