#vocabulary

I'm very educated and can give you somewhat of a vocabulary, but I don't get to the philosophical side. ↗

— Shaquille O'Neal

#get #give #i #philosophical #side

There is a way in which all writing is connected. In a second language, for example, a workshop can liberate the students' use of the vocabulary they're acquiring. ↗

— Marilyn Hacker

#connected #example #for example #language #liberate

Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt. Some say that the main cause of this very serious difficulty lies in the fact that human beings are basically made of clay, which, as the encyclopedias helpfully explain, is a detrital sedimentary rock made up of tiny mineral fragments measuring one two hundred and fifty-sixths of a millimeter. Until now, despite long linguistic study, no one has managed to come up with a name for this. ↗

— José Saramago

#vocabulary #communication

Metaphor isn't just decorative language. If it were, it wouldn't scare us so much. . . . Colorful language threatens some people, who associate it, I think, with a kind of eroticism (playing with language in public = playing with yourself), and with extra expense (having to sense or feel more). I don't share that opinion. Why reduce life to a monotone? Is that truer to the experience of being alive? I don't think so. It robs us of life's many textures. Language provides an abundance of words to keep us company on our travels. But we're losing words at a reckless pace, the national vocabulary is shrinking. Most Americans use only several hundred words or so. Frugality has its place, but not in the larder of language. We rely on words to help us detail how we feel, what we once felt, what we can feel. When the blood drains out of language, one's experience of life weakens and grows pale. It's not simply a dumbing down, but a numbing. ↗

— Diane Ackerman

#metaphor #vocabulary #experience

We’re sick of hearing people say, “That band is so gay,” or “Those guys are fags.” Gay is not a synonym for shitty. If you wanna say something’s shitty, say it’s shitty. Stop being such homophobic assholes. ↗

— Pete Wentz

#lgbt #vocabulary #gay

I was probably just trying to be Dennis Miller, but without the vocabulary to actually be Dennis Miller. I guess I was just less interesting than I am now, if I am interesting at all. ↗

— Todd Barry

#am #dennis #dennis miller #guess #i

There is a continuum of values between the churches and the general community. What distinguishes the handling of these values in the churches is mainly the heavier dosage of religious vocabulary involved. ↗

— Peter L. Berger

#churches #community #continuum #distinguishes #dosage

In fact, eloquence in English will inevitably make use of the Latin element in our vocabulary. ↗

— Robert Fitzgerald

#eloquence #english #fact #in fact #inevitably

Writers fish for the right words like fishermen fish for, um, whatever those aquatic creatures with fins and gills are called. 
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#aquatic #bizarre #creatures #fins #fish

People are complex. You can be smart and still look hot. You can be a punk rocker yet have a refined vocabulary. It's all about this mashup that makes us who we are and I think that's a beautiful thing. ↗

— Nadia Giosia

#beautiful #beautiful thing #complex #hot #i