Words That Make You Smarter

How This List Came to Be

This list is not a result of a team of academicians creating a compendium of words that, in their estimation, are the hallmark of a learned person, and therefore, ostensibly, a requirement for your education. I did not leaf through the dictionary and find the weirdest words that I could, although the temptation was there, mostly because weird words are fun. There is no attempt to group words together by their root words or their etymology. If you’re interested in those things, study linguistics.

Rather, this list was, and continues to be, compiled of words that I either seemingly have always known (and have always found fun) or that I find while reading or hear in conversation. In short, they are words that people (not necessarily you or me) use every day. They are words that I think are fun. And if you’re not having fun… what’s the point? Take a word like submarine – what other word in the English language looks like what it is? Language, like everything else in life, should be enjoyed.

Vocabulary... Why Bother at All?