I got 28,800 http://testyourvocab.com/?r=38317 http://testyourvocab.com/?r=38317 So apparently I should be 31 instead of almost 21. I had a phase around 7th th

I got 28,800 http://testyourvocab.com/?r=38317 http://testyourvocab.com/?r=38317 So apparently I should be 31 instead of almost 21. I had a phase around 7th through 10th grade where I thought learning lots of vocabulary would make me smarter, especially words others didn't know well. (And so I'd use them in English essays for Extra Points since your grades are often determined by how little sense you make, because if the reader doesn't understand it obviously it's too smart for them!) I also had a general grammar nazi-ism. Anyway, I think this exchange kind of tipped me over the edge to stop caring. (Of course that's led to forgetting a lot.) William Faulkner, on Ernest Hemingway: "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." Hemingway: "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use." Of course, having some background in French and Latin probably helps for inferring a few words.