A group of scholars at a local university recently released a list of words they feel we should use on a regular basis. The study they performed actually focused on ten words that can make you sound smarter. I’m glad they included definitions, because some of these were unknown to me. Perhaps I didn’t attend the right college.

Just think, my friends—within this blog you’ll find ten words you can use to dazzle your friends! Drop some of these into your daily interactions and they’ll be positively beaming at your newfound intelligence. Either that, or they’ll wonder which meds you took this morning. Read on.

Acedia – Spiritual or mental sloth; apathy.
“When she broke up with him, he fell into a state of acedia and didn’t go out for two months.”

Anfractuous – Indirect and containing bends, turns or twists; circuitous.
“The road to the castle was anfractuous.”

Blithering – Senselessly talkative and babbling; used chiefly as an intensive to express annoyance or contempt.
“His Twitter posts were the confused ramblings of a blithering fool.”

Bombinate – Buzzing, humming or droning to the point of distraction.
“A fly bombinated in the sun porch, making it difficult for John to relax.”

Bucolic – Of or relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.
“Sitting in his office, Jack felt a twinge of longing for his bucolic childhood on the farm.”

Effulgent – Shining brightly; radiant; emanating joy or goodness.
“Her beauty was enhanced by her effulgent personality.”

Gauche – Lacking ease or grace; unsophisticated and socially awkward.
“His gauche demeanor made Tom stand out at the party.”

Guttle – To eat or drink greedily and noisily.
“As the man sitting across from her guttled his meal, she knew that the blind date was a mistake.”

Mugwump – A person who remains aloof or independent, especially from party politics.
“Ever the mugwump, he refused to take a side in the partisan bickering.”

Stultify – Cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of tedious or restrictive routine.
“The stultifying clerical work robbed the young intern of the enthusiasm she’d felt on the first day.”

There you have it. Ten words to a better you through an enhanced vocabulary. Personally, when I write, I tend to shy away from words that necessitate a Google search. I do that on purpose, not because I think my readers are gauche or bucolic, but because when I read something with uncommon words, I find the experience stultifying.

To represent the flip side, I have my own list of words that I wish we would stop using so often: witch hunt; fake news; misinformation; recount; tweet; very, very bad; terrible, terrible thing; biggest, most awesome crowd ever; impeachment.

On a final note, I would like to apply a few words to our elected office holders. You can insert whichever names you want.

“I wish our politicians would be more like mugwumps instead of blithering on social media and bombinating on cable news shows.”

Wow, I feel smarter already!