By Carl Meyering, GRPL Main Library
Want a New Year’s resolution that doesn’t make you sweat? How about a book that pumps up your vocabulary? Pick up a copy of Better Than Great. In a world filled with bland adjectives like “amazing” or “fantastic” or “awesome” this 198-page handbook will boost your word choices from boring to bountiful. You won’t become a word nerd, but it will help you become more descriptive and convey what you are really trying to say.
Author Arthur Plotnik suggests that you partake his suggestions in small doses and practice in everyday conversations. He has divided the book into several categories (like beautiful, large, intense, exceptional, etc) under which he has listed hundreds of more expressive words. Is that supermodel beautiful or resplendent? Was that symphony performance just great or stellar or transcendent? Is your best friend fun or really effervescent?
Mr. Plotnik, who is editor and publisher with the American Library Association, also provides “50 ways to text acclaim” and 75 acclamatory terms for wine.
My advice? Consult the book once a day and learn a new way of saying what you really mean. Your vocabulary will go from standard to salient!
