Linguistics 101
Am I being recondite? Am I guilty of pleonasm? Don’t worry. My rambling is fugacious 
This year, it’s my job to provide a “word of the day” to my critique group. It’s an easy job. All I have to do is go to dictionary.com and sign up for their daily email.
I love words. But seriously, some of the words I’ve seen are words I’ve never heard before. And I can’t imagine anyone really uses them? Like pusillanimous? Or myrmidon?
I write - and read - romantic fiction, and when new words are sprinkled sparsely through a book and explained in the context of the narrative, they can add to the enjoyment of the book for me. But there’s a limit. I don’t want to have to have a dictionary beside me to get through a story.
What do you think? Does it bother you to read strange words in a book?
Tori Lennox Says:
Hey, I’ve heard/read “myrmidon” before! I don’t recall what it is, though. :rotfl:
I don’t mind reading strange words. If I see something I can’t figure out through the context, I’ll just look it up. Doesn’t bother me a bit.
Melissa Mc Says:
It depends on the word. But some of them such as that pusillanimous would definitely pull me out of the story. I think you just have to use the word that fits and sometimes it is a stranger sort of word.