I have been wanting to write this for a while. It’s me, Cher. Hailey’s little vocab pest.
The truth about Hailey’s vocabulary is that it is much larger than mine. I don’t know if it’s because she writes everyday, watches more TV than me, or secretly reads a thesaurus in her bathtub everyday, but I DO know that she is not learning her words from her children. Not only does Hailey’s vocab exceed mine by a lot, but even her kids say things like “rotate” and “adequate”; words that kids under 5 probably don’t normally use.
The first thing I want you all to know is that my mom is an english teacher, so I have been cocky before about knowing things that other people don’t, simply because of my time spent in her classrooms, time spent around other teachers, and the random bits of trivia my mom shares on occasion.
Hanging out in the Born household has helped me sharpen my googling skills. I remember leaving their house and going home and just looking up terms so I could understand what they were even talking about. What is congealed? And how can something be that way? It’s a semisolid.. Like that layer that sits on top of gravy as it cools off. Who would have known there was a term for that? I called it skin. It’s gravy skin.
PHILTRUM. Have you heard this word?? No? I wonder why not. It’s the indentation area of the upper lip. There is a WORD for that.
Rescind. Okay, I know this word is probably well known, but it means to revoke, cancel, or repeal. I usually just say cancel, or no. So… I’m not sure why or HOW I missed the memo on the fancier ways of saying I shall revoke my appeal.
Balaclava is a word for those face masks you wear in winter that have the eye and mouth holes. I always just called it a robber’s mask, or a face mask. Never heard this word in my whole adult life.
Obliterate. To destroy utterly; wipe out. Okay, I understand why she knows this one. They have boys.
Monotonous means dull and tedious; lacking in variety and interest. For example: Cher has a low, monotonous vocabulary.
There are so many other words on my list, but I am actually embarrassed to share them because I’m sure that everyone else knows them. As a University student, I must say it is very humbling to hang out with Hailey. She is very intelligent, although she would follow that statement with an eye roll and a “pfft, chh”. She really is. And her memory is absolutely amazing.
Join me next time for Brady’s vocabulary: Evocative, Antithesis…. etc.