Output: Your Vocabularies
How many different languages can you speak?
Hi there!
Today we’re talking about vocabularies. I’m not referring to speaking other languages, like French or Arabic—I mean, which fields/games/careers/hobbies/niches have you gained a whole new vocabulary from learning?
Lately, I’ve been getting back into the world of fragrances. Part of the pleasure of a new hobby is realizing just how much there is to learn, and beginning to sound like an “insider” when speaking about it.
Here are just a few of the new vocabulary words I’ve learned in the past two months:
Juice: the actual fragrant liquid (“Wow, that’s some dark looking juice in your Kayali Vanilla 28!”)
Flankers: spin-off fragrances of popular designer scents, containing the same DNA (“I hate YSL Libre, but I’ve got to admit, the Libre Intense flanker is a banger.”)
Sillage: the trail created by the perfume as you wear it that others can smell, drawn from the French word for “wake” (“I love my indie frags, but the sillage can be a bit much to wear to my kid’s story hour.”)
Freshies: an uplifting, zesty, often citrus scent, worn in the spring and summer or in hotter climates (“I need to swap out my smoky fragrances for a freshie when I’m in Miami this week.”)
Nose: the person behind the creation of a certain scent (“I wish I could afford more of his stuff, because Francis Kurkdjian is the nose behind my all-time favs.”)
I’ve also learned new vocabulary for jobs (fundraising: fiscal year; major donor; tax acknowledgement; 501(c)(3); endowment), performance forms such as improv (walk on; game; beat; wipe; Harold) and documentaries (“Made You Look” about art fraud on Netflix: provenance; verso; imposto; IFAR).
The reason I think it’s important to pay attention is this: very often, people start researching a place, time period, or milieu, and then decide to set a story there, requiring them to become fluent in the vocabulary.
But what if you could reverse engineer it, and START with an existing vocab set, and see if you can come up with a character and/or plot who also has that knowledge? Perhaps start with a fish out of water character who must learn it along with the reader? These words give verisimilitude to the story and help draw a reader or listeners into the world you’re creating.
Your exercise: think about some of the vocabularies you’ve become adept with during your life, even if only for a short period of time. Write down some of the specific words you learned for a job, a hobby like mine, a TV show or book or movie or fictional world, etc. Share them in the comments with us if you so desire!
Off to spray my little juices,
Caitlin
INPUT ALERT: If you’re looking for a single-session, generative writing class, I listed one online with Writing Workshops for Saturday, April 8th called “Funny Frameworks for Fiction.” We cover the hallmarks of parodies, epistolary novels, and travelogues, and talk about how they might be good forms to try writing a longer comedic work. More info here!
RELAXING VIDEO ALERT: Lately, before I go to sleep I’ve been watching art restoration videos. This channel, Baumgartner Restoration, is SO RELAXING. If you want to see someone dissolve and scrap lambskin glue off a canvas before removing the varnish and retouching, this is your channel. Start here!
I did a stint in Fintech and the acronyms....god....the sheer amount of acronyms.....
Reminded me of a satire I wrote about a Wimbledon line judge. Had to learn British slang--wanker, chuff, crack on, chin wag, knackered, knees up, porkies, naff, off the wicket, prat, twit, tidy, chavs, winger, snog....well, you get the picture. It was hella fun, however!