Quotes About Vocabulary

I must thank the Hon. Gentleman for making me acquainted with the word "outwith," with which I had not previously had the pleasure of making acquaintance. For the benefit of English Members I may say that it is translated "outside the scope of." I thought it was a misprint at first.

we must have a better word than "prefabricated" [for houses]. Why not "ready-made"?

Old words, he said, were the best of all, and he indulged in them: correctitude, palimpsest, parlementaire, guttersnipe, purblind.

By now they had mastered my own language, but they still made simple mistakes, like using 'hermeneutics,' when they meant 'heuristic'.

Colonialism is a terrible bane for a people upon whom it is imposed, but a blessing for a language. English's drive to exploit the new and the alien, its zeal in robbing words from other languages, its incapacity to feel qualms over the matter, its museum-size overabundance of vocabulary, it shoulder-shrug approach to spelling, its don't-worry-be-happy concern for grammar--the result was a language whose colour and wealth Henry loved.

a meat cleaver of a vocabulary when it comes to describing people. In the Tarahumara tongue, humans come in only two forms: there are Rarámuri, who run from trouble, and chabochis, who cause it.

Egypt is our world today—different vocabulary, same issues. Egypt was organized on the basis of force, ambition, and pleasure, just like our culture today. Egypt persecuted the people of God and was overthrown by divine judgment, just as today's world is destined to be.

The strict separation of theory and data, the "brute fact" idea; the effort to create a formal vocabulary of analysis purged of all subjective reference, the "ideal language" idea; and the claim to moral neutrality and the Olympian view, the "Go?s truth" idea - none of these can prosper when explanation comes to be regarded as a matter of connecting action to its sense rather than behavior to its determinants.

An elementary pupil was asked by the teacher about her view of writing. The little girl said, Good writing requires a good vocabulary. A good writer requires a good conduct in many ways.

Though our vocabularies were different, we both view the human mind as a symbol-manipulating (my term) or information processing (Al Newell) system.

The parallel, rather, is with human language. It is human to have the ability to speak, an essential part of the image of God in us. Nonetheless, concrete language, which exists in countless forms, is not native but acquired; it is learned.

The school-boy doesn't force himself to learn his vocabularies and rules altogether at night, but knows that be must impress them again in the morning.

Interesting how our vocabulary responds, providing us with words we have never needed before, words stacked away for us, neatly folded into our brain and there for our use: like a bride's lifetime supply of linen, or a ducal trove of monogrammed china. Death will overtake us before a fraction of those words are used.

I collapsed on to the ground and broke down in tears. Screw you. Go to hell, you fuckers. I wish I had a greater vocabulary to fully express the extent of my pain and hatred. But I don't. I'm just pathetic. That's all I am.

Le grand monde a son argot. Mais cet argot s'appelle le style.

All these years there had been a Tupperware container of bad language in her head, and now she opened it and all those crisp, crunchy words were fresh and lovely, ready to be used.

obsolete subject headings; for example, the word aeroplanes was replaced by airplanes.

New words travel from one variety of English to another and at a rapidly increasing rate, thanks to the way language is exchanged today over e-mail, chat rooms, TV, etc.

Contrary to the negative stereotype that folks who swear have poor vocabularies, a fluency in taboo language correlates with overall verbal fluency. The more words you know, the more you know... and the more colorfully you can express yourself, with nuance, metaphor, and emotion.

From the earliest moments of life, children begin to learn the fundamentals of language. The most powerful influence for effective language development are the verbal interactions with caregivers.

Das Mädchen ist auf der Suche, es versucht zu sprechen, aber wie durch eine löchrige Dekoration scheint durch das Vokabular, an dem nichts eigentlich Falsches ist, immer eine schwarze, gähnende Leere hindurch.

It usually sits on the night table, so that I can easily look up an unknown word while I'm reading. This book allows me to read other books, to open the door of a new language. It accompanies me, even now, when I go on vacation, on trips. It has become a necessity. If, when I leave, I forget to take it with me, I feel slightly uneasy, as if I'd forgotten my toothbrush or a change of socks.

L'inglese e l'italiano sembrano i punti più vicini. Avendo in comune molte parole di origine latina, condividono un certo territorio. Inutile dire che mi capita spesso in italiano di incontrate una parola che conosco già grazie all'equivalente inglese. Non posso negare che la mia comprensione dell'inglese mi aiuti. Ma può ingannarmi.

I am working out the vocabulary of my silence.