The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart
KNOW TO
WORDS YOU SHOULD SOUND SMART
THE
EVERY SOPHISTICATED PERSON SHOU LD BE ABLE TO U SE
1,200 ESSENTIAL WORDS
ROBERT W. BLY
CONTENTS
Dedication Acknowledgments Introduction About The Author
DEDICATION
For Peter Archer, a saint among men
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A prodigious debt of gratitude goes to Justin Cord Hayes and Katie Corcoran Lytle for the Herculean e ort they put forth to ameliorate this book. Thanks also to the following friends, family, and colleagues who suggested words for inclusion in this book: Ilise Benun, Milly Bly, Fern Dickey, Amy and Jonathan Eiten, Don Hauptman, Ken and Teri Karp, Michael Masterson, and Mike Payntner.
INTRODUCTION
A Few Words about a Few Words
A radio commercial for a mail-order course on building your vocabulary states, “People judge you by the words you use.” Now, with The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart, people who hear you speak will see you as smart— perhaps even smarter than you really are. Some people who want to sound smart have cultivated a large vocabulary, which they unleash with great regularity. This book can serve as your “translator” when speaking with these pseudo-intellectuals. Many other people possess a large vocabulary but use it sparingly, preferring to speak and write in plain English. As more than one writing instructor has put it, “Your goal is to express, not to impress.” It’s possible that The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart may even put some money in your pocket. People who have a good vocabulary come o as con dent, intelligent, and motivated—qualities necessary for nancial success. The late motivational speaker Earl Nightingale liked to tell students about a twenty-year study of college graduates. The study concluded, “Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group.” Scientist John O’Connor gave vocabulary
WORDS YOU SHOULD SOUND SMART
THE
EVERY SOPHISTICATED PERSON SHOU LD BE ABLE TO U SE
1,200 ESSENTIAL WORDS
ROBERT W. BLY
CONTENTS
Dedication Acknowledgments Introduction About The Author
DEDICATION
For Peter Archer, a saint among men
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A prodigious debt of gratitude goes to Justin Cord Hayes and Katie Corcoran Lytle for the Herculean e ort they put forth to ameliorate this book. Thanks also to the following friends, family, and colleagues who suggested words for inclusion in this book: Ilise Benun, Milly Bly, Fern Dickey, Amy and Jonathan Eiten, Don Hauptman, Ken and Teri Karp, Michael Masterson, and Mike Payntner.
INTRODUCTION
A Few Words about a Few Words
A radio commercial for a mail-order course on building your vocabulary states, “People judge you by the words you use.” Now, with The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart, people who hear you speak will see you as smart— perhaps even smarter than you really are. Some people who want to sound smart have cultivated a large vocabulary, which they unleash with great regularity. This book can serve as your “translator” when speaking with these pseudo-intellectuals. Many other people possess a large vocabulary but use it sparingly, preferring to speak and write in plain English. As more than one writing instructor has put it, “Your goal is to express, not to impress.” It’s possible that The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart may even put some money in your pocket. People who have a good vocabulary come o as con dent, intelligent, and motivated—qualities necessary for nancial success. The late motivational speaker Earl Nightingale liked to tell students about a twenty-year study of college graduates. The study concluded, “Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group.” Scientist John O’Connor gave vocabulary