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Allusive, elusive or illusive, improving my vocabulary, it is in his kiss, Latin is the root, the beauty of words and their meanings
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” – Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Any time an online dating profile makes me go look at a dictionary that is a person that I would like to date.
One of the ways to my heart is definitely through my mind. Intelligence is so attractive. A way with words is so alluring. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I am a sapiosexual. That is a fairly new term to explain people that are sexually attracted to intelligent people.
I am attracted to the whole package: smart, funny, inquisitive, among other things.
But if I had to pick just one thing to which to assess a partner, I would choose: The KISS.
That may strike people as funny considering how last short lived romantic interest scored very poorly in that department and I was still interested in him. Just blame my hopeful self. I thought I could teach him how to use his tongue.
Thinking back, fresh out of that almost relationship, I realized that I cannot betray the things that are important to me. Kissing is a big deal to me. If P. had I tongue I never found out. Unacceptable!!
Do I rather have someone with a way with words or a way with his tongue?
Now I am getting off the point of this post. Let’s go back to vocabulary before things here gets x-rated. The post today is not about kissing but about the beauty of words and their meanings.
“I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.” – Arthur Rimbaud
This one profile I saw today had the word illusive in it. The way he used made me think of elusive, which is a word I use a lot. Then allusive came to mind and I just had to run to the dictionary and get a clear explanation of their meanings.
Here is how the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines these 3 words:
Allusive:
1: an implied or indirect reference especially in literature
- a poem that makes allusions to classical literature ; also : the use of such references
2: the act of making an indirect reference to something: the act of alluding to something
Elusive:
: tending to elude: such as
a : tending to evade grasp or pursuit ; elusive prey
b : hard to comprehend or define
c : hard to isolate or identify
Illusive:
: illusory –
based on or producing illusion: deceptive
Even though the writer of this profile was not a match for me I wrote him a quick note complimenting him on his well-written profile. It was so entertaining, deep, smart and funny. I wish I had written.
I challenged myself to write a sentence using those 3 words. Here is the result:
My last love interest often alluded to his considerable wealth and our bright future; then he became as elusive as my goal of losing 10 pounds; leading me to conclude that his interest was illusory.
Not sure I have been successful with that sentence, but one thing is certain I aim to improve. I will add English vocabulary to my French and Latin studies.
“Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.” – Michael Jordan