Having problems with the vocabulary in your class? Why not write your own dictionary!
That’s exactly what one University of Wisconsin student has done. Josh Abramson from UW-Eau Claire created his own dictionary called “Definitions Made Simple” because he was struggling with vocab definitions for the GRE.
“Half the GRE is vocab-based knowledge,” said Abramson, who will graduate in May with his second bachelor’s degree from the university. “If I had to look up a few words, it would take me 20 to 25 minutes because the way the definitions were worded were so confusing.” (Source: Superior Telegram)
The final book includes 1200 definitions and can be used by those who want to improve their vocab as well as though studying for tests. Abramson has provided clear definitions and example sentences which he hopes will make words easier to remember.
Language learners can also benefit from creating their own vocab books. You may not need definitions, but having a handy reference with the word in your target language next to the word in English could be enough to jog your memory and help improve your language skills.
Want to help advance science? Then test your vocab!
The first part of the test will present you with a list of words; you need to check the boxes next to words you know and submit them. A second set of words will then appear to narrow down your vocabulary level. The third and optional part will collect statistical information. Apparently the test provides accurate results for “virtually everyone”.
So what’s the science bit? Well:
TestYourVocab.com is part of an independent American-Brazilian research project to measure vocabulary sizes according to age and education, and particularly to compare native learning rates with foreign language classroom learning rates.
If you want more detail about how the research works, try the FAQs and Nitty-Gritty pages.
Have you taken the test? What score did you get?
With ever-evolving technology, it can be hard to keep up with the latest vocabulary used to describe it. This helpful article points out 25 tech words you need to know. The most interesting is probably mesofact – a fact that slowly evolves over time.
This challenges our conceptions of what a fact is – it is conventionally defined as “something that actually exists; reality, truth” and we probably think of facts as being hard, unchanging information. A mesofact however is something that exists, but is changing.
Mesofact
A mesofact is a fact that is slowly evolving over time. For example, the term “national healthcare” might have one meaning at first, but slowly evolves to become more concrete, as the actual laws emerge. Original use: on Wikipedia, users often add more detail to an entry as the original meaning and facts evolve.
Here are some other words that caught my eye:
Thumbo
Posted as a new slang term on Wordspy.com, a thumbo is a mistake made when you are typing with your thumbs — on a BlackBerry or other smartphone.
Vook
Books are so 2008. This year, a new concept called a vook is emerging — a book that includes video snippets. The Apple iPad will help make vooks a reality as more of us use slim and light Internet tablets to read and browse the Web.
Dittoism
According to Doubletongued, a dittoism is defined as a penchant for Internet users to agree on the same topic only because that’s the established norm. For example, when most reviewers ranked the new Apple iPad as revolutionary, a dittoism is that everyone agrees, even without trying one.
