'100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know'

[tim huntzinger]

Be honest, now!

[sgrizzle]

Those are easy:
abstemious - doesn't have sex
antebellum - the opposite of the large mushroom
circumlocution - when circumcision goes too far
diffident - money that companies pay out to their shareholders
evanescent - like alka-seltzer
fatuous - overweight
gerrymander - brother of sallymander
homogeneous - Alan Turing
incontrovertible - car that the top goes up and down
kowtow - town in japan
nomenclature - A building for women. Like a mall.
notarize - paying attention to a woman above the neck
omnipotent - what you take viagra for
paradigm - $0.20
precipitous - opposite of abstemious
yeoman - informal greeting

[cannon_fodder]

Maybe 50% of those words should be known by a high school graduate.  At least 50% are words that sound highbrow but are by and large worthless:

obsequious - "marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness"

I've read my fair share of highbrow crap in books, studies, and court opinions... I've endured 9 years of college lectures and have never heard this word.  Nor, now that I have, do I have cause to use it.

nihilism - while I know what this word means and have had cause to use it, it isnt really on the top 100 list unless you are watching the Big Lebowski.

euro - short form of European?  It isnt capitalized, so they are not referring to the currency (which is no more important than the Yen, which was excluded)... so it must be in reference to the European Zone or the continenet as a whole.  Is an abbreviation for Europe really one of the 100 words they should know?  What about USA... that should be on there then.

churlish - Vulgar or Surly/difficult to work with... couldn't we just say vulgar or surly?  Why is this word important?  Again, I've never heard nor seen it used.

quasar - a large star like object.  Thanks to NOVA and Bill Nye I am aware, but really, who cares?  Are they more likely to discuss quasars or the GDP or if it must be celestial sun spots, solar magnetic impulses,  or the something else?  Seriously, quasar?  Was Q under represented?

ziggurat - step pyramid with a temple on top as found in ancient Mesopotamia and kinda like the ones in Latin America's stone age cultures.  Now that you know, will you have cause to care?  Will it help you communicate any new ideas unless you go into some related field?  Are ziggurats more important than colonnades, barrel vaults, or ionic pillars?  


This is a list of random words that the publishers thought many people wouldnt know.  Some of the words are important and not well utilized, but many are not a priority.  I want adults to understand what the antebellum south was and what sectarianism (and non...), but there are many concepts more important than those I mocked above.