{"id":571,"date":"2012-06-04T16:02:16","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T04:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=571"},"modified":"2012-06-04T16:02:29","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T04:02:29","slug":"big-is-not-a-big-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=571","title":{"rendered":"Big is not a big word"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=570\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-570\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-570\" title=\"big\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/big1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"247\" height=\"242\" \/><\/a>To me, <em>fat<\/em> has always looked and sounded like a fat word while <em>thin<\/em> has always seemed appropriately thin.<\/p>\n<p>But <em>big<\/em> is not a big word.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s just the opposite: it\u2019s a very small word.\u00a0 And <em>monosyllabic<\/em> is definitely not monosyllabic.\u00a0 It\u2019s polysyllabic.<\/p>\n<p>Some words seem to fit their meanings better than others.\u00a0 Take, for example, <em>pugnacious<\/em>.\u00a0 Pugnacious sounds \u2026 well, pugnacious.\u00a0 If you saw a pugnacious coming down the street, I think you\u2019d try to stay out of its way.\u00a0 Pugnacious just sounds \u2018quarrelsome\u2019 and \u2018belligerent\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><em>Rambunctious<\/em> is another word that sounds as if it means what it says \u2013 \u2018exuberant\u2019 or \u2018unruly\u2019.\u00a0 But does <em>pulchritudinous<\/em> sound pulchritudinous?\u00a0 Pulchritudinous can sometimes be a very useful word, but does it sound \u2018beautiful\u2019?\u00a0 Hmm \u2026 probably not.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier today, I heard a chap on the radio speaking \u2013 appreciatively \u2013 of having received \u2018a <em>fulsome<\/em> apology\u2019.\u00a0 I can only assume that he was unaware of the fact that, strictly speaking, fulsome has quite a negative connotation.\u00a0 The dictionary definition is \u2018disgusting by excess of flattery; excessive\u2019. \u00a0If the chap really did think that he had received an apology that was disgusting by its excess of flattery, I don\u2019t think that he would have sounded quite so appreciative.\u00a0 I think he might even have sounded a little crestfallen.<\/p>\n<p><em>Crestfallen<\/em> (\u2018dejected\u2019 or \u2018dispirited\u2019), now there\u2019s a word that definitely looks and sounds crestfallen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To me, fat has always looked and sounded like a fat word while thin has always seemed appropriately thin. But big is not a big word.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s just the opposite: it\u2019s a very small word.\u00a0 And monosyllabic is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=571\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}