Vocabulaphobia « Findings

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Vocabulaphobia

April 17, 2008 by Janet

Suggested by Nithin:

I’ve always wondered what other people do when they come across a word/phrase that they’ve never heard before. I mean, do they jot it down on paper so they can look it up later, or do they stop reading to look it up on the dictionary/google it or do they just continue reading and forget about the word?

Uggh. This would be one of my dirty little secrets… When I come across a word I don’t know, nine times out of ten I just blunder on without looking it up. I’ve always felt guilty about this, having inherited books from real readers with unfamiliar words underlined, and definitions jotted in the margins.

I excuse my slothfulness by saying I’m “deriving the meaning from context.” But when I’m unable to tell the meaning of a specific word from context, I leave it as a little empty space in my mind and keep going. Sometimes I even broadcast my ignorance by using the word later in conversation because it sounds right, or by finding it in Scrabble or Boggle, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten caught… which tells me there are a lot of other Vocabulaphobes out there!

(I’m not Catholic, but maybe this is what it feels like right after you go to confession…)

Posted in Memes | 12 Comments

12 Responses to “Vocabulaphobia”

on April 17, 2008 at 12:01 pm1 Paula Weston

Isn’t it wonderful how many things we can find to feel guilty about? (My book-related guilt is all about literary novesl I “should” read, but can’t get past the first chapter…)

And if deriving meaning from context is slothfulness, we’re all in a lot of trouble!

I enjoyed your blog!
on April 17, 2008 at 12:02 pm2 Maree

I love your title! :)
on April 17, 2008 at 12:05 pm3 TrishaJ

I’m willing to bet there are more people like you than not and not because you are lazy but because you’re not quite as ocd as people like me are, lol. ;)

Happy BTT and thanks for stopping by my blog today.
on April 17, 2008 at 12:06 pm4 JLS Hall

I love your answer - and your honesty! And if the “little empty spaces” don’t interfere with your enjoyment of whatever you read, they don’t really matter, do they?
on April 17, 2008 at 12:46 pm5 Mog

I do like your blog, I wonder if you’d mind if I added you to my places to visit list.
on April 17, 2008 at 12:53 pm6 Marianne

Oh, so funny! I love the description of “little empty spaces”. Truthfully, people may have noticed and simply not said anything. My DH uses the wrong words ALL THE TIME in coversation, but I can always figure out what he means, so I just keep my mouth shut :-D .

Thanks for visiting earlier! :-)
on April 17, 2008 at 2:04 pm7 writer2b

Thanks, all! :-)

Mog, thanks and I’d be honored.

Marianne: uh-oh…!
on April 17, 2008 at 2:19 pm8 Chris@bookarama

LOL! That was funny!
on April 17, 2008 at 3:17 pm9 Ann Darnton

I suspect you’re going to be in the majority because if the story has really got you gripped then it can be hard to put the book down and reach for a dictionary. Thanks for stopping by. I hope we chat again.
on April 17, 2008 at 3:49 pm10 ravenous reader

Wonderful response, and one to which I can truly relate.

I’m certainly glad to know there’s a nice big word to describe our behavior :)
on April 17, 2008 at 7:02 pm11 BooksPlease

I often read on and forget to look up the unknown words. Even if I look them up I often don’t remember what they mean.
on April 18, 2008 at 5:22 am12 bethany canfield

I used to slightly feel guilty too…but then now I think I am just calloused!!! Heard hearted and all you know.

No, mostly just seriously lazy: you mean get up to get a dictionary!!!

the closest I ever get is to yell to my hubby: hey what does “miehiygi8nje” mean!?!?