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richardderus

Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud

Words about words

Best Mental Floss word-article I've seen in ages. For example:

 

25. TROPONYM

troponym is a word (more often than not a verb) that provides a more detailed description of something than a more general word can. That might sound like the definition of an adverb (like happily or slowly), but troponyms are more like a cross between hyponyms and homoeosemants in that they are used to provide a slightly different, slightly more specific account than a more general synonym might. As such, troponyms are hugely important to writers of fiction, who want to provide as accurate and evocative a description as possible. Take a simple sentence like “She walked into the room,” for instance, and then substitutewalk with strutmarchstumblecreepflounce, stagger or jump and you’ll soon see how important they are.