Just posted a comment where I used the word “winnow”. Have no idea where I have seen it or heard it, actually needed to look up the definition because I couldn’t say exactly what it meant, but I used it 100% appropriately and in context. I have lot of words with no reference as to why I know them.
Anyone else like this?
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Mayhap
Yeah I’ll often think of the exact right word but then need to look it up because I’m not totally sure of the meaning!
Relatable. If you were an avid reader as a kid, you probably have this experience.
I do this often.
Sometimes words come up in conversation and I can’t say when I first heard it.
I do read a lot and I do cryptic crosswords, so I guess I just store them up until they burst out.
With cryptic crosswords it’s possible to work out the word without actually knowing the word.
I also remember years ago reading my parents readers digest, it had a section about increasing your word power listing interesting alternatives to everyday words.
Words like funambulist,somnambulist and toxophilite stuck .
You dasn’t take chances.
Pulled out lambast one time and my girl didn’t know what it meant. This always feels really good for some reason.
“Ostensibly” is one that popped out of me once. No one questioned me on it but I looked it up later and had used it perfectly.
I was watching a show the other day and on the table was a bowl of fruit.
My mind automatically said persimmon. I had no idea why, but I looked it up and I was right.
I just told myself what I always do, I’m a fuckin genius, that’s why! Lol, somebody’s gotta soup me up!
I used to read a lot as a kid, and so I have a lot of experiences of “I THINK I know what this word means, but let me look it up to make SURE”.
And the occasional embarrassing experience of pronouncing a word wrong, because I’ve only seen it written and know its definition, but have never heard it spoken out loud (and it’s pronounced in a way that shouldn’t make sense to how it’s spelled).
I feel like it’s a common enough occurrence for those of us who have a love for words.
Indubitably
Comments so far seems to be implying that you knew the meaning of the word once, but then forgot it (at least consciously, your subconscious apparently hung on to it).
My layman’s suspicion is that it has something to do with the way you and I learn language. We didn’t do it by memorizing dictionaries, but instead by listening to others and then mimicking them in similar contexts. I think it’s more likely you “learned” the meaning of the word this way, and now you simply have a good idea of when and how to use it, even if you can’t put your finger on exactly why or spell out a precise definition.
My source is a hazy memory of college linguistics in the early 2000s.
Yes everyday
I tend to absorb a lot of words that it appears many people do not, and they make their way into my vocabulary. I was a voracious reader in my youth, and still read a ton, just not words on paper like in “the old days”. A few years ago I was mentoring a young college co-op who was in my team, and one day we were talking about her future plans, goals, etc. I told her to not get too hung up on having it all planned out – just keep learning and over time figure out what you like to do and what are good at. And most importantly, read all you can and not just in your area of expertise. She thinks about that for a bit and then says “You must read a lot – you use words that no one else around here uses. You don’t sound snobby or like you are a know-it-all, but it’s like every word was chosen for a specific reason or purpose.” She gets it. Every once in a while, a word will come out that I must have heard along the way, and it’s the perfect situation to use it.
Constantly. I have a funny story about it:
As a kid, I was in the room when some movie on TV used the word “scrotum.” My mom turned to me and said, “Do you know what that means?”
I do not have a scrotum fyi, and was homeschooled in a reclusive way, so my mom felt she was pretty up to speed on what I was being exposed to. She was really surprised when I said yes, and asked how I knew it.
I genuinely did not know. I was a voracious reader and picked it up somewhere. But even as a kid who couldn’t have seen/understood the word more than a few years previously, I could not answer her question.
Good times! 😆
This reminded me of a friend from Ethiopia, she asked me one day about a metafork.
When I looked at her confused because my mind was picturing a fork with Superman’s cape, she defined metaphor
English is my native language and I ‘know’ what a metaphor is but I had never heard it defined so succinctly, she totally blew my mind lol
Yes. I can’t think of what it was though!
For OP:
I learned about “winnowing” from studying The Odyssey in college:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnowing_Oar
“Separating the wheat from the chaff” is probably a better understood phrase for winnowing. Although I bet a lot of people don’t know what “chaff” means either.
I refer to my cat as a “noodnik” when he’s acting up. I used to think I made it up but then found out it’s a real word.
I do this. I’ll use some random word that communicates something then the other iteration asks me what it means, then I realize I’ve never actually looked it up. I say what I think it means then we look it up together. I’m usually correct, but couldn’t say where or how I know that word or phrase.
All the time. When I was a kid, I had to monitor it because the other kids don’t like that.
Yeah, I’ve definitely done that too. Sometimes you just pull a word out of nowhere and use it correctly without even thinking about it. It’s like your brain just stores random stuff, and then it comes out at the right moment. It’s a little weird, but also kind of cool.
Once when playing Trivial Pursuit I got a question about the highest mountain in the continental US and straight away I said Mt McKinley, Alaska, and I had absolutely no idea that I knew that. I had to explain to my friends why I was so surprised at what came out of my mouth. It felt like a part of my brain used my mouth without ‘me’ allowing it.
homunculus
You’re a reader,that’s why .
I don’t recall how I learned any of the words in this sentence. In fact, I can’t at the moment recall the moment I learned of any particular word. So the answer would be “Yes, it happens every time I use a word.”
EDIT: Except the words “cromulent” and “embiggen.” I totally remember why I know those words. I learned them at the same time as millions of other people.
Oh, 100%. I’ll drop a word like “serendipitous” and then sit there thinking, “Where did that even come from?” It’s like my brain has a secret dictionary it dips into for no apparent reason.