3 ms·
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
by 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.