ABSTRACT

To a large extent, the words we know and use are who we are. Words can define, to the outside world (and maybe even to ourselves), how smart we are (or think we are), what kinds of jobs we do, and what our qualifications for jobs might be. A person for whom camouflage or depravity or sultry falls easily off the lips is likely to be presumed to have a wide-ranging knowledge or at least a high-quality education. A person who can talk about populism, deficit spending, and interest rates is presumed to know something about economics or politics or both and will be listened to, at least in some circles. Words are not just tokens that one might memorize to impress others. Instead, the words that make up one’s vocabulary are part of an integrated network of knowledge. Some of these words might be the “fifty-cent” words that my father used to talk about, and others are words that are simpler but connected.