I heard a program on NPR today that discussed the newest release of the American Heritage Dictionary's including one hundred words tht the ditors feel that all college students should know.
Here's the link:http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/ahdcollege/atof.shtml

What words would you add or delete?

I glanced through the list and couldn't see any words I didn't already happen to know. However, I don't see any possible relevance for some of the words, unless the students happen to be studying that particular subject. For instance, mitosis is not much use unless you happen to be a biologist.

Yes, I agree with arnie, though 3 of words I was not real familiar with: jejune, tautology & ziggurat.

Two of the words have been discussed recently in our threads: bowdlerize & unctuous.

Since I am a scientist at heart, I'd keep mitosis. However, I do think that there is a high proportion of scientific words, like gamete, hemoglobin, etc. Interesting, Asa.

[This message was edited by Kalleh on Fri Sep 20th, 2002 at 23:39.]

So, Kalleh, you prefer pleonasm to tautology?

Asa poses the challenge, "What words would you add or delete?"

It strikes me that many words on this list, though perhaps very interesting as curiousities, simply aren't even close to being useful enough to be on a list of the top "words everyone should know". They are good to know, fun frosting on the cake, but nowhere near essentials. antebellum, gamate, jejune, lugubrious, mitosis (if that belongs, why not the correlate, miosis?), nanotechnology, quasar, tectonic, thermodynamics, and wrought? Not to mention the even more extreme moiety, orthography, quotidian, taxonomy, and ziggarat?

Asa, this is very interesting. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

quote:

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Two of the words have been discussed recently in our threads: bowdlerize & unctuous.

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Plus filibuster and gerrymander.

There was more discussion today on the NPR program, "All Things Considered." One teacher wrote in to state something similar to Shufitz' comment above. In my own opinion, few of us will ever be a William F. Buckley when it comes to vocabulary, but ought we not have a command of topics broad enough to be conversant concerning the world we currently live in? That seems to be the intent of the list. However, the list has a paucity of words from classical knowledge. It seems, despite including "ziggurat," to ignore where the human race has been, and to focus on the here and now. I think that's a mistake

Asa,
I, too, had your reaction. The list is heavy on words from science, but light on words from the humanities.

I do like pleonasm; however, now I will try tautology.

I do like pleonasm; however, now I will try tautology.
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Oh, yes, Kalleh, we must keep our ologies taut!
Saggingologies just won't do.

[This message was edited by Asa Lovejoy on Sun Sep 22nd, 2002 at 21:59.]