4 ms·

Fascinating. I could confidently define 11/12 of the male words and 1/12 of the female ones.

by netcan 12y ago

morganvachon 12y ago
I got all of the male words, and 10 of the female words (I'm male). I love to read both fiction and non-fiction, and I'm fond of writing, so I'll see a word and form a picture in my mind even before a definition forms. For example, with "mascarpone" I picture all of the ingredients for making tiramisu, which I've prepared a few times in my life. With "claymore" I picture a Scot brandishing a sword as large as he is, even though it can also refer to a modern military weapon.
- logfromblammo 12y ago
  I picture a huge sword with the prominent inscription on the blade "sharp end toward enemy".
jtheory 12y ago
I knew all from both lists, oddly with about the same level of certainty -- e.g., each list had 1-2 words I've probably never spoken before, and am fuzzy about the definition (decoupage I recognize as French more than English, and don't know the domain; I can't identify a peony though I know it's a flower and have used the word; a solenoid is a little electronic -- what, switch?, a dreadnought is an acoustic guitar shape plus some kind of war boat I wouldn't be able to identify). Most I know well, though -- I have a bottlebrush at home, and I clean bottles with it. My neighbor's house is almost consumed by an enormous wisteria vine (so I know it's "glissine" in French, and my French vocab is pretty limited!). I suspect a lot of this is a function of age -- as you get older, you come into contact with more vocabulary naturally. I started fixing up my house and that came with a slew of vocab. Having a child did the same; ditto working with medical data for work. Or if you read widely, you accelerate the process massively, because vicarious lives are rather faster than real ones. I'm less of a bookworm these days, but I did little else for chunks of my life.

Fascinating. I could confidently define 11/12 of the male words and 1/12 of the female ones.

by netcan 12y ago

Fascinating. I could confidently define 11/12 of the male words and 1/12 of the female ones.

I got all of the male words, and 10 of the female words (I'm male). I love to read both fiction and non-fiction, and I'm fond of writing, so I'll see a word and form a picture in my mind even before a definition forms. For example, with "mascarpone" I picture all of the ingredients for making tiramisu, which I've prepared a few times in my life. With "claymore" I picture a Scot brandishing a sword as large as he is, even though it can also refer to a modern military weapon.

logfromblammo 12y ago
I picture a huge sword with the prominent inscription on the blade "sharp end toward enemy".

jtheory 12y ago

I knew all from both lists, oddly with about the same level of certainty -- e.g., each list had 1-2 words I've probably never spoken before, and am fuzzy about the definition (decoupage I recognize as French more than English, and don't know the domain; I can't identify a peony though I know it's a flower and have used the word; a solenoid is a little electronic -- what, switch?, a dreadnought is an acoustic guitar shape plus some kind of war boat I wouldn't be able to identify). Most I know well, though -- I have a bottlebrush at home, and I clean bottles with it. My neighbor's house is almost consumed by an enormous wisteria vine (so I know it's "glissine" in French, and my French vocab is pretty limited!). I suspect a lot of this is a function of age -- as you get older, you come into contact with more vocabulary naturally. I started fixing up my house and that came with a slew of vocab. Having a child did the same; ditto working with medical data for work. Or if you read widely, you accelerate the process massively, because vicarious lives are rather faster than real ones. I'm less of a bookworm these days, but I did little else for chunks of my life.