Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
And why do you think I'm not familiar with the meaning of a word?
You said you made a list of 200 words you didn't know the meaning of in David Copperfield. I'm sorry, but that's not a problem that someone with a strong reading vocabulary would have. Take it as you wish. I couldn't name any person on this season's American Idol; I suppose to some people that's a very serious lapse in cultural knowledge. But I can read David Copperfield -- or most other books -- without needing a dictionary, or compiling multi-page lists of words I don't understand.
As for Finnegan's Wake, it's not written in English. It just looks like English.  And I don't think anyone has ever actually read it, least of all the stuffed shirts who pontificate about how Important and Great and Literary it is, because they know nobody else will read enough of the dratted thing to prove them wrong.
Am I being snobbish about vocabulary? Perhaps I am. But this is a place for people who read and who love books. It's not a place where I would expect to see someone admitting without any trace of shame -- even, it might appear, boasting about -- their inability to understand hundreds of words in a not particularly complicated book which is often assigned to middle school or high school students.
I'd also like to point out that you were the one who started with the snide, sarcastic remarks, like "So people who don't need a dictionary, I'm assuming you know the meaning of every word in the English language?" And you threw in a few assumptions about our reading ability and choices: "...a dictionary would be a prerequisite if you're reading something from the 19th Century or older." You try to insult me by implying that I'm lying about not needing to have a dictionary to look up the big words when I read (as you apparently do), and that I must only read books that are within some limited modern vocabulary, and then you complain when I reply in the same manner?
I'm sure there are plenty of people who need dictionaries when they read. I do not happen to be one of them. Neither, apparently, are some of the other people in this discussion. I gave my opinion, not even directed at you, that dictionaries on ebook readers are just thrown in there to justify a higher price tag. Feel free to disagree, but if you get snide about it, I'll give you the same back with interest. I cannot comprehend how someone in a readers' forum can be proud of having difficulty reading and cast aspersions on people who say they don't. |
Okay 200 might've been an exagerration; I didn't actually count, but yes there were many words I had to look up, and some I took down because I wasn't sure but did get out of context. I didn't know you have to be ashamed of admitting you have a limited vocabulary in your second language. Either way, this was about the dictionary function, I simply implied by that "snide" remark that its not a useless feature like you seem to think. You were the one who went off topic to demonstrate your intellectual prowness and assuming everyone who needs a dictionary must be a zombie who grew up watching dumb sitcoms and reality shows.
But please, do keep in mind I admire what you've said here, I just think you're being condescending. A large vocabulary doesn't necessarily make you more intelligent.