words don't come easy to me
i'm in a very random mood with time to kill, so anyone looking for a meaningful post might want to return another day!
i'd mentioned my love for words in an earlier post. this post is about some of my pet hates. like many across the world, i subscribe to 'A Word A Day', and it brought me the following words that i can never recall:
1. contumely.
i mean, who would ever guess this is a noun? i think it'd make life simpler if 'contume' was a noun and 'contumely' it's adjective.
and anyway, what about this word lends itself to its meanings:
- "rudeness or rough treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; scornful insolence"
- "an instance of contemptuousness in act or speech"
initially, i thought i was being very bright by identifying the 'cont-' of 'contempt' with that of the word in question. but it doesn't help. it ALWAYS makes me think that contumely is an adjective. worse...can u believe that "contumelies" is an accurate word?
eg. the pedlars find satisfaction for all contumelies in making good bargains -
nathaniel hawthorne, 'the american notebooks'.
and knowing the latin root for this word, contumelia (insult/outrage), doesn't help!
i feel contumely for 'contumely'? is that correct? say yes, then i'd have finally found a way to remember it!
2. gloaming.
another noun. means 'twilight/dusk'. worse, unlike either 'twilight' or 'dusk', 'gloaming is always prefixed with 'the'.
eg. 'it was the gloaming' vs 'it was twilight'.
of course, the word is strongly reminescent of 'gleaming', an adjective that comes roughly close to its opposite. antonyms often serve as great mnemonics, but here, it makes me think that gloaming is an adjective. sigh.
3. brummagen.
meaning cheap and showy. also, spurious/counterfeit. an adjective which sounds like a noun to me. and this one doesn't have any fancy latin root. it's an alteration of 'Birmingham', which was known to produce counterfeit groats in the 17th century. this should make it easier to remember, but nope! i remember Birmingham but ALWAYS get the word itself wrong...anything from 'bummergem' to 'brimmingham' to 'burmangem'. never the right one.
any effective mnemonics that u can think of for me?
i'd mentioned my love for words in an earlier post. this post is about some of my pet hates. like many across the world, i subscribe to 'A Word A Day', and it brought me the following words that i can never recall:
1. contumely.
i mean, who would ever guess this is a noun? i think it'd make life simpler if 'contume' was a noun and 'contumely' it's adjective.
and anyway, what about this word lends itself to its meanings:
- "rudeness or rough treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; scornful insolence"
- "an instance of contemptuousness in act or speech"
initially, i thought i was being very bright by identifying the 'cont-' of 'contempt' with that of the word in question. but it doesn't help. it ALWAYS makes me think that contumely is an adjective. worse...can u believe that "contumelies" is an accurate word?
eg. the pedlars find satisfaction for all contumelies in making good bargains -
nathaniel hawthorne, 'the american notebooks'.
and knowing the latin root for this word, contumelia (insult/outrage), doesn't help!
i feel contumely for 'contumely'? is that correct? say yes, then i'd have finally found a way to remember it!
2. gloaming.
another noun. means 'twilight/dusk'. worse, unlike either 'twilight' or 'dusk', 'gloaming is always prefixed with 'the'.
eg. 'it was the gloaming' vs 'it was twilight'.
of course, the word is strongly reminescent of 'gleaming', an adjective that comes roughly close to its opposite. antonyms often serve as great mnemonics, but here, it makes me think that gloaming is an adjective. sigh.
3. brummagen.
meaning cheap and showy. also, spurious/counterfeit. an adjective which sounds like a noun to me. and this one doesn't have any fancy latin root. it's an alteration of 'Birmingham', which was known to produce counterfeit groats in the 17th century. this should make it easier to remember, but nope! i remember Birmingham but ALWAYS get the word itself wrong...anything from 'bummergem' to 'brimmingham' to 'burmangem'. never the right one.
any effective mnemonics that u can think of for me?
posted by sattva at 4:12 AM
6 Comments:
don remind me of those barron's days :(
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Someone put me on the subscriber list almost a year ago and, I have to confess, there're days when I have this strong urge to cancel the subscription. Gets a bit relentless, doesn't it? :-)
gift, :) :)
ghost, there are times when i don't open their emails for weeks :)
Gloaming is such a beautiful word.
The trick to not drowning in AWAD's mails is to open the mail everyday :) It's part of my morning tea routine now.
km, i like 'gloaming' too :) thanks for visiting!
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