Never done learning

I've discovered several blogs lately that have now joined my regular web-surfing routine. One of them is written by a scathingly witty and talented guy who goes by the handle Velociman. You will find his blog at http://www.velociworld.com.

Aside from the general entertaining content of his blog, his vocabulary and writing style are stunningly impressive. He inspires me to learn more big words. I've always been fairly competent where grammar, spelling, and vocabulary are concerned, having been spawned from a family full of proficient writers. I'm definitely interested in More Picturesque Speech, as Readers' Digest suggests. For the past few years, I've been more concerned with acquiring the basics of Spanish than plumbing the depths of my native tongue.

The following are some words from Velociman's blog that I had to look up:

sobriquet n. An affectionate or humorous nickname; an assumed name.

somnolent adj. Drowsy; sleepy. Inducing or tending to induce sleep; soporific.

ersatz adj. Being an imitation or a substitute, usually an inferior one; artificial.

ignominious adj. Marked by shame or disgrace; deserving disgrace or shame; despicable; degrading; debasing.

sclerotic adj. Relating to or having sclerosis; hardened.

venal adj. Open to bribery; mercenary. Capable of betraying honor, duty, or scruples for a price; corruptible. Marked by corrupt dealings, especially bribery.

vestigial adj. Occurring or persisting as a rudimentary or degenerate structure.

manse n. A cleric's house and land, especially the residence of a Presbyterian minister. A large stately residence.

bon mot n. A clever saying; a witticism.

Aside from the words I didn't know already, there are quite a few on V-man's blog that I pledge to use more often:

impunity
copious
harbinger
innocuous
miscreant
callow
prodigious
disconsolate

Maybe making use of a wider variety of big words will cut down on my all too frequent use of the four-letter variety. That's a habit I'd like to curb before downloading any tricycle motors of my own.