words

Here is my reasoning:

I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a boring office job. I will go back to school and get my advanced degrees in Comparative Literature. Sure, it's useless, but it looks impressive. In order to go to grad school, I have to take the GRE. To pass the GRE, I must expand my vocabulary. So I will learn a new word every day, courtesy of wordsmith.org.

Here is today's word:

A.Word.A.Day-- pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, noun (NOO-muh-noh-UL-truh-MY-kruh-SKOP-ik-SIL -i-koh-vol-KAY-no-KOH-nee-O-sis, nyoo-)

A lung disease caused by inhaling fine particles of silica.

[From New Latin, from Greek pneumono- (lung) + Latin ultra- (beyond, extremely) + Greek micro- (small) + -scopic (looking) + Latin silico (like sand) + volcano + Greek konis (dust) + -osis (condition).]

I was disappointed on seeing this word, because it's a word I've known since before I could speak. The day I decide to enrich my word-knowing, and I get this. My first conclusion is that obviously I know every word there is to know, so that any word of the day I get, I will already be familiar with. However, my practice tests show that this is clearly not the case. Just a stupid coincidence meant to daunt me from learning new things.

As proof, here is yesterday's word:

A.Word.A.Day--floccinaucinihilipilification

floccinaucinihilipilification (FLOK-si-NO-si-NY-HIL-i-PIL-i-fi-KAY-shuhn) noun

Estimating something as worthless.

[From Latin flocci, from floccus (tuft of wool) + nauci, from naucum (a trifling thing) + nihili, from Latin nihil (nothing) + pili, from pilus (a hair, trifle) + -fication (making).]

This word, I admit, I did not know. I still don't know it. I don't know how to say it or when to use it. And according to the root analysis, it has something to do with wool. So if this came up on the test, I would use my word-root-training to decipher the meaning as "making nothing out of wool." Of course the antonym of this is "making something out of wool," or "knitting." So I will be taking the test, trying to find the answer that has the most to do with the fabrication and selling of hats and scarves, or "haberdashery." Even if I don't find this answer, I will be so sure of it that I will write it in, to the result of receiving extra points for making it through this trick question. Nobody told me this is how it works, but I'm willing to take that risk.

So much for my efforts. I'm destined for smart-making yet.