Bcars10's Blog
8 years ago - 04/08/2017
Learning new words
I was reading a review here yesterday, and I learned a new word: meretricious. I love words, and I'd never come across this one before, so I had to look it up. It means "alluring by a show of flashy or vulgar attractions; tawdy; or based on pretense, deception, or insincerity."
As it turns out, that very day I came across the same word in Chandler Burr's book The Perfect Scent! I have no idea whether this is some sort of sign, but I generally do not believe in coincidences. I'm drawing a blank!
Super-cool word, though. Now I feel pressure to use gargantuan words in my reviews. The only one I can think of at the moment is onomatopoeia, which has nothing to do with perfume or perfume reviews. Figures.
2 Comments
Anessa 8 years ago
When learning a new word, I feel as if I start seeing them everywhere suddenly, as if everyone started using them - although in reality, it's only me recognising them after having registered in my mental lexicon. Same with perfumes or scents, I feel like a child discovering new things when smelling a passerby and instantly recognise the perfume. I could only imagine the naming of a perfume playing with onomatopoeia, what would be the word for scents expressing emotions/events/certain sounds...?
DorothyGrace 8 years ago
Well, I'm pretty sure I had never heard the word meretricious and had someone spoken it to me I would have thought it had the same root as meritocracy - oops, good job it didn't come up in conversation.
Bcars10