What’s your favorite word? Perhaps it’s hoity-toity, smarmy, or tomfoolery. Choosing the right word can transform your experience. Instead of describing your dessert as being good, how about saying, “I had creme brulee’ served in a chocolate tulip cup, drizzled with raspberry sauce, and topped with a sprig of mint.”
4 Techniques for Expanding Your Vocabulary So You Can Unleash Your Creativity and Connect More with Others
#1 Color Words
Jot down unique words you hear while consuming the news. I have a one-subject notebook in a clipboard next to me while I read the newspaper and I record any word or phrase I don’t use often in conversation or writing. I term them color words. I learned about color tones while studying jazz improvisation. You have notes in the chord or scale you are playing but you also have color tones - notes that are vastly more interesting to incorporate in an improvised solo. I used to have a podcast called Color Words - check it out!
#2 Word Salad
Take 10 color words/phrases and incorporate them into a stream-of-consciousness story - the more nonsensical, the better! You’ll get practice using color words. Here’s a zany tale I wrote about a doomed first date between Gwynyth Paltrow and Quint, and the salacious skipper of the Orca from the movie Jaws:
(Color words used: apertif, said primly, pandemonium, exasperated, hubbub, fiery development, deranged, inundated by, ramp up, banter, tussle, upheaval, leery of, luddite, svelte jeans that hugged her derriere, feckless failure)
Gwyneth sipped an apertif as she waited primly for her date to arrive. Suddenly, pandemonium erupted at the entrance of the swanky Nobu restaurant. She could see the maitre' d growing exasperated with a boisterous customer. Dishes broke in the hubbub. Gwyneth said to a woman at the next table, "I don't need a fiery development like this - I'm here for a blind date with a handsome older gentleman I met online."
"Oh, what's his name?"
"Quint. His profile described him as an old soul with a great sense of humor whom lives for adventure," said Gwyneth dreamily.
The maitre' d followed the man in the middle of the commotion. He was swearing and yelling at everyone. They were coming over to Gwyneth's booth! Her heart sunk. "You're Quint?'' she asked incredulously. He peered at her with a deranged grin - a huge gap between his front teeth. She was inundated by the smell of apricot brandy.
"Let's ramp things up," said Quint, as he slumped into the booth and stared into her gorgeous blue eyes. After a few minutes of banter, she became quite enraptured with his stories of life on the open sea. Gwyneth's ex-husband showed up unexpectedly and told Quint to get lost. After a vicious tussle, Pierre Delecto stormed off with a black eye and bloody lip. Gwyneth was in love - she loved being the center of upheaval.
"You know, Quint, at first I was leery of you, but now I realize you're just the kind of man I've been seeking. Who cares if you're an uneducated, classless, luddite," she said as they left the restaurant arm and arm, her svelte designer jeans hugging her derriere. As they passed the maitre' d Gwyneth said, "I'm love with a feckless failure." Quint laughed deliriously and said, "As long as you pay for the Orca to become seaworthy again, you can call me whatever you want."
#3 Word of the Day
Choose one of your color words to be the word of the day. Write the word and its definition on a whiteboard in your office (I use a nifty sign) . Make sure to use the word in conversation during the day! You may be surprised how people will respond to out-of-the-ordinary words. If someone says something ridiculous, call them out by saying, “Horse pucky!” If someone’s disruptive, you ask, “What’s all the kerfuffle?” When somebody stands out, you may want to hobnob a bit.
#4 Replace Common Words with Color Words
I’ve written many blog posts espousing the benefits of journaling. Here’s a challenge: pepper your journal entry with a few of the following: Abscond, bamboozle, befuddle, behoove, besmirch, bric-a-brac, bucolic, brouhaha, cantankerous, churlish, claptrap, cloister, cobble, cod swallow, cogent, cornucopia, crystallize, cull, deluge, dodgy, doldrums, doleful, dreck, festoon, flout, fritter, galvanize, glower, grouse, harangue, hardscrabble, hobnob, irascible, jocular, juggernaut, kerfuffle, kowtow, linchpin, mellifluous, milk toast, mollycoddle, moxie, nefarious, nubile, opulent, panache, panoply, pariah, penchant, persnickety, pithy, platitudes, poppycock, prattle, quagmire, rancor, roil, scuttlebutt, slipshod, sprightly, stymie, teetotaler, tomfoolery, trundle, unflappable, unfurl, upshot, usurp, well-trodden, and wizened.
So, with a little bit of practice, you can begin to sprinkles color words into your conversation and writing. You’ll stand out and be much more engaging to others around you. And you won’t fritter away opportunities to make a connection with your colleagues.
Related links:
Never Hoity Toity Word Salad Blog
Color Words Podcast
